Tautira Homecoming

SCROLl TO DISCOVER

“The village of Tautira embodies many of the values of Mālama Honua. The people here are fishermen and farmers. They live in balance with their natural environment. So the people here at Tautira have many lessons for us to learn.”

[dropcap2]T[/dropcap2]wo weeks after their June 22nd arrival in Tahiti, Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia left the city of Papeʻete and sailed here to the northeastern shore of Tahiti to the village of Tautira. Not just another stop along the way, but rather a homecoming.

“This is a homecoming. Tautira is always a homecoming. From the very beginning in 1976, as soon as the canoe came here, the people adopted the canoe, adopted the crew, adopted the whole concept of what it was all about,” said master navigator Bruce Blankenfeld.

[pullquote]“This is a homecoming. Tautira is always a homecoming, from the very beginning in 1976.”[/pullquote]

This bond between communities grew from and continues through pilina ʻohana or family relationships.

“My grandfather’s name is Puaniho Tauotaha. He is actually from Huahine. He spent a lot of his life here in Tautira raising his family with Mama Mahine. It’s always good to come home no matter where you’re from. Tautira has been Hōkūleʻa’s home since 1976 and it’s been my family’s home for even longer,” said Hikianalia crew member Maui Tauotaha.

“It’s such a gift for us in Hawaiʻi. It’s a gift for those here that don’t really know the story, but because the canoe comes and everybody talks they learn the story and then all these youngsters are a witness to all of this,” said Bruce.

Tautira’s stunning natural beauty and subsistence lifestyle is a great setting to reflect on and be surrounded by the essence of Mālama Honua — or caring for people and place — the overall message of this Worldwide Voyage.

“The village of Tautira embodies many of the values of Mālama Honua. The people here are fishermen, farmers. They live in balance with their natural environment. So the people here at Tautira have many lessons for us to learn of how we can better take better care of our environment and Mālama Honua,” said Maui.

NA KA HAWAIʻI
NO KA HAWAIʻI

Our vision is to reestablish the Native Hawaiian worldview to a place of authority in Hawaiians, Hawaiʻi and the rest of the world.

Have a story to share? We'd love to hear.

Videos produced.

Visitors to ʻŌiwi TV Channel 326 per month.

Videos in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi.