House On The Hole Of Tonga
p. 79 · Read in the full issue
A Cook Islands meeting house which was officially opened recently has the distinction of being the first to be built in Rarotonga for 36 years. And a bit of history goes with it.
Over 600 guests attended the opening feast, for which 200 pigs and large quantities of native vegetables were provided. The following day teams of dancers from five districts performed non-stop for eight hours, and traffic on the busy coastal road was blocked by dancers and spectators.
Few of the people who saw the celebrations were aware of the significance of the name of the meeting house, Te-Rua-o-te-Tonga, or of the dance in which gaily dressed performers simulated the crews of ocean-going canoes.
According to a legend of the Au-o-Tonga tribe, an early ancestor of theirs left his home island of Raiatea, near Tahiti, and arrived at Rarotonga. He landed at Avatiu, close to the spot where the meeting house now stands. He had left Raiatea because he distrusted and feared his brothers, and he brought the tribe’s four chief gods with him.
He hid the gods in a hole in the Avatiu reef, and the hiding place was called Te-Rua-o-te-Tonga, the hole of Tonga. Tonga was the name of one of the gods.
Most Cook Islands meeting houses are given Biblical names, dul in this case it was decided to use the name to commemorate this incident of ancient tribal history.
The building took seven years to construct, and funds were raised from public entertainments and voluntary subscriptions.
This was a notable effort, as the community responsible is one of the smallest on Rarotonga, numbering about 60 households.
Cook Islands meeting houses are used on week-days for village council debates, and on Sunday evenings, for religious discussions.