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Mangaian Society

Name

Name

The usage of the term matakeinanga to indicate the mass of the people of the land is illustrated by the concluding verse of a prayer over a human sacrifice to Rongo (6, p. 296). The human sacrifice with the subsequent sounding of the peace drum denoted the end of war, when the fugitives came forth in safety from their hiding places.

Taua ra i te makatea, We were in the makatea,
I te punanga o te 'ao. In the refuge of the conquered.
Teniteni te matakeinanga, [But now] the people shout in glee,
Koakoa te matakeinanga. The people rejoice.

Though sometimes restricted to indicate a smaller family group, matakeinanga did not become a general term to indicate a tribal grouping as it did in Manihiki.

The term ivi (bone) is used to indicate a group of people classed together through some common cause, as ivi panga (fatherless group), which refers to the fugitives who have fled for safety to the makatea. The plural may be used, as nga ivi panga (the fatherless groups).

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A group is also referred to as a vaka (canoe), as in a song composed by Potiki of Ngati-Vara (12, p. 181): "Kua pau te vaka o Ruanae." (The tribe of Ruanae is finished.)

The definite groupings in Mangaia have been alluded to as "clans" by Gill (5, 11). American authorities, who regard the clan as a kindred group following matrilineal descent would regard the social groups of Mangaia as gens. The groups originally settled in definite areas, had their own governing chiefs, and united for war. Originally there were probably some dialectic differences between groups, owing to their origin from different islands. The term "tribe" is therefore referred to them in this work.

The Mangaian term for a tribe is kopu or kopu tangata. Kopu in general means the abdomen but in this particular, the womb, and conveys the idea that all members of the tribe are descended from the one ancestral womb. Though the female term is used, the recognition of the procreating power of the male places the female ancestor in a secondary position; descent and succession are traced to the husband of the first ancestral pair. The qualifying term tangata simply means "people," the group of people forming the particular tribe.

Another term used to denote the tribe is pare. Akunukunu, priest of Motoro and father of Mautara, was afraid that he would be slain by the Ngati-Tane; but his wife, Kura-peau of the Tongaiti, said, "Kare koe e mate, e ngao taku pare." (You will not be slain, my tribe is great.) The term pare is also used in poetry (12, p. 147):

Kapitipitia e i pau nga pare e! Again and again the tribes were slain!
E tangi atu ra i ki te pare.a Weep for the tribe.

Another rarer term used for tribe is e. It is used in the lament of Koroa concerning the expulsion of the Tongaiti, who are descendants of Te-tipi (12, p. 133): "Te e o Te-tipi, ka eva e —." (The tribe of Te-tipi now mourns.)

Wissler (29, p. 117) selects, as one of the outstanding characteristics of a tribe, the designation by a specific name. The Mangaian tribes possessed this characteristic and, in addition, the larger tribes underwent a process of division into subtribes, each with its specific name, as shown in the following list:

Tribes Subtribes Island of Origin
Ngariki Ngariki (Paparangi) Avaiki (?)
Akatauira Avaiki (?)
Vaeruarangi Avaiki (?)
Ngati-Vara (Amama) ------- Avaiki (?)
Tongaiti Teipe ?
Teaaki ?page 103
Ngati-Tane (Aitu) ------- Tahiti
Te Kama ------- Tahiti (Vaiiria)
Kanae ------- ?
Tangiia ------- ?
Tui-kura ------- ?
Ngati-Amai ------- Rarotonga
Ngati-Manaune ------- Mangaia

The method of naming the tribes varied. The name of the eponymous ancestor was used without any prefix, as in Paparangi, Akatauira, Vaeruarangi, Manaune, and perhaps Te Kama. In three names the tribal prefix, Ngati, which is formed of the plural definite article nga (the) combined with ti and means "the descendants of" is used. Thus Ngati-Vara means the descendants of Vara and includes those descended from Vara in the male line. Individuals in other tribes may claim descent from Vara through a Ngati-Vara woman but can not class themselves as Ngati-Vara.

The use of the prefix Ngati before the name of a family head was used on occasions to denote a family group. It was also used to denote the people descended from a remoter ancestor to stress the name of an ancestor who had not been selected as the eponymous ancestor of the tribe. The term 'anau (family) was also used in a similar way, as in Mautara's lament for his mother Kura-peau (12, p. 129):

Ko te 'anau a Tevaki The family of Tevaki,
Ko Ngati Vairanga. he descendants of Vairanga.

Both Tevaki and Vairanga were ancestors of the Ngati-Tane tribe, but as the tribe already had two specific names neither of their names could be used for the permanent tribal appellation. Doubtless the prefix Ngati was originally used as a convenient means of denoting distinctive family groups, and when the group grew the name became crystallized into a subtribal and eventually into a tribal name.

Williamson (28, vol. 2, p. 44) uses the term Ngati as if it were a synonym for tribe, but this is incorrect; it was a prefix which required the addition of the ancestor's personal name. The Mangaian tribal names with Ngati prefixed to an ancestor's name are Ngati-Vara and Ngati-Amai. In the Ngati-Tane, Tane is not a human ancestor but a god, and the various immigrant groups of Aitu people, who were all worshipers of the god Tane, were conveniently grouped together under the alternative name of Ngati-Tane. The tribes using an ancestral name without the prefix sometimes used the prefix; but its dropping was a question of usage. Koroa, however, did use the term ngati by itself as the equivalent of "tribe," but he was using poetic license which does not enter into current speech.

The plural definite article nga is used in the tribal name Ngariki, a shortened form of Nga-ariki. It is descriptive and refers to the three arikis page 104from Avaiki who were the ancestors of the tribe and stresses the high status claimed by the tribe. Another descriptive name is that of the Tui-kura (tu'i, "mark"; kura, "red"), which refers to some custom in the tribe of marking the face with red. The tribal name Kanae means "the mullet fish," but there is nothing on record to explain the origin of this extinct tribe.

The tribe of Tongaiti, with its two subtribes, Teipe and Teaaki, took the names of the gods. The Ngati-Tane took the name of Tane with a prefix. The Ngati-Tane had another name, Aitu (god), which referred to their worship of Tane. The Ngati-Vara had the older name of Te Amama (The Open-mouth), which was derived from the opening of the mouth of Papaaunuku when the god of Motoro entered into him. Te Amama stresses the priestly origin and hereditary function of the group, and Ngati-Vara denotes the usual form of human grouping.

The descriptive tribal names in Mangaia were probably first applied by outside tribes. The group name Aitu was applied to the invading worshipers of Tane from Tahiti by the people of Aitutaki, Atiu, Mauke, and Mitiaro. Perhaps all the invaders had totally (different names for themselves. In Mangaia the worshipers of Tane became established, accepted the name applied to them, and adopted it into their own current speech. The descriptive name of Tui-kura (Red-marked) is more likely to have been applied by outsiders. The action of the group itself should have been to name themselves after an ancestor.

Even some of the kinship names may have been first applied by outsiders. The Mangaians, like other Polynesians, have individual personal names but no current surname as understood in English. In English, a group of people descended from a Smith may be alluded to as "the Smiths" by using the plural with the surname. In Mangaian, the same result was achieved in current speech by using the plural prefix with the name of the individual. Thus Ngati-Poito literally means "the Poitos", whereas te 'anau a Poito means "the family of Poito." The family of Poito may not allude to themselves as Ngati-Poito, for they know each other's personal names and can use the personal pronouns "we" and "us" in alluding to themselves as a group. Outsiders may therefore be the first to use a collective term which denotes not only the group but its growing prestige. If the family develops into a subtribe or a tribe, it may use a tribal name that was first used in the current speech of outsiders. On the other hand, the selection of the ancestor with whose name the tribal name prefix should be used was sometimes made within the group itself. Table 3 shows that between Papaaunuku and Mautara inclusive there were six single male ancestors, any one of whom could have been appropriately chosen to supply the tribal name. Of these, Papaaunuku was the oldest, but Mautara, the most recent, was the most famous. The group is often referred page 105to as Ngati-Mautara in current speech, but as a specific name it is probably regarded as too recent and likely to forfeit the prestige of long settlement. Papaaunuku had already provided the alternative name of Te Amama, so the name of his son Vara was adopted as the tribal name.