News from Takuu

Polynesians reviving their pre-Christian spiritual practices, like Tonga's Visesio Siasau & Tahiti's Moana'ura Walker, have sometimes had to hunt for details of rites & deities in old, unreliable texts & half-suppressed oral traditions. But what if a scholar could visit a Poly culture before it had hosted missionaries, & bring back an account of that culture? With his new book Richard Moyle has done just such a thing.

Moyle, who is an emeritus professor in the University of Auckland's Anthropology Department, has repeatedly made the long & dangerous journey to Takuu, a tiny, sinking atoll north of Bougainville where variants of Maui & Tangaroa are still revered as deities, & mediums still enter trances to channel otherworldly voices. With their homeland threatened by waves, the people of Takuu invited Moyle to document their culture & religion. Professor Moyle may not realise it yet, but Ritual Belief on Takuu: Polynesian religion in practice is likely to become a near-sacred text for some members of tropical Polynesia's burgeoning post-Christian movement.

Moyle has also documented Takuu culture on film: you can watch his footage of an island seance, for example, here.