Building a Vaka

If you want to build a vaka, first plant a garden.
Ni-Vanuatu saying

Building a large vaka can take more than a year. It can only begin if the right trees have been planted and are ready to use. A spiritual expert often performs a ritual GLOSSARY ritual - ceremony to ask the spirits for permission to cut down a tree. The experts might be paid with valuables like weaving and food as well as shown great respect. Another expert guides the vaka builders. In Satawal, heís called a senap (master vaka builder). Young children watch, and older boys help out.

Before Europeans arrived in the Pacific, people used things from the world around them to build canoes - like stone or shell axes to cut the trees and shape the canoe parts. There were no steel tools and certainly no chainsaws like today! A canoe builder knows which trees are good for different canoe parts. The wood for hulls must be strong and long-lasting but not too heavy. Other canoe parts - like the outrigger GLOSSARY outrigger - side float and the sleeping platform on Satawalese canoes - are made from softer woods. Some of the wood used for the sleeping platform is brought by ocean currents GLOSSARY currents - the directional flow of the sea from unknown places. If a community doesnít have building materials or a canoe builder, they may trade for canoes from other islands.

After the canoe is tested, thereís a ceremony to celebrate. In Satawal, they throw food all over the canoe. When theyíre finished, they feast!

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The Story of Lata (Samoa, Polynesia)

Lata was the son of Fafieloa and Tula. When Fafieloa was killed by Matuutaotooto (from Savaii), Lata wanted revenge. Lata went to find Matuutaotooto, but he had already escaped in a fast vaka. So Lata decided to build a vaka too. He cut down good tamanu trees. He worked hard. When the sun set, his vaka was nearly finished.

The next day, Lata was shocked. The vaka was gone! The trees were standing as before! So Lata cut them down and built the vaka again. The next day, the same thing happened. Once again, Lata cut the trees and built the vaka. That evening, he hid to find out what was going on.

Soon, twelve female spirits appeared. They danced and sang, “Fly up and stick together, branches and leaves. Stand up, our children.” They asked Lata, “Why are you cutting down our children? Did you bring an offering to Tane, the god of the trees?” Lata cried out to be forgiven and promised to prepare an offering. When the spirits saw that Lata was truly sorry, they built the vaka for him!

Lata was overjoyed. He asked the priest to bless the vaka. Then he sailed away, looking for Matuutaotooto. Finally, he found him in Tonga. He killed Matuutaotooto and ate his heart. Some say that before Matuutaotooto died, he put a curse on Lata’s vaka and it broke. Others say that the Tongans took the boat apart to learn how it was made and that this is the origin of the first alia (double-hulled canoe) in Tonga.

The Story of Lata (also namd La’a, Rata, Laka, etc.) is told by people of many Pacific Islands, including Aotearoa/NewZealand, Tuamotu, Tahiti and others. The Micronesian story of Rongerik and Rongelap and their vakas has similar parts too.

Taumakans tell very long versions of this story about the first person to build and sail a Vaka to other islands. Taumakans usually tell the story when people are actually making vakas or voyages, which take years to do. They tell of Lata’s good deeds, and of his bad mistakes, so that we can learn how to build vakas and make voyages properly.