About The Cook Islands

Geography: The Pacific nation of the Cook Islands comprises of 15 islands spread over 2.2 million square kilometers(849,400 square miles) of ocean in the middle of the South Pacific.

The islands lie between Hawaii to the north, and New Zealand to the southwest. They are south of the equator and slightly east of the International Date Line.

The Cook Islands consists of two main groups, the northern group and the southern group. The northern groups consists of five atolls; Penrhyn, Manihiki, Pukapuka, Rakahanga, Suwarrow and one cay (bank of coral), named Nassau. The southern group is made up of nine mainly high raised islands with three real atolls; Mangaia, Atiu, Mitiaro, Mauke, Aitutaki, Manuae, Palmerston, Takutea and the only volcanic mountainous island, Rarotonga.

Avarua, the capital, is located on the island of Rarotonga

History: The Cook Islands were first inhabited by seafaring Polynesians that came from both east and west. Tahitians settled the southern Cooks about 800 AD, while Tongans and Samoans settled the northern islands. From the Cook Islands, the people are thought to have migrated south to New Zealand, where they are known as Maori.

The first European sighting of the Cook Islands was in 1595 when Spaniard Alvaro de Mendana sailed past. Spanish explorer Pedro de Quiros landed in 1606, but the islands were not seen again until 1764. Captain James Cook named them the Hervey Islands in 1773, but in 1824 a Russian cartographer re-named them in honor of the English explorer. William Bligh is credited with introducing pawpaw to the islands when passing through in 1781, just before the mutiny that cast him into the open seas.

It was not until the 1800s that European settlement began in earnest, with traders, sailors, beachcombers, whalers and missionaries. Missionary John Williams arrived in 1821 with Tahitian converts and the islanders embraced Christianity, leading to the abandonment of cannibalism, infanticide and idol worship. The missionaries brought schools, laws, dress codes and rigid police supervision over the people's morals and activities.

After Peruvian slavers in the mid-1800s raided the outer islands and France subjected Tahiti and the Society Islands to an armed takeover, the Cook Islands' chiefs unsuccessfully requested Britain for protection. As the threat of French takeover heightened, they petitioned New Zealand in 1865 and Britain again in 1888, when protection was granted.

However, in 1900 Britain passed responsibility for the Cook Islands to New Zealand. After World War Two, when a few thousand American troops were based in some of the islands, demands arose for independence. The country's first legislative council was elected in 1946, and independence was granted in 1965, though the islands remain self-governing in association with New Zealand. The Islanders are entitled to New Zealand citizenship and about double the island's population now live and work there.

The largest and most populated island, Rarotonga, stems from 'Raro' meaning 'down' and 'Tonga' meaning 'south'. It is said that the famous Tahitian navigator, Iro, visited it once and some years later while on Mauke he met Tangiia a local chief, who asked where he was going. Iro replied: 'I am going down to the south.' The Samoan voyager, Karika, is also well known to have called it Rarotonga when he first saw the island from the northeast because it was down ('Raro') and towards the south ('Tonga').

Culture:

Music and song are a dominant part of The Cook Islands culture. Each island has a unique style of dance and many islanders begin practicing at an early age so they can compete against each other at local festivals held throughout the year. They are considered among the finest Polynesian singers and dancers and these talented contenders often win international awards for their expression.

Traditional costumes for dancing are made from bark cloth, grass or raffia and are decorated with leaves, feathers, shells and flowers, topped with magnificent traditional feather headgear. The Cook Islands drumming is also known throughout the world. Visitors to the Cook Islands are not only invited to watch these spectacular displays, but often times are encouraged to join in.

One very common art form in the Cook Islands is woodcarving. This is another tradition that can be distinguished by each island. Rarotongan artists produce squat figures described as fisherman's gods and staff-gods with repetitive figures carved down a pole, while artists in Atiu carve wooden seats.

However ornate, these traditional carvings bear little trace to the intricate works of ancient artists and the importance once placed upon them is for the most part lost today. In addition, it is unfortunate that early missionaries in their enthusiasm to spread Christianity throughout the islands destroyed many of the original artworks, leaving few for local museums.

Today, thanks to early collectors who took many of the carvings off the islands, additional artifacts can still be viewed in European museums. Woodcarving is a mostly male dominated custom.

An old Cook Islands' custom is the making of tivaevae, which is the traditional art of quilting. Beautifully hand-made, they can take anywhere between two weeks and two years to create. It is a rare privilege to see tivaevae, especially during creation, so once a year tivaevae are put on public display. These incredible works of art, designed and created mostly by local women, often as a social gathering in groups, are given as gifts and symbolize important passages of the recipient's life. The colorful designs usually consist of birds, fish, flowers, insects, leaves and animals. Most Cook Islanders are presented with a tivaevae as a gift on their 21st birthday or other momentous occasions such as weddings, or hair cutting ceremonies. Tivaevae are considered keepsakes and often times laid to rest with the owner.

The value of a tivaevae is not measured by cost of materials or production time but instead by the symbols represented on the fabric and the socializing that occurs during its creation. Food is probably the most important part of island culture. Everything revolves around food. Traditionally, food is cooked in an umu, or ground oven , using volcanic rock and wrapping the food in the banana leaves.Food is still prepared this way for special occasions and lauge gatherings. It is a lot of work. A typical kaikai, or feast would consist of pork, chicken, fish, root crops of taro, maniota (manioc), kumara (sweet potatoes), breadfruit, sweet bread, banana's and lots of coconut creme. Donuts and cakes are common too. Apart from traditional foods, European food, from peanut butter sandwiches to steak dinners, has also become a part of an average diet on the island of Rarotonga especially. However, it is not cheap, as all of this food is imported by ship and occasionally there can be shortages of food on the shelves while waiting for the next ship to arrive or to be offloaded.

Legend, Myths and Folklore:

The Cook Islands has its share of legends, myths, and folklore. One famous legend that of Ina and the shark is so popular, it was put on the face of a bank note issued to commemorate the 6th festival of Pacific Arts Rarotonga Cook Islands in October of 1992. There are many versions of this legend.

Ina was the love of Tinirau, the god of the ocean who lived on a floating island. One day Ina jumped into the sea in search of Tinirau, but since the sea was so big, she was continually tossed back to shore by its gigantic waves. She enlisted in some fish to help her swim, but they were too small to carry her, so in her frustration, she beat them with a stick, permanently marking their bodies. This is how the angelfish got their black stripes. Eventually a shark agreed to carry her on his back.

For the journey she took some coconuts with her, for food and drink. After some time, Ina became thirsty, so the shark raised his dorsal fin so that she could crack a coconut and partake of its milk. This she did and it satisfied her thirst. She then relieved herself on the shark, who wasn't too happy about that and warned her not to do this again. This is why islanders complain that the shark meat smells of urine.

Again Ina became thirsty and this time she cracked the coconut on the shark's head. One version of the story says that this is how the hammerhead shark came about. Another story says that this is why there is a bump on a shark's head, which is to this day called Ina's bump.

Reeling from the pain, the shark tossed Ina off his back dived below the waters, leaving her to flounder in the sea (one version says he ate her, but that isn't the nices end to the story). Finally Tekea the Great, the king of all shards rose from the bottom of the sea and rescued Ina, He then carried her to Tinirau's island where they were finally reunited.

The Stolen Mountain (taken from the book "Cook Islands Legends," retold by Jon Jonassen)
On the west side of Rarotonga stood a very proud mountain. Her name was Maru and she was higher than any of the other mountains. In fact, Maru would hide the sunrise, giving the village people of Puaikura more time to sleep. The mountain was the envy of other villages and the fame of Maru reached far across the sea to other islands. The people of Aitutaki were especially interested as their island was centrally flat.

The chiefs Vaeruarangi and Tamatoa decided on a plan to steal the great mountain of Maru. They called their strongest warriors together and told them what to do. Building big canoes and making special tools took some time, but as soon as they were completed, the warriors said their prayers to the almighty god, Rongo, and sailed for Rarotonga. They planned their arrival in the early hours of the night and after one day at sea they sighted Rarotonga and the proud peak of Maru. They paddled westward circling the island towards the village of Puaikura. When it was dark they went ashore.

The people of Puaikura were sound asleep. The mighty warriors worked fast as they cut into the mountain of Maru. After a few hours the warriors then began the more difficult task of carrying the mountain to their waiting canoes. The sounds of puffing and chopping awoke the people of Puaikura who thought these were the sounds of the spirits. The Puaikura warriors went inland to investigate. To their horror the intruders were carrying their beloved Maru away. They gave chase but the Aitutakians had seen them. The chase resulted in pieces of rocks dropping and falling off as the Aitutakians ran hanging on to their prize. They made it to their canoes and pushed off before the Puaikura warriors could catch up. They paddled hard and lost sight of Rarotonga before daylight. After four days of hard work they reached Aitutaki. Tiring in their last efforts, pieces of the mountain fell off as they lay Maru in the village of Amuri. At last Aitutaki had a mountain but the lost parts reduced its size tremendously into a hill. The Aitutakians renamed the hill Maunga Pu, meaning top of the mountain, in remembrance of their achievement.

Meanwhile, back in Rarotonga, the people of Puaikura were preparing for a search. Life wasn't the same without the towering top of Maru. The sunrise came early at dawn and disturbed their sleep. But before their war canoes could be finished they discovered that waking up early had its advantages. They could catch bigger and better fish. They decided to stay and get used to the now shorter mountain. They renamed Maru as "Raemaru" which means "empty shadow". Even today if you visit the islands of Rarotonga and Aitutaki you will see evidence of a great story of the "stolen mountain."

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