Star stories preserve Polynesian history
By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer
Tevita Fale comes across as a colorful character, donning a trucker hat, wide-framed sunglasses, marble-stone necklace, aloha shirt, pants and sandals. More than an hour into a conversation with the soft-spoken, burly man, first impressions are confirmed.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser
With a mesmerizing stare and sincere smile, Fale says he's lived his life as a kalo (taro) and banana farmer, a former Utah State Golden Gloves boxing champion and relation to Tongan royalty. But none of the subjects make Fale's eyes twinkle more than his role as a student and artist of Polynesian astronomy.
Tevita Fale researches Polynesian constellations and makes tapa-cloth art representing the heavens in the Pacific.
For more than 20 years, Fale has devoted himself to researching and sharing his knowledge of Polynesian constellations and the origin of Polynesian people. Fale has written three books on the subjects and created elaborate star maps.
"I see how important that astronomy is for our people," said the 50-something Punalu'u resident. "That was the key for our people to settle the Pacific islands."
While his information comes from decades of field work, Fale will be the first to admit he isn't a scientist.
He reads texts written with "European eyes," Fale said. "I read it to see how it compares with oral history from my people and what I found in my field work."
In 1986, Fale founded Polynesian Eyes Foundation, a nonprofit organization aimed at preserving what Fale calls "right Polynesian history."
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Fale also hopes to pass on his knowledge to the next generation; his materials are used in schools throughout Tonga. On O'ahu, Fale provided materials for a student program called Ho'olokahi: Polynesian Voyaging at Kailua, Kaiser, Castle, Waialua and Kalaheo high schools, said Emil Wolfgramm, a fellow Tongan and retired science teacher at Kailua High.
Ink drawings on hand-made tapa cloth of important Polynesian constellations, as researched by author and artist Tevita Fale.
Another tapa piece by author and artist Tevita Fale shows the Milky Way. In Hawaiian, it is often referred to as 'Alamoana, or Deep Sea Road, and 'Ala Kea, or White Road.
"His work is a great contribution," Wolfgramm said, "especially because he has the approval of the head of state, the king, which allows him access to the sites themselves (astronomy sites in Tonga used to keep calendars) and obligates the site keepers, which are usually the chiefs, the nobles and their masters of ceremonies, to assist his needs."
Fale has also pitched his materials to the University of Hawai'i, Brigham Young University — Hawai'i and the Polynesian Cultural Center.
Delsa Moe, the Polynesian Cultural Center's director of cultural presentation, said she was impressed with Fale's work. The PCC may use some of his materials for its Migration Museum, where visitors learn early navigational techniques used by the Polynesians.
"His research alone, you know, you could tell that it's something he spent a lot of years doing, and a lot of what he had mentioned to us made a lot of sense," Moe said.
Fale was born and reared in Mu'a on Tongatapu in the Tongan Islands. After traveling between homes in Tonga and Utah for several years, Fale moved last year to Punalu'u, where he lives with his wife, Kim Kimball Fale, an academic specialist at Hawai'i Business College and history teacher at BYU. They have eight children — six sons and twin daughters — 27 to 9 years old.
Fale is anything but the "beach bum" he jokingly calls himself with an infectious grin.
"It's hard to describe how my life is, because I get involved in a lot of things," Fale said.
He also is an artist, whose creations include glass etchings, rock jewelry and drawings on hand-made tapa cloth of Polynesian constellations (see box) and subjects connected to Polynesian history.
His various pieces, which cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand, help finance his foundation work.
As with all his other endeavors, Fale puts his heart into his art.
"That's the way my life is," Fale said. "I don't like to just do a half job ... I do everything I can do my best, or I don't touch it. That's just the way I do things."
Reach Zenaida Serrano Espanol at zespanol@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.
This constellation, found in the southern sky, is equivalent to the Scorpio constellation in western astronomy, Fale said. The cluster of 17 stars was named after a popular Polynesian legend about a demi-god named Maui. "When we grow up as a Polynesian, we always talk about the Hook of Maui and how Maui pulled up the Polynesian Islands from the bottom of the ocean," Fale said. "That's one of the main constellations for sailing." In Tongan, the constellation (also known in Polynesia as Coconut Bottle) is known as Mata'u, Hohoni, Fangongo or Mata'u 'a Maui. In Hawaiian: Makau, Honi or Makau 'a Maui. Southern Duck The Southern Duck, made of five stars, rises from the south, southeast and sets to the south, southwest. It is known as the Southern Cross in western astronomy. "But in Polynesia, they call it the Koloa, or the Southern Duck, because it looks like a duck," Fale said. The Polynesians have used it to tell the location and direction of the South Pole. It functions similarly to the Big Dipper in the Northern Hemisphere, which is used to find the North Star. In Tongan, the constellation is called Toloatonga, Puatonga or Sialetonga. In Hawaiian: Koloakona, Lehua Kona, Hoku-kea, Newe or Kaulei.
Hook of Maui
