Hawaiki
Polynesians give the name Hawaiki to the mythical island to which they trace their origins. Polynesian legends say that the spirits of Polynesian people return to Hawaiki upon their death.
Spellings
The Māori language name "Hawaiki" figures in legends about the arrival of the Māori in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The same concept appears in other Polynesian cultures, and the name appears variously as Hawaiiki, Hawai‘iki, Hawaii‘iki, Havai‘i, Hawai‘ti, Savai‘i in the various Pacific island languages, though Hawaiki appears to have become the most common variation used in English. (The ii, i‘i, ii‘i variants represent attempts to phonetically reflect a long I sound, with a glottal stop in the middle replacing the "k" in some variants.)
Some say that the Polynesian islands of Hawaii, written Hawai‘i in Hawaiian, and Savai'i in Samoa take their name in commemoration of Hawaiki. Some pseudohistorical theories connect Hawaiki with the lost continent of Mu.
Legends
Legend has it that the Polynesians migrated from Hawaiki to the islands of the Pacific Ocean in open boats, little different from the traditional craft found in Polynesia today. The Māori people of New Zealand trace their ancestry to groups of people who reportedly travelled from Hawaiki in about forty named canoes (waka). (Compare the discredited "Great Fleet" theory of New Zealand settlement)
I hate Hawaiki
See also
External links
- Hawai'iki - The Ancient Land - Hawaiian Legend.
- Oceania history websites, profiled