The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-05-26
.FIREWALNNG IN THE COOK ISLANDS

BY J. T. Large, in the Journal of the
Polynesian Society.
1t may interest the New Zealand
members of the Polynesian Society
to know that the cult of the Umu-Ti,
or fire-ceremony, of tropical Polyne-
STA is exhibited every now and again
in these eastern islands, the last per-
Torrance of the kind in the Cook
Group taking place a few months
ago in Atiu, in the settlement of TIE
Enui. A huge umu Cnatlve oven).
about twenty by ten feet and some
four feet deep, was dug in the earth;
this was filled with logs and smaller
fire wood, and on top large fiat stones
of the kara variety-a kind of black
basalt-were heaped. When the fire
kindled underneath had become a
mass of glowing embers, these stones
were heated sufficiently to cook an
ox-an ordinary native oven on an
enormous scale. The spot was en-
closed with a tall corrugated iron
fence, a charge being made to wit
ness or take part in this fire-cere-
mony. The proceedings were con
Quoted by native named Pauro Moari,
a taunga (priest or skilled mani from
Raiatea of the Society Group, the
ancient Havaiki of the Eastern Pa
cific. whence originated this cult, so
it is said. He was assisted by two
native acolytes. When the fire had
burnt down, natives, with Ions
forked poles, raked the embers ana
adjusted the stones at stepping dis
lance in two rows the length of the
pit. Pauro and his two assistants
clad in gay pareus (waistcloths)
and decorated with garlands and
wreatbs of flowers, then came for
ward to the edge of this fiery cavity
bearing in their right hands branches
of the ii (dracoena terminalis), 4
plant with long, narrow, hax-like
leaves-the ceremony being named
the Umu-Ti, i. e., I'll Oven. (Anciently
the large, sweet roots of the ii plant
were cooked in huge ovens of tins
description, and in the preparation
of these many a wretched victim was
treacherously thrust in to perish mis-
erably in the flames-one way Of
squaring accounts in the course OF
their endless vendettas) The cere.
mony commenced on this occasion
with the reading of the portion of the
scriptures relating to Shadrach and
his companions going through the
fiery furnace unscathed; then fol
lowed a hymn; after which PaurC
and his acolytes repeated thrice
each time striking the pit with theil
branches of ii, the following ancien
incarnation connected with the Ger
emony, laying great stress on thu
= invocation at the end:
p te Vaine nui* tauarai
E tia tie tua, pOu ia!l
Oh the great woman (priestess o
goddess) interposer,
Stand at our backs, quell it CthC
fire)!!
They then, barefooted as they
were, crossed the pit, stepping DELHI
Cratejy from stone to stone, and re
crossed lengthwise without sufferini
any injury. After a short interval
PaIro and his lieutenants repeated
the performance, being followed OF
this occasion by band of barefooteC
men and women from amongst tn,
, spectators. including the writer-th
only European present-the injunc
ton impressed upon us was to keel
= carefully to the stones, and not u
look back. We crossed and lacrosse
unharrled. A third excursion wa
: made through this burning oven o
Tophet, with the same result whic
ended the proceedings. How peop'
escape having the soles of their fee
= sCorched to a cinder while goin
through this fiery ordeal Is myster