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from notes archived at Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i |
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred Stones (1) | Consultant: | ||
In Tua'koi, two sacred stones are inhabited by tupu'a. They could be touched, but trouble would come if someone broke them. They were not worshipped or sacrificed to. They are located at the Tarsua end of Itu'ti'u. These two stones were brought to Rotuma from Savai'i in a stone canoe. They were broken from a rock that juts out of the sea off the mainland. Moa ma ufa - Rooster and Hen, are the names of these stones. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (2) | Consultant: | ||
Below Tua'koi there are two tupu'a stones which represent a rooster and a hen. One is called Moa, or the rooster, the other Uafta, or the hen. The latter stands on a base of conglomerate rock and coral. The tupu'a is of basalt or lava rock. These two are supposed to have come from Samoa in a canoe. It is tapu to strike either of them, for doing so will bring up a great sea. The Tua'koi canoes were once washed away by a wave that followed the striking of these tupu'a. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (3) | Consultant: | ||
There was a hen and rooster who left Samoa in a canoe and arrived on the shore at Tarasua below Tua'koi. These have all turned to stone. The place where the canoe landed is marked by a deep recess in the lava rock, in which the water rushed up as the tide comes in. Ka'ka'a he rua is the name of two stones or tupu'a. It is tabu to strike these, or to make fires there. Breaking this tabu causes a great sea. Once a man struck one of these tupu'a and a great wave washed away all the canoes on the Tua'koi beach. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (4) | Consultant: | Katalina | |
At Lau there was a tupu'a called Moata. A man named Taiau used to beat the drum in Lau, in Kataleena's time, and call Moata, and a tu'ura was there to tell what Moata said. When Moata entered this man, Tifere, he used to shake all over and then crow like a rooster. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (5) | Consultant: | |
In regard to the worship of stones, there is a rock in the bush at Kalvaka, called Tui Lopi, which was considered a god of that place. People who were going into the bush to collect julia, an ornamental fern, or sasa also an ornamental plant, always laid a leaf on this stone and asked Tui Lopi to protect them on their trip and keep them from falling over any stones in the way. The tupu'a is said to be covered with sasa and julia. "A tupu'a is something everlasting or permanent and a thing that looks like something living. All stones are regarded as tupu'a."
"All holes in the sky, the stars, the sun, the moon, the points of the compass are all tupu'a. To steer is tupu'a." |
julia roroa = Blechnum orientale (fern)
hanisi = love, compassion, pity
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Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (6) | Consultant: | ||
After the souls went to Tukuarotuam, they went out to a stone in the middle of the reef called Jopu'akiag. A woman was supposed to stand on this rock and as each soul came to her she ducked them in a pool beside the rock. This pool is deep and can be seen. People on shore could hear the souls when they dove in some nights, and when there were many there was a great roar like thunder. After a battle too, there was much noise at the rock as the souls dove into the pool. The woman was supposed to shove them down. Also there would be blood on the beach opposite the rock after a great battle. These were the souls of the wounded who were bleeding on the way to 'oroi. Leklekitau was the name of the woman on Jopu'akiag. (Here the souls are dead, though she stated they came to Tukuarotuam before they died.) Also the souls of the living who kicked the rock went to their own 'oroi when they died. On the road to Halafa in Itu'ti'u there is a stone called Tukuarotuam. The souls of Rotumans when passing always kick this stone and if they fall over forwards they will surely die, and if they fall backwards they will not die. These were the souls of live people, perhaps near death. Their souls were travelling without the body and while the body was alive. On a still night people could hear the 'atua when they kicked the stone, and then they knew someone was about to die. All the souls of Rotuma were supposed to come to this stone. Proof of this kicking of the stone was seen in the death of Muatoa, a famous strong man. One morning they found that Tukuarotuam had been slightly moved and they knew that only the 'atua of a strong man could do this. They predicted the death of a strong man in a very short time, and Muatoa died within a few days. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (7) | Consultant: | ||
There is a rock on the sea side of the island of Solkope which is the tupua' Leplafeke. This rock once lived on the island of Haua in Oinafa, but during a great fish drive of Oinafa Leplafeke's share of the catch was given away. The rock became angry at this and started to walk around Rotuma to get away from Haua. When he came to Solkope he thought he would either have to go around the island or go in the bush at the other end. But passing between Sarii [?] and Solkope on the sea side he found a good place, and stayed there to hide from Oinafa. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (8) | Consultant: | ||
When a person died and his spirit entered a stone, he was a tupu'a. People went to them and laid their troubles before them and they were assisted. | ||||||
Category: | Religion | Topic: | Sacred stones (9) | Consultant: | ||
Moving rocks Also there was a rock called Nofo on Haua, and for some reason it left with its wife and children and has settled at Ahau. | ||||||
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