This year’s theme for Tokelau Language Week is “Tokelau! Tapui tau gagana ma tau aganuku, i te manaola ma te lautupuola”, translating to “Tokelau! Preserve your language and culture, to enhance spiritual and physical wellbeing.”
Tokelau Cultural Advisor and Language Translator Neta Peau discusses how giving love to others is inseparable from preserving language and culture.
Love supersedes everything else. Although it is not just the love we show towards our own people that is important, but the love we show towards our community. The love that we give to the newcomer who happens to walk by our house; bound by generosity, the love we show when we invite that tagata (person) to come and share a meal at our table. Showing love towards the community is a value expressed by my ancestors in the villages of Fakaofo and Atafu in Tokelau. It was a value expressed by my late grandfather, Teata Tinielu. The love that he had for not just his family, but his people, culture, language and Tokelau is what makes him one of my biggest inspirations.
I try to show love for my community by working to educate others about Tokeluan language and culture. I show this through my work as a cultural advisor and language translator. I am teaching fatele (traditional dance) and songs to my grandchildren and I have started Tokelaun language classes at home with my three children and makopuna (grandchildren). I hope they will aspire to teach the language themselves when they’re older.
My love for my language drives me to do all that I can to retain, revitalise and to teach it through song and dance. In particular, songs are a good a way of connecting the younger generation to the older generation.
I remember the village of Nukufou where I attended school as a youngster, where dreams were recognised and where life was carefree. The coolness of the sea breeze often took one’s breath away. It was, and still is, a reminder that we are gifted our land and our language to uphold and to treasure. We are gifted them to pass on for generations to come.
Naunau mo he lumanaki manuia.
Strive for a better and successful tomorrow.
Top Image: (Left - Right) Neta’s youngest son, Elia Peau; Neta Peau; Neta's husband, Ben Peau; daughter, Milena Peau with her daughter Mariana and her partner Isaac Fitzgerald. Missing in this picture is Neta’s second son, Isala Peau.
Bottom image: Neta performing in traditional Tokelaun attire.