Mile

Item — crate: R043838626, Reel: 5000027018398

Identifier: AMPS 2023/01. Series 2. Item 2/30

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

First lines begin: "O Piti te ara i kake ei | Te vaine Tapairu Tatatua i te one akaia mai ei e te puku i Pa`eru"

Dates

1967-11-12

Creator

From the Collection: McLean, Mervyn (1930-2022) (Person)
From the Collection: Mokotupu, Tepaki (Person)
From the Collection: Naku, Simona (Person)

To request or comment

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Biographical / Historical

There are mythological references in the song. The “vaine Tapairu” or so-called “Matchless Ones” in line 2 were daughters of the dreaded underworld goddess of death, Miru, who cooks the souls of the departed in her oven. The “puku i Pa‘eru” refers to a long wooden spear that, according to a reference in Buse’s dictionary, Taiki stabbed into the belly of Matatia when they were quarrelling.