It’s An Old Niue Custom

From J. Edward Brown, in Niue.

We have just had the season when Niueans in dulge in a curious custom called takai, which means to go around the island.

AND every year about Christmas and New Year they do just that, travelling on bicycles, motor cycles and on the backs of trucks, singing and shouting and playing musical instruments. Their bicycles and trucks are decorated with crepe paper and coconut leaves and they’re all very happy.

They don’t stop at any village unless they are invited to, but just keep on going until they arrive back at their home village and so complete the takai.

In the old days—before bicycles, motor cycles and trucks came to the island—they used to walk around, some of them following the cliff edge instead of using the tracks which have now become an encircling road.

At one time also they used to do a takai by canoe, but I’m told that until this year, it has been more than 10 years since anybody has paddled around the

island. This year a Niuean named Akapo, performed a canoe takai. He had planned to do it at Christmas, but on December 21 he decided that as the wind and weather seemed right he would go. He left his village of Tamakautoga at 11 a.m., estimat ing the trip, a distance of some 50 miles, would take him five hours.

He had calm seas all the way until he was off Makefu Point on the western side of the island and nearly home. From there to Tamakautoga the sea was rough and he was blown well out to sea. He finally managed to land at Avatele, the next village past his own, at 3 a.m. and from there he walked home.

It had taken him 16 hours, and it caused a lot of people a lot of worry because he didn’t bother to tell anybody he was doing it!