Under the coconut forest, just by the sepulchre, sits a Tu’ura in the form of a magnificent bird. Tu’ura, spirit invoked animal, spirit animal, animal-spirit, a voice from ‘oroi ta, and mafua of universes. Its wings glow in moonbeams and sparkle in sunlight. When the laha shakes, unearthing valleys below, and washing tidal waves onto the fanfana, Tu’ura opens its beak and from it emerges sweet chaos. Chaos that cascades into swirls of anger, turmoil, and pain inflicted deep into blood, and passing from one descendent to the next, like gifts from the temamfua. Chaos that unravels like a flower, with honeydew scents of bright colours plucked from the rainbow and birthing an enigma, gifts for the tore.

Tu’ura shifts between realities; in one form it sedates disorder, and in another, incites fear. Its appetite forever at its apex, enthralled and writhing, embodiment of chaos usurping shadows and flickers of light. From this darkness bleeds culture, tethering foro to ‘oroi-ta. Tu’ura calls

fȧ’ omus foro
fȧ’fȧ’ omus foro

Tu’ura bids the marks be struck, giving to the majạu the seeds of si’esi and hefau. And as the beating of the vau sticks match the rhythm of the riri, the songs of the manạlū carry forth thunderous echoes of the hanua. Tu’ura’s mighty song serenades the hearts of those who heed its invitation. A call to healing, as Tu’ura performs hapagsū. Irrevocably bolstering body to spirit, sit the pepvaë and the sunu. Gifts of this Tu’ura line the arms, the chests, and the thighs.

Among the trees, Tu’ura perches; its talons grip branches, waiting patiently, cautiously, for the woman of the forest. The woman who personifies the mayhem of Tu’ura’s chaos. Hanitemausu, sister, mother, woman, deity. Sister of Tuisavarara, Mother of Tokainiua, woman of the bush, deity of the hanua, spirit invoking woman. Hanitemausu crescents pure’aga, epitomising strength and formidability. She encapsulates hanua, its hanuju and its breath. And as she and Tu’ura converse, the earth around them soars through realities, bringing forth a vulnerability, one also born of chaos. Hanitemausu slips back into hanua and like Tu’ura, she waits patiently, cautiously to reveal her anarchy. Tu’ura reverberates that chaos is fought with chaos. Hanitemausu contests its injustices. She reaches deep within and around and bathes in hanua’s gifts.

Now, unable to sit in the form of a bird, to sing its songs, or dance its tautoga, Tu’ura hides from the hungry eyes that hunt and curse. Pursued for feathers and hide, talons and bones, Tu’ura shifts into creatures of sạsi, only to be over-fished, over-sought, pushed toward annihilation. Its mana weakens as the lines fastening famor Rotuma are disconnected. Tu’ura weeps. Blood is spilled without purpose, soaking into hanua. Hanitemausu drinks from these deep pools. Until the new deity intervenes, ostracising her while hypocritically offering wines as blood. Tu’ura is mutilated, contested, pushed against the peripheries of gnawing desires. Ancient wisdom offers a challenge; Hanitemausu accepts. She cradles the soft broken wings of Tu’ura before slipping back into hanua, waiting patiently and cautiously.

The hanua altered, drastically, deeply, fleetingly. Distorted landscapes, caricatures of cultures struggling to be one and many, and the promise of stolen knowledge woven into the fabric of dreams. Discarded memories of old deities haunt the children of Hanitemausu. From deep within an inebriated chaos, she summons the sisters born at sunset, born at sunrise. Nujka’u and Nujmaga, sandy women of land and sea, Hanleprua, Suak creators of Hanua. From their stories come forth a survival, a guide to traversing the present, and accepting pasts. An inevitable catastrophe lingers, like tiou. On a wound, the salt ravishes a hurt that breeds familiarity. It is a call, a call that once upon a land whispered through the wind and echoed from caves, urged by Tu’ura from deep within the hanua that sings

fȧ’ omus foro
fȧ’fȧ’ omus foro

As Hanitemausu invokes the courage to create like Hanleprua, an ending instigates with a beginning. Like an Ourobouros, snake swallowing its own tail, encircling like the world’s motions, nature of culture must swallow its being and continue from discontinued stories. The body’s slate is bare, unprotected spiritually, physically and mentality. The mind swallows ambrosia of knowledge and falls through oceans of ignorance. It is a reality of shame that weeps like Tu’ura. From ‘oroi ta, the temamfua see through Tu’ura, rain torrents down from the skies, and lava erupts from the earth. Questions dance in the mouths of culture, untethered, seeking the thin line of hope. Loyalty nurtured by the pleasures of an obsession ruffles the scarred feathers of the Tu’ura, who looks away in sadness. Sun and moon peer through the skies and wait for those who worship their presence, to gift peace and weave into the consciousness of life, an imagination wrapped in a projected path.

The majạu of the Anthropocene heeds the cry of the earth. Fashioning the vau sticks and bones, sharp little teeth, held fast by coconut fronds, woven tightly for a grip. The majạu dips the prongs into ash of the hefau, and soot of the si’esi. Taking in the breath of Hanitemausu, invoking her anarchy, and drawing from the mana of Hanleprua, beseeching their courage, the song of the Tu’ura begins to echo from ‘oroi-ta

fȧ’ omus foro
fȧ’fȧ’ omus foro

And so it is born again. The fạ’i seeps onto the skins, clothing famor Rotuma, tethering lost souls to temamfua. And as hapagsū is done, Tu’ura spreads its magnificent wings, healed from the marks of the pepväe and sunu, and begins to dance its tautoga.

Tu’ura opens its mouth, and from it, chaos cascades into swirls of anger, turmoil, and pain inflicted deep into the blood, and passing from one descendent to the next, like gifts from the temamfua, and chaos that unravels like a flower, with honeydew scents of bright colours plucked from the rainbow and birthing an enigma, gifts for the tore.

From this chaos emerges the fạ’i.

Glossary

Tu’ura: Human spirit that takes up the space in an animal, possessing an animal

‘Oroi ta: Unseen region, dwelling of ancestors

mafua: knowledgeable elder well-versed in customs

laha: rich fertile earth/ forest; thriving coral reef

fanfana: beach/ sand 

temamfua: ancestor(s)

tore: descendent(s), future

foro: body

fȧ’ omus foro; fȧ’fȧ’ omus foro: tattoo your bodies

majạu: skilled master

si’esi: candlenut

hefau: callophylum

vau: bamboo

riri: beating of the mats like drums

manạlū: composer of song, a poet

hapagsū: ceremony performed to and for a person who has spilled blood

pepvaë, sunu: marks in a repetitive pattern

hanua: land, home

pure’aga: sovereignty

hanuju: story, tale, history

tautoga: Rotuman dance

sạsi: ocean, sea

famor Rotuma: people of Rotuma

suak: also suka; twin

tiou: salt spots left by sea-spray

tautoga: Rotuman dance

sạsi: ocean, sea

famor Rotuma: people of Rotuma

suak: also suka; twin

tiou: salt spots left by sea-spray

fȧ’ omus foro; fȧ’fȧ’ omus foro: tattoo your bodies

pepvaë, sunu: marks in a repetitive pattern.

Fạ’i: Rotuman cultural tattoo