Dream of Haumaka

Author: Traditional

Time Period: 1001 CE–1500 CE

Country or Culture: Polynesian

Genre: Myth

PLOT SUMMARY

In the mythical Pacific Ocean nation of Hiva, on the island of Marae Renga, lives the priest and wise man Haumaka. One night, Haumaka has a prophetic dream. In this dream, his spirit is lifted into the sky over Hiva. From there, he begins a journey eastward across the sea. Above the ocean waters, Haumaka’s spirit travels first over seven islands. These appear either completely desolate or remain hidden beneath dense fog. It is only at the eighth island that Haumaka’s spirit sees promising features. All in all, Haumaka can discern and name twenty-eight distinct sites. The first three are the islets of Motu Nui, Motu Iti, and Motu Kao Kao, real islets at the southwestern tip of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Other exciting, real geographical features foreseen in Haumaka’s dream are the round crater hole of Rano Kau and the island’s only sandy beach, Anakena, as well as its highest point, the extinct volcano Terevaka.

In his dream, Haumaka gives the island various names. One is Mata ki te rangi, meaning “eyes looking to the sky.” Another name is Te pito o te kainga a Hau Maka (“little piece of land of Haumaka”). The third name Haumaka gives the island is Te pito o te henua, which can be translated either as the “navel of the world” or “land’s end of the world.”

Awakening from his dream, Haumaka asks six or seven youths to travel east by canoe to the island he saw in his dream. The young men do so and reach the island. There, they find everything as foretold by Haumaka. In the key version of the myth, they also encounter one original inhabitant of the island, called Nga Tavake. Nga tells them of the recent death of his sole companion.

When Haumaka and the young men return to Hiva from their successful exploration, they tell their chief, Hotu Matua, of their discovery, foretold in Haumaka’s dream. Haumaka shares a special bond with Hotu Matua because he has tattooed him.

The news of discovery comes at a perfect moment for Hotu Matua. His father has just died, and Hotu lost three battles of succession against an opponent (depending on the version of the myth, either his evil rival Oroi or his own brother Ko Te Ira-ka-atea). In addition, the island nation of Hiva is doomed by rising ocean waters and is slowly sinking beneath the surface of the sea. For all these reasons, Hotu Matua leaves Hiva with his wife, Vakai-a-hiva, and loyal settlers. Hotu Matua succeeds in becoming the first chief, or king, of Rapa Nui.

SIGNIFICANCE

The story of the dream of Haumaka gives a mythological account for the Polynesian discovery of Rapa Nui. Most scholars agree that Rapa Nui was settled in a daring act of Polynesian seaborne discovery. If the original settlers came to Rapa Nui from the South Sea island of Mangareva, they traversed sixteen hundred miles in one- or two-hulled canoes or catamarans, across the open sea. If they came from another Polynesian island, such as the Marquesas, the distance would have been even farther at two thousand miles. Successfully completing such a feat would have provided material for a moving legend among the settlers’ descendants.

The age of the myth depends on the date when scholars believe that Rapa Nui was first settled. Traditional scholars have presented archaeological, linguistic, and anthropological evidence for a settlement between the sixth century and ninth century CE. A second group uses radiocarbon dating of geologic layers at Anakena, the site of mythical Hotu Matua’s first settlement, for its claim that the first settlement was about 1200 CE.

Most scholars believe that this myth quickly established itself as an orally transmitted legend among Rapa Nui people. The linguistic similarity of Chief Hotu Matua to the name of the Mangarevan god Atu Motua has led Steven Roger Fischer to believe that the myth was substantially altered by Mangarevan missionaries who came to Rapa Nui in 1860, creating a new hero as recipient of Haumaka’s discovery. However, if the settlers to Rapa Nui came originally from Mangareva, they may have used a similar name of their old god for their new first noble ancestor.

Since the mid-1860s, various European visitors to Rapa Nui have heard and written down oral versions of the dream of Haumaka and the related Hotu Matua cycle. This means there are some inevitable variances in story details. Once Rapa Nui people began using a romanized version of their language in the late nineteenth century, variants of the myth were written down. Among them, “Manuscript E” stands out. “Manuscript E” was written by Pua Ara Hoa A Rapu around 1920. In 1955, it was discovered by German scholar Thomas Barthel in a private family collection on Rapa Nui. Barthel eventually published and translated “Manuscript E.” It is considered the most authoritative version of the myth.

One of the most significant aspect of the myth of the dream of Haumaka is that it survived the near-total destruction of the people of Rapa Nui. Most scholars agree that self-made ecological disasters began to destroy Rapa Nui’s population before the arrival of the first Europeans in the eighteenth century. However, the 1862 enslavement and deportation of most surviving Rapa Nui people by Peruvian slave traders nearly wiped out the island’s indigenous population. By 1877, before more of the indigenous inhabitants of Rapa Nui could return, their population had dwindled to 111 recorded people.

That “Dream of Haumaka” was saved into the period of gradual recovery of Rapa Nui’s people during the twentieth century speaks to its power and persistence. Rapa Nui has become a popular, if still exotic and remote, tourist spot, and local people have taken pride in disseminating many different versions of the myth. At the core of all the versions remain one man’s prophetic dream and his bold action of sending young men on a voyage of exploration to prove the veracity of his vision.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barthel, Thomas. The Eighth Land: The Polynesian Discovery and Settlement of Easter Island. Trans. Anneliese Martin. Honolulu: UP of Hawaii, 1978. Print.

Diamond, Jared. Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Rev. ed. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.

Fischer, Steven Roger. Island at the End of the World. London: Reaktion, 2006. Print.

Métraux, Albert. Ethnology of Easter Island. Rpt. Honolulu: Bishop Museum P, 1971. Print.

Routledge, Katherine. The Mystery of Easter Island. London: Sifton, 1919. Print.