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THEORY ONE: HAWAIKI IS IN THE PACIFIC
One scholar S. Percy Smith, suggested that islands such as Savai‘i in Samoa, Hawaii and even Java near Indonesia were actually Hawaiki.
In his book "Hawaiki, the original homeland of the Maori (1904)", Smith discussed his theories as to the physical location of Hawaiki.
His method was to look at current Māori tradition, language and practices, and then find places that had similar traditions, language and practices. For example, a specific burial tradition - where people were buried face down - was found to be practiced in Aotearoa and also found in places like Tahiti.
The languages of both places indicate some sort of connection also. Below is an example of two love songs, one in Reo Māꞌohi (Tahitian native language), another in Te Reo Māori (Aotearoa native language) - see the similarities for yourself.
E MOEMOEA
E MOEMOEA
E moemoea
Ma‘ine mei te anuanua
To mata purotu manea
Koe taku tiare maori
Te tumu o taku inangaro
E ine, uri mai ra
Mou mai i taku rima
Kapiki atu au urike atu koe,
Itirere mai au
Aue! E moemoea
E moemoea
MOEMOEĀ
MOEMOEĀ
Here kore a roto
Here kore a waho
Hopukina te ua i o kapu ringa
Pakanga o mua
Tukuna, ka ngaro
Puritia taku ringa
Ngaro ana te ara ki pae rau
Moe moe moemoeā
E kore rawa e riro
Maruāpō
He arai e te ao
U mai, nau mai
He kaupare i ataahua
E kore e ae tu
Perhaps the biggest clue that Hawaiki is in the pacific ocean can be found at a small island called Ra'iatea (or Rangiatea in Māori). It is on this island where original Māori settlers of Aoteroa such as Tama-te-kapua lived and thrived before setting out on their great voyage to settle in Aotearoa. There were no physical addresses on this island, so how do we know Tama-te-kapua came from here?
It is through "oral history" that we can be sure. Stories of Tama-te-kapua, and many others, have been told again and again to each generation, for them to pass onto the next.
THEORY TWO: HAWAIKI IS IN ASIA
Alfred K. Newman’s Who are the Maoris? (1912) is an example of a work that argues for the Asian origins of Māori people.
Newman claimed that before settling in Polynesian, Māori traveled in an easterly direction from Asia.
Newman had a similar method to Percy Smith, as he looked at traditions and practices of modern day Māori and ancient civilizations in Polynesia, and compared them to those in further away lands like in Asia.
Similarities he found included technology such as advanced stone tools made and at the time highly advanced sailing and fishing techniques which allowed for ancient Polynesians to explore the Pacific Ocean.
Another method used by researchers was the genetic tracking method, where ancestral links and relations were found throughout many different places, people and periods of history.
Some places that were found to have ancestral links to modern day Māori include, Indonesia, Taiwan, India and even as far as Pakistan.
Newman came to the conclusion that because these are the places where early Māori most likely came from before settling in Polynesia, then these places must be the original Hawaiki.
THEORY THREE: HAWAIKI IS THE HOME OF THE GODS
In Māori legend, Hawaiki is said to be the home place of ngā Atua (the Gods). It is in Hawaiki where all life began and where all life will return to. Godly figures such as Māui, Hineahuone, Kupe and Io called Hawaiki home, and are responsible for many significant legends.
Margaret Orbell suggests that it is inappropriate to view these stories as historical. In other words, they should not be read literally as a record of actual events. In her view the ‘memory’ of a Polynesian homeland was transformed into myth over a long period.
Hawaiki is any place we come from, the place before us, the cradle that we grew in before departing for unexplored oceans and lands. It might not actually be a physical place.
Hawaiki gives all Māori and Polynesians a common home, therefore, creating an unbreakable bond between various cultures and peoples, despite being separated by thousands of kilometres.
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