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Mauri!

Sunday 7th – Saturday 13th July 2024 is Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati, Kiribati Language Week.

Header image: Te iriba n bobai, ornamental fan. Kiribati. AWMM. 2002.95.1; 55961. More information

 

Kiribati Language Week Competition

Kiribati Language Week Competition

PAST EVENT

To celebrate Kiribati Language Week 2024 we hosted a competition to win one of three Museum Store vouchers worth $100!

To go in the draw, entrants visited the Pacific Lifeways gallery, and answered a few simple questions using information found in the Kiribati display cases. 

Congratulations to Anna Sanson, Andrea McDowell, and Bowen Vaisima who each won a $100 Museum Store voucher.

PAST EVENT

Come and create! Join us on our Twilight Tuesday late night for a Kiribati weaving drop-in hosted by Terenga Tebwebwe. Terenga and other expert weavers will demonstrate weaving te ano (ball), te bwerei (ornamental decorations) as seen on traditional dancing skirts, and will show you how to make your own creations from leaf and ribbon. 

Terenga Tebwebwe learnt weaving as a little girl from her aunty who was a keen weaver herself. Using those weaving skills Terenga makes dancing costumes and Kiribati arts and crafts for her community and church activities. Terenga and some members from her Kiribati community have even delivered a few of their arts and crafts to the Auckland Museum for display. 

Terenga says: "We still practice weaving, doing our Kiribati art and crafts with our young generations to keep the culture alive and not to be forgotten in our family and community".

Terenga Tebwebwe on right, with Curator Pou Ārahi Dr Kahutoi Te Kanawa.

PAST EVENT

Join us to celebrate Kiribati language and culture through song and dance with a performance from The Marewen Te Rabakau Kiribati Unit of Finlayson Park School.

Led by Erika Taenga, a dedicated teacher who has been at Finlayson Park School for more than 28 years and is a cultural knowledge holder herself. Her goal is to have a class of I-Kiribati students and to teach the younger I-Kiribati generation to speak their mother tongue fluently, know their heritage and be proud of their culture.

The Kiribati community in Auckland is small but very close, and under Erika's guidance the Kiribati Unit at Finlayson Park School has nearly doubled to 33 students.

Community drop-in

Community drop-in

PAST EVENT

Te Aho Mutunga Kore warmly invites our Kiribati community members to join us to view a selection of textile and fibre treasures at Auckland Museum. Book a session time to visit these precious taonga in person, and then share a cuppa and a chat afterwards. Sessions are limited to 10 people each and must be booked in advance.

Click below to find out more about this kaupapa. 

TE AHO MUTUNGA KORE

Kiribati makers visit

Kiribati makers have been working with Te Aho Mutunga kore to gain a deeper understanding of traditional Kiribati creative practices from the items in our collection.

Tāmaki Paenga Hira has one of the best late 19th and early 20th century Kiribati collections, which is of key importance to local Kiribati makers. Last week the Kiribati Arts and Weavers Community visited the Museum to access collections to view and learn from the Kiribati textile and fibre collection, to help revitalise practices of making in the community. 

This visit was the first for the Te Aho Mutunga Kore initiative. Te Aho Mutunga Kore is our new textile and fibre knowledge exchange centre for Māori and Pasifika communities, launching in 2023 with the generous support of Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage.

Te Aho Mutunga Kore will ensure sustained engagement with textile and fibre collections held by the Museum, to strengthen the ties (aho) between community and their material culture heritage, creating a safe pathway for taonga tuku iho (knowledge transmission). 

Tararuan ao kawakinan ami bwai ma ami utu (family and personal archives)

Download our toolkit for caring for family and personal archives, available in Kiribati language. If you wish to access the toolkit in English, or another language, click here to view the available translations. 

Te family archive bon te tabo ae ti kawakin iai ara bwai ke bwain ara utu aika a kakawaki ma rimoa. Ti ataia naba ma iai bwa antai raoi ngaira ao ti roko ma ia. Kanoan te archive e kona n taian tamnei, albums, taian reta ao bebwa aika kakawaki. 

Teimatoan ao teimanin raoiroin bwain ara utu aikai e nakon aron tararuakia ao kawakinaia. Aikai tabeua kairiri ae a kona ni buokiko ni kateimania riki bwain am utu (family archives) ibukin rooro ma rooro n taai aika i mwaira.
 

Download

 


Bwain rimoa man ana tabo ni kawakin bwai (archives) te rabwata ae e aranaki bwa te Pacific Islands Education Resource Centre (PIERC) ma ana moan Tarekita ae Le Mamea taulapapa Sefulu Ioane i nanon te 1970 tabun.

Interview with Roi Burnett

Poet Ruby Macomber interviews scholar Roi Burnett for Wikin te Taetae ni Kiribati

RM: What is your connection to Kiribati? What does Te Taetae ni Kiribati mean to you? 

RB: My mother comes from the southern islands of Beru and Onotoa. Mostly all of my mum’s side of the family are still living in Beru or on Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, and so I have very strong ties to these islands. For me, te taetae ni Kiribati, is one of the ways in which I stay connected to my roots. I’m not fluent, but being able to understand my language and being able to have basic conversations in Kiribati strengthens my sense of self. Our language also contains our knowledge and provides clues as to how we view the world. For example the word for our people and our land is the same, te aba. Which shows the close connection we have between land and people.

RM: What do you see as the power of I-Kiribati research from the diaspora? 

RB: I see the power of Kiribati research from the diaspora lying in the ability to capture voices, experiences and specific issues our communities face here in Aotearoa. Whilst we maintain strong connections back home, the experiences of I-Kiribati communities living away from Kiribati can come with a whole set of new and different challenges (but also privileges!). We’re also one of the fastest growing NZ Pacific communities, so there is a need for more Kiribati research and I-Kiribati researchers, as our communities grow and more I-Kiribati migrate to Aotearoa. 

RM: Were there any pieces in the Museum collection that resonated with you? Why? 

RB: There are lots of pieces in the Museum collection that are from my home island of Beru! There are a few objects that my mother, aunties and grandmother have all used, day-to-day, living on an atoll island to prepare traditional foods, weave or prepare thatch for housing. For example, te beka (or te kai n tiratira), te kai ni waerau and te atibu n bokaboka. These pieces show how innovative our people are.

Sadly, many of our traditional practices have been lost through colonisation and the introduction of Christianity, particularly in the Southern Islands. It would be interesting to know the story behind pieces such as ‘te buangui’ and ‘te ati marau o te ati n ani’. Even though the practices surrounding these items might be lost, that these taonga are still preserved is very special!

RM: Are there any other I-Kiribati creatives or researchers you would like to highlight? 

RB: There are many I-Kiribati researchers who are doing amazing work in their respective fields. A few I-Kiribati researchers that have had a strong influence on my own work are Dr Rose Sinclair who has focused on I-Kiribati women’s access to healthcare on the PAC scheme and who does a lot of work around gender in Kiribati. Also, Teweiariki Teaero and his scholarly contributions around indigenous Kiribati knowledge systems and worldviews. Last but definitely not least, Teresia Teaiwa, whose work I’ve connected to personally and professionally, specifically her collection of poems in ‘Searching for Nei Nim’anoa’. There are many more I could name!

RM: Faiak se’ea, have a beautiful weekend! 

 

Frangipanis, the national flower of Kiribati. Photo by pisauikan on Unsplash

Roi Burnett

Roi Burnett is of I-Kiribati and European descent and has recently completed a Masters degree focusing on narratives of gender within the international development sector in Kiribati. Roi’s current research focus includes gender inequities and Pacific Labour Mobility Schemes, as well as climate-related human mobility in the Pacific. She is currently a Research Program Coordinator based at Pacific Studies Te Wānanga o Waipapa, the University of Auckland.

Ruby Macomber

'Otou asa le Ruby Rae Lupe Ah-Wai Macomber! Gou fḁu ruḁghul ma tā. 

Gou hån ne Rotuma ma Taveuni. Gou noh 'e Auckland. Ruby is a poet and teina of Te Moana-Nui-a Kiwa (Rotuma/Taveuni), currently completing a BA/LLB in Pacific Studies, Psychology and Law at UoA. She is published in Landfall, Kete Books, Metro, Awa Wāhine and Starling. In 2022, Ruby was awarded a Prime Minister's Scholarship for Latin America to study indigenous rights and histories in Brazil.  

Kiribati Artefacts in the Auckland War Memorial Museum
CULTURAL HERITAGE TO TREASURE

Dr. Janet O'Connor

Kiribati Artefacts in the Auckland War Memorial Museum

Tina kabonganai maonoia ara bakatibu ibukin kateimatoan ara katei

Kam na mauri

I have been watching our little Kiribati people growing up in NZ over the past 12 years, immersed into the Kiwi culture and showing declining interest and increasing lack of desire to participate in their own Kiribati culture. This young generation have never lived in Kiribati to learn the authentic Kiribati culture back in the islands. They have no idea how the pandanus leaves are gathered and processed to make a man’s dance mat that men wear during Kiribati traditional dance; nor the arduous process of making string from coconut husk that is used to make women’s dance skirt, etc. They will not appreciate the diverse traditional skills and knowledge and cultural beliefs that exist within the different islands in Kiribati.

Climate change presents another challenge. Its impact on the physical environment in Kiribati will affect social cohesion resulting in social isolation, people losing ability to share traditional knowledge, and eventually reduction in traditions and cultural heritage. Production and quality of artefacts will also be affected due to impact on the physical environment.

The threat to our Kiribati culture and language in New Zealand in this day and age is real. We as a Kiribati community need to utilise the resources and opportunities we have now to promote and preserve our identity.

Auckland Museum has over 1,000 Kiribati artefacts in its collection that originate from different islands of Kiribati, made by our ancestors and forefathers. These artefacts hold valuable histories and beautiful stories of our culture and people. They provide extensive information about the diverse traditional skills, knowledge and cultural beliefs that exist within the different islands in Kiribati including traditional dancing, weaving styles across the islands, fishing methods used, inter-island wars, colonisation, and many more, that our young people could find interesting. Artefacts provide visible forms of our culture, lifestyles, how our ancestors lived, and the kind of diet they lived, etc. Our Kiribati artefacts in the Museum are under-accessed/visited as educational resources for cultural heritage.

We should utilise our Kiribati artefacts in the Museum as educational resources for our young people. Kiribati Language Week is an excellent opportunity to organise a supervised teaching tour in the Museum for our young people, guided by a well-known Kiribati expert who can speak to these artefacts and their cultural significance. Besides enforcing Kiribati culture in their homes, parents need to also cultivate a desire in their young people to participate in cultural activities and become competent leaders. Auckland Museum on the other hand are trying to make these artefacts accessible to the public and communities again post-COVID by re-engaging with cultural celebrations during language weeks by different ethnic groups so our young people can correlate the cultural significance of artefacts with their cultural identity.

Ara bau ni kabane, Te Mauri, Te Raoi ao Te Tabomoa.


Dr. Janet O’Connor was one of the Kiribati community liaisons and knowledge holders at Auckland Museum for the Pacific Collections Access Project. She was born in Kiribati, and is working with various community developmental projects with Pasifika minority migrants and the Pasifika community in New Zealand. Her volunteer work for the Kiribati communities in New Zealand includes with the West Auckland Kiribati association (promoting wellbeing through many activities with Kiribati people in West Auckland); Pasifika Migrant Services (providing supportive services to minority migrants from Kiribati, Tuvalu and other Pacific countries); and Kiribati Federation Aotearoa (promoting wellbeing of Kiribati communities throughout New Zealand through prevention of domestic violence initiatives).

Our people

Learn how our Museum whānau celebrate their heritage in their work

Charles Enoka Kiata, MNZM
OUR PEOPLE

Pacific Advisory Group

Charles Enoka Kiata, MNZM

What does sustainability and climate change mean to Kiribati as one of our sinking islands in the world?

Kia ora, Pacific greetings and ko na mauri!

My name is Charles Enoka Kiata, I hail from the sovereign Republic of Kiribati and migrated to New Zealand in 2002. I am married to a beautiful lady from Nikunau, Nei Teeren Tabuarorae and we have six children and five grandchildren. We live in Ranui the best in the west of Auckland. I have been a member of the Pacific Advisory Group of Auckland Museum since 2022.

When we speak about sustainability, we often look at the environment, economic and social aspects and we like to understand what to do and how to manage these areas the way we expect them to be.

In my perspective, it is significant that the environment, economic and social behaviour is not compromised neither being disturbed from external forces due to direct or indirect impacts of climate change.

Climate change affects every aspect of our lives on a global scale. It touches and impacts our environment, society and economy. It challenges our way of lives to a different level that needs a well-planned and coordinated approach with incredible solutions.

According to Kiribati cultural belief and history, our ancestors were great environmentalist and conversative people as being true to their wellbeing and survivals.

Our ancestors acknowledged and respected the atmosphere they breath and lived in, with the sun, moon, stars, clouds and sky to serve as great navigational tools and information. They also acknowledged and respected the lands that provided water and all living creatures to live. They were able to manage and control how much they needed from the ocean and marine resources to provide for human consumption and purposes over centuries and for many generations. Our peoples have been treating the environment with great respects and careful approach as their lives depend upon the airspace, the land and ocean.

In modern days, we see all kinds of problems, damages and pollutions to our environment and ocean depriving the lives our ancestors and peoples once enjoyed and protected. We see alarming evidence of marine lives being poisoned and contaminated. Peoples are now living in a contaminated ocean and air polluted environment and an overpopulated society with economic crisis. The impact of climate change on water sea rising are eminent and threatening. Many small low atoll islands are submerged under water, eroded and disappearing. Many water wells are not drinkable as saltwater seeps through water lenses. Many vegetations have been destroyed and no longer growing.

The future of our people, culture and language is uncertain and at stake due to the impacts of climate change on the lives of our people and wellbeing.

In our cultural context, Kiribati shall rise to protect the environment which includes the airspace (karawa), land (tarawa) and ocean (marawa). These are the three spheres that Nareau the creator of Tungaru (Kiribati) has bestowed upon an IKiribati to live upon in order to compliment his social and economic terms and aspirations.

Yes, we should ensure sustainability when we bring and maintain good balances to protect the livelihood of our economy, social life and of course our environmental wellbeing. In these efforts, we need a lot of people and all voices with all kinds of ideas coming to the table to talk about credible solutions to combat climate change with inspirations and hopes to protect our islands, people, culture, language and the planet we live in.

I like to leave you with one of the Kiribati famous composed songs (waiata) about the iconic bird of Kiribati, the frigate bird. The song is prophesying about the uncertainty of the future due to climate change, water sea rising. 

Ko batin rabwa.

Ana bau Kiribati i aora ni kabane are te Mauri, te Raoi ao te Tabomoa

LISTEN TO THE SONG

Things to watch

Tune in to some of our engaging Kiribati Language Week video content

Learn some Kiribati words

Kiribati knowledge holders visit

Last year we were fortunate to be joined by esteemed members of the Kiribati community in New Zealand, who came to Auckland Museum to discuss some of the Kiribati collection items, and share their knowledge about them. In this video, Auckland Musuem's Ma'ara Maeva was joined by Dr. Matikora Itonga Marea, Mr. Baitika Toum, Charles Enoka Kiata and Dr. Janet O’Connor.

 

Zoom Talanoa: Kiribati treasures

For Kiribati Language Week 2020, Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum held an online talanoa session titled "Kiribati treasures: Te Kun and taona n riri", and it highlighted a migratory bird from the Museum's collection, as well as a dance costume from the Natural History and Pacific collection. 

Rebecca Bray (Collection Manager, Natural Sciences) and Fuli Pereira (Curator Pacific) were joined by Nei Kaetaeta Watson, Nei Louisa Humphry, Dr Janet O’Connor and Charles Enoka. Together the panelists and participants engaged in an inspiring discussion that included exploring the migratory habits of Te Kun, as well as the cultural and customary use of the taona n riri and its role in the identity of Kiribati dance worldwide. 

Long reads

Have a moment to spare? Take a deep dive into some of our stories

A brief history of publishing in Kiribati
BLOG

A brief history of publishing in Kiribati

Learn about the origins of early printing presses and the contribution from the local people of Kiribati, or Gilbert Island as it was then known, in creating the physical books.

Read more

Moving the needle
INTERVIEW

Chris Charteris

Moving the needle

For Kiribati Language Week, we spoke to artist Chris Charteris about studying Kiribati objects in Auckland Museum's collection to find out how they were made, how he plays with form, the utility of artworks, and making things the hard way.

Read more

Recognising WWI Gilbert Islanders – i-Kiribati service personnel
ONLINE CENOTAPH

Recognising WWI Gilbert Islanders – i-Kiribati service personnel

Do you know of anyone from the Gilbert Islands (now known as Kiribati) who enlisted in the New Zealand Army during WWI? Our Online Cenotaph team have identified 25 i-Kiribati  servicemen but would love to hear from you if you know of any others not represented on this list.

Read more

From the collection

These items from our collection offer a glimpse into the Kiribati way of life, an introduction to the island's people, customs and a detailed exploration of precious and daily objects.

On the move

Recently our Collection Care team very slowly and carefully maneuvered several large vaka between collection stores. The one shown here is from Kiribati, and is called Te Ang Ni Raoi (The Fair Wind). Read more about the Vaka's journey in this blog

Get a closer look at an i-Kiribati tibuta
UP-CLOSE

Get a closer look at an i-Kiribati tibuta

Te tibuta is the Kiribati national top. Worn by a girl, this tibuta has been made from a pink cotton lawn fabric and a smocking technique has been used to gather the shoulders and chest area. Three crocheted rosettes have been embroidered across the chest area upon the smocked fabric, and the bottom edge has been left unseamed as the cloth has been cut along the fabrics selvedge.

You can watch the Zoom interview with Brian Sagala from 531PI, Mrs Terenga Tebwebwe and Andrea Low (Curator, Pacific) about i-Kiribati textiles and dance costumes here.


Te tibuta. AWMM. 2001.12.17. More information ›
Te Kun
FROM THE COLLECTION

Frequent Flyer

Te Kun

The Te Kun or Pacific golden plover is a truly amazing Pacific wanderer. These small shorebirds breed on the summer Arctic tundra of Alaska and Siberia which has an abundance of insect food and few predators to pose a risk to their nests.

However, as the weather grows colder in August and September the birds migrate southwards into the Pacific, to the islands of Kiribati, Oceania and even as far south as New Zealand. Here they feed on the shoreline of lagoons and estuaries on a broad diet of worms, crabs, insects, spiders and plant seeds and berries.

In March and April, the birds travel northwest to Japan or Hawaii, where they rest for a few weeks before making the final long journey back to their breeding grounds.  Their remarkable annual journey ranges from 16,000 – 27,000 km with each leg made as a non-stop flight of 3–8 days. 

Auckland Museum holds three specimens (LB2767-LB2769) of this species from Kiribati. All are study skins collected in 1937 from Canton Island by Major Geoffrey A Buddle (of Auckland) during the Total Solar Eclipse expedition. The specimens are held in our collections and cared for by our Land Vertebrates department. You can see images of the specimens on our collections online resource here.
 

Kiribati Kiore and the fight to save Pacific island biodiversity
FROM THE COLLECTION

Kiribati Kiore and the fight to save Pacific island biodiversity

The Auckland Museum holds a specimen (LB13) of Rattus exulans, the Kiore or Pacific rat, collected from the Phoenix Islands, Kiribati. This specimen is stored in alcohol in the Land Vertebrate wet collection and was collected August 17 1937 by Major Geoffrey A Buddle (of Auckland) during the Total Solar Eclipse expedition.

The Kiore is one of three rat species that have hitched a ride with humans across the globe. Recent molecular studies indicate that, in the Pacific, these rats first spread on the waka of voyagers from the Island of Flores in South East Asia, and subsequently became widely established across Polynesia approximately 2500 years BP. Kiore have had a profound impact on Pacific Island ecosystems. They consume plants and their seeds, impacting native forests but are also capable predators, consuming a broad variety of prey that is below their own body mass including invertebrates, reptiles, small birds and the eggs and chicks of larger species.

In 2008, the government of Kiribati established the Phoenix Islands Protected Area, one of the largest protected areas on Earth, to conserve the stunning land and sea biodiversity of this remote oceanic region. A feature of this project has been the eradication of Kiore, as well as other invasive mammals such as rabbits, from islands within the group to protect threatened biodiversity, such as the 19 species of tropical seabirds which breed there. 

Matt Rayner (Curator, Land Vertebrates)

Kiribati objects from our collection

Colouring-in sheet
INTERACTIVE

Colouring-in sheet

Colour in a Te Kun pacific golden plover, strolling along a Kiribati beach.

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