The Universe of the Pacific Islanders
As compiled by: Akira Goto
Creation of the Universe
There are two types of creation myth or cosmogony in Polynesia: genealogical or evolutionary type, and creative type. The first type is based on a concept of a self-evolving cosmos, suggesting that the original universe was just a body of shell or a great primal cause. The term genealogical is applied since the successive stages in the development of the cosmos are personified, each being regarded as the offspring of the next preceding. The second type includes myths saying that the universe was created by some kind of intentional activity by primary gods. This activity includes primary pairs of gods begot the islands and universe.
Native Astronomy: Myth or Science
Since the Pacific islanders had settled the tiny islands of the Pacific by crossing the sea, they must have had skilled techniques for seafaring and locating their position in the vast ocean. Before the instruments for navigation were invented, they must have depended on seeing natural phenomena, such as stars, winds, waves, clouds, birds, and sea creatures.
In general, the Polynesian method of navigation consisted in laying a course direct to a given destination by keeping the bow of the vessel pointed toward a star near the horizon whose bearing corresponded with the direction of the destination. During the daytime the course had to be figured from the changing position of the sun.
Hawai-loa is a heroic navigator told in Hawaiian mythology[1]. According to the legend, he loved the sound of waves and was skilled in canoe building and navigation. He observed the ocean and thought that the sky ran down into it at the horizon. So he built a canoe and started voyaging with eight mariners. For them the ever-present stars served as reliable guides: these celestial beings had been placed in the heavens at the time of ancestors or gods to serve as index of the seasons and the calendar, and to lead pioneers in the ocean.
Hawai-loa had received an education in the astronomical school. He knew how to tell the months by the stars and the days by the changing phases of the Moon. He could recite the names of the stars that rose from the same rua or pit on the horizon.
Among eight mariners, Makalii (=Pleiades) is a master navigator. He said to Hawai-loa, “Let us steer the vessel in the direction of Ial, the Eastern Star, the discoverer of land. There is land to the eastward, and here is a red star Hoku'ula (Aldebaran) to guide us, and the land is there in the direction of those big stars which resemble a bird.” Following this advice, they finally reached the Island of Hawaii[2].
The knowledge of astronomy and navigation was handed down not in the form of academic leaning today but in the form of myths and chants. The chant “the birth of the new lands” recorded on the Island of Raiatea of the Society Islands (islands of Tahitian group) is a typical example:
Let more land grow from Havai’i (=mythical land for Polynesian ancestors) !
Mauria is the star, Aeu-ere is the king.
Of Havai’i, the birthplace of lands.
The morning apparition rides
Upon the flying vapor of the chilly border.
Bear thou on! Bear on and strike where ?
Strike upon Moana-urifa
In the border of the west.
The sea casts up Vavau, the first-born[3].
The morning apparition probably means the morning star, Mariua or Spica. Moana-urifa, sea-of-rank-odor, lay southwest of the Society group, and Vavau is the ancient name for Borapora, the most western island of the archipelago. After the birth of various islands of the Society Islands the morning star flies eastward and the Tuamotuan atolls emerge to the surface where it strikes. Star flies across the sea of Marama (moon) and the volcanic islands of the Marquesas make their appearance.
This course surprisingly corresponds to the actual course taken by experimental voyage of Hokule’a, an ancient Hawaiian canoe reconstructed for experimental archaeology. The above chant might be sung by the canoe crew to relieve the tension and enliven the monotony of a long voyage, or remember the star course to reach the Hawaiian Islands[4].
[1] Makemson, M. The Morning Star Rises: An Account of Polynesian Mythology. (1941, Yale University Press).
[2] Fornander, A. "Legend of Hawaii-loa." In: Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore. Memoirs of the B.P. Bishop Museum, Vol.IV(2). (1919)
[3] Henry, T. Ancient Tahiti. B.P. Bishop Museum, Bulletin 48 (1928)
[4] Finney, Ben Hokul'a: the Way to Tahiti. (1979, Dodd, Mead and Company).
Native Astronomers
Although Hawaii-loa story is a legend, there were priests who were specialized in astronomy. For instance, Hawaiian scholar, Kepelino wrote:
Kiopa’a is a very large star and it marks the north side of the earth. The name means "immovable." It is a famous star and is used as a guide to land. One of the steersmen of Hawaii-loa's canoes was called by that name. The Hawaiians divided the stars into two classes: (1) the fixed stars and the (2) moving stars. In fixed stars there were three classes, (a) star used as a guiding star to land, Kiopa'a; (b) the stars close to heaven called "lani" (=heaven), lalani; (c) the sun, the moon, and the Hoku’loa or great star.
The lalani or stars-of-heaven are the stars close to the heavens and extending from one side to the other of the heavens; and they were called "ruling stars." The Hawaiians called the sun "the chief star over all the stars," and by another name, "the great sun of Kane," because Kane made it. The moon is the chief star over the night and it is called "Light" or Malama because it light up the night (Beckwith 1932: 78-80).
Pacific islanders tend to regard the heaven consists of three to twelve layers formed by widely spaced concentric hemispheres. In a vertical direction upward, the celestial realms lie one above the other, but in a horizontal direction they formed circular zones on the earth’s surface. A group of islands which considered itself te pito, the naval of the universe, was conceived of as situated at the center of a series of concentric spaces of great but indefinite extent, separated from one another by the walls of the various sky domes which rested on the earth[1].
According to Hawaiian scholar Malo:
(1) kahiki-moe: the circle or zone of the earth’s surface, whether sea or land, which the eye traverses in looking to the horizon; (2) kahiki-ku: the circle hemisphere of the sky, which bends upward from the horizon (the domain of Alpha and Beta Centauri, the Southern Cross, etc.); (3) kahiki-ke-papa-nu’u: border of the earth plane (roughly corresponds to winter solstice) ; (4) kahiki-ke-papa-lani: borders of the celestial planes (roughly corresponds to celestial equator) ; (5) kahiki-kapui-holani-ke-kunia: the zone beyond (roughly corresponds to summer sulistice); (6) kahiki-ke-holani-ke-kunina: the zone beyond kahiki-ke-papa-lani and directly overhead (the domain of Orion, Aldebaran, Altair, etc.)[2] .
The astronomical knowledge was also used to indicate seasons. The number of lunar months ranges from twelve to fourteen; thirteen being the majority. A year was said to have begun around late November or early December in most societies of Polynesia, while in the cases of Tokelau and Rakahanga, a June commencement is indicated. Both of these times were important in the Ancestral Polynesian system, correlated with the acronitic and heliacal rising of the Pleiades, and marked the transition from one *taqu (‘season’) to the next.
The Pleiades rise soon after sunset on November 20, are on the meridian at sunset about February 20 (=acronitic rising), and set in the rays of the setting Sun toward the end of April. Thirty or forty days later they are visible on the eastern horizon just before down (=heliacal rising). Due to the precession of the equinoxes the star-cluster is now 30° farther east of the vernal equinox than it was 2,000 years ago, when it was also 7°close to the celestial equator[3](Makemson 1941: 76).
[1] Kepelino. Tradition of Hawaii. B.P. Bishop Museum, Buletin 95 (1932)
[2] Malo, David Hawaiian Antiquities. B.P. Bishop Museum Special Publications 2 (1903).
[3] Makemson, op. cit.
The Astronomical Knowledge of Equatorial Islands
The northern shore of Arorae, the Gilbert Islands, there situated several pairs of parallel rough-out coral slabs. There are arranged horizontally on the ground. One pair is directed to the neighboring island of Tamana, about 80 km from Arorae; a second one is to Beru Island 140 km away, while a third pair is to Banaba 700 km distant, and so on. Islanders called them tetibu ni boorau that means “the stones for voyages.” Islanders say these slabs were used by their ancestors to set directions for inter-island navigation. Each pair of stones also seems to be aligned with the place where certain stars appear or disappear on the sea horizon. For example, at evening twilight in August the bright star Regulus aligns with the Tamana stone; at midnight Arctrus rises at the same point, since both stars give the same bearing. Observing this, the navigator could memorize a star path, consisting of a long chain of stars[1].
The Gilbertese navigator conceived the night sky as a vast roof. It was not called karawa, the usual term for the heavens, but the special name uma ni borau, which means 'roof of voyaging' is used: eastern horizon te tatanga ni miniku(the roof-plate of east) and the western te tanga ni maenao (the foof-plate of west), the meridian te taubuki (the ridge-pole).
The roof is supported by imaginary rafters (oka), three on the eastern slope and
three on the west. The apex of the middle pair is situated at the point where Rigel (beta Orion) crosses the meridian. These middle rafters represent celestial equator, which is placed about 8°south of the equator. Lying across these rafters, the navigator sees a series of three equally spaced cross-beams or purlins on each slope of the roof.
The nautical almanac is managed by observations of the Pleiades (nei auti) and the star Antares (rimwimata). These stars are suited to seasonal observations, for they stand within 10° of exact opposition to each other on the star-sphere.
The year is considered to begin with the appearance of the Pleiades in the first eastern purlin after sunset. The season ends when Antares is observed to appear at the same altitude around 6 p.m., about the second week of June. The second season (tannaki) of the year (ririk) then begins, and lasts until the Pleiades reappear at sunset. Thus, the main division of the year are two: Te auti, which continues from early December to early June, and Te rimwimata, from early June to early December. Each season is subdivided into eight shorter periods called bong, whose duration is determined by observing the successive altitudes of the seasonal star after sunset.
The apparent movement of the sun to the northward and southward of the equator was carefully observed. In the course from north to south the sun was said to journey i-eta n te aba (=above or to windward of the land); in its south to north movement, i-aa n te aba (below or to leeward of the land). 'Windward' is used to indicate the season of the fair wind, or navigator's wind (i.e. easterly trade wind), so that the expression 'to windward' is synonymous with eastward, while 'leeward' means westward.
The sun was said to have reached its toki (limit) in the north when the Pleiades were seen to stand on the first purlin to eastward before dawn. In other words the northern solstice was determined by the appearance of the Pleiades, at about 5 p.m., approximately 22°above the eastern horizon (around 25 June)[2] .
[1] Grimble, A. Migrations, Myth and Magic from the Gilbert Islands. (1971, Routledge & Kegan Paul).
[2] Aveni, A. People and the Sky: Our Ancestors and the Cosmos. (2008, Thames and Hudson)
The Carolinian Star Compass
Caroline Islanders are the only people who had inherited native star compass to navigate their canoe until today. Navigators from the Caroline Islands employ a conceptual construct of stars and bearings called naang in Satawal or langin Polowat which means heaven or sky.
This is generally known as a ‘sidereal compass’ or ‘star compass’, but unlike the Western magnetic compass it is not actually used at the sea. Rather, it is an abstract image of star bearings at the horizon that navigators memorize.
For the purpose of education, a navigator places 32 small lumps of coral or shells on a woven Pandanus mat, and arranges them in a circle to stand for the points in the compass. These are named after the stars and constellations that rise or set at those points. The exceptions is Polaris that appears not to move, staying around the North Celestial Pole, and the five most southerly points corresponding to stages in the rotation of the Southern Cross around the South Celestial Pole.
The compass is not exactly oriented. Orion’s belt is close to the equator, but on rising Altair, Mailap [‘Big Bird’] which rises the horizon about 9°north of east is conceived as “east”: most of the Carolinian atolls lie in a narrow band that lie just a few degrees north and south of Altair's path.
Whereas stars provide the names for the points, the division of the horizon into 32 points was the result of the halving process that produced the 32-point compass card used on western magnetic compasses. There is an argument whether 32 points are evenly located or unevenly located following the real position of stars. Master navigator of Polowat, Manny Sikau notes that they know the directional stars are not evenly spaced. They do it that way when laid out with rocks but just to make it easier for the beginner to learn[1].
Also, the master navigator only explains things in general terms to everyone, except a close family member, such as his son. With his son, the navigator provides more specifics. For example, he will even tell his son which part of constellation is the true direction. Actual sailing directions to various islands reflect the actual position of the stars.
It is interesting to note that Arab navigators also used a 32-point star compass, which is thought to have predated their adoption of the magnetic compass. It was oriented on Altair and employed most of the same stars and constellations as Carolinians. It is probable that their sidereal compass was originally an Oceanic development that spread with outrigger canoes west to the Indian Ocean, where Arab seafarers adopted it[2].
[1] Finney, Ben ; Gladwin T. East is the Big Bird: Navigation and Logic on Puluwat Atoll. (Harvard University Press).
[2] Personal Communications of Manny Sikau and Laurence Cunningham.