Tautira Homecoming

By ʻOiwi TV

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.

Two weeks after their June 22nd arrival in Tahiti, Hōkūleʻa and Hikianalia left the city of Papeete 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.

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

“My grandfatherʻs 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. Itʻs always good to come home no matter no matter where youʻre from. Tautira has been Hōkūleʻaʻs home since 1976 and its been my familyʻs home for even longer,” said Hikianalia crew member Maui Tauotaha.

“Itʻs such a gift for us in HawaiʻI. itʻs a gift for those here that donʻt 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.

Tautiraʻs 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.