Oral tradition and the canoe on Takū

Abstract

The article examines how Takū position the canoe in their understanding of the past and exploit it to achieve temporary individual prominence within an otherwise egalitarian society. The canoe on Takū exists in two spheres of reference: in the collective memory of two bygone eras preserved largely in fragmented mythology and ancient song lyrics, and as the item of contemporary material culture crucially involved in the economic life of the small community, whose fishing exploits and the skills of its builders and crews fill the lyrics of hundreds of songs in the active repertoire. The dearth of published information on Takū generally and its canoes in particular is offset by the strength of its oral tradition, which recounts and interprets the activities of two canoe types revered but never seen, as well as two more currently in use. As arguably the last location where Polynesian religion is still practiced as the norm, it is also possible to examine the roles of ritual and belief in the canoe’s prominence, in particular the connections between voyagers, builders and ancestor spirits. In unequivocal statements most frequently formalised in song lyrics, creators and users of a canoe can be successful, let alone achieve enduring fame, only if they know and use the appropriate invocations, acknowledging as they do so the social force of precedent. At least in part, the ongoing significance of the canoe, particularly the manner in which it is used, depends on maintenance of such precedent.