Nothing is more important to identity and a sense of who one is than being able to celebrate who you are, what you are, and your special place in the world, writes Thomas Tarurongo Wynne.

Famous Samoan author, Albert Wendt, said: “The myths and legends that we pass down from generation to generation are the threads that weave our cultural identity. To celebrate these stories is to celebrate our existence.” In this, he pointed to the significance of what others have called myths, which we understand as constructs that create Te Ao Maori and our Pe’u Maori, and legends that speak of legendary people to whom we connect and from whom we descend.

As Te Maeva Nui begins and we celebrate who we are and our culture, our journey from arriving here in the 15 islands we currently call the Cook Islands to self-governance in 1965, we have grown as a country and as a people with a very dynamic, volatile and changing world in front of us, under our oceans, in our waters, and across the world to foreign battlefields and politics that divide and turn neighbour against neighbour.

This is why the theme of this year’s Te Maeva Nui is so critical – “Te Au Tauranga Rongonui o Toku Enua e Te Matakeinanga”. As the world connects through social media algorithms and political right or left, we connect to our enua, our matakeinanga, and to each other. Despite the differences we have around faith, politics and the world around us, this week is about what we share together, what is common, what we see in each other, and what we celebrate as different but still the same.

Epeli Hauʻofa, Tongan and Fijian writer and anthropologist, said, “We are the sea, we are the ocean. Oceania is us. We must wake up to this ancient truth and reaffirm it in everything we do, so we can bring to our endeavours the unity and purpose that comes from such an awareness.” He also said, “Our identities are a tapestry of our history, our environment, and our interactions with each other. Celebrating our identity means honouring the threads that make up this tapestry.” A tapestry woven together of tribes, tapere, ariki, mataiapo and Rangatira, matakeinanga, the beautiful tapestry of who we are, celebrated in song and dance this week.

Sia Figiel (Samoan novelist and poet) said, “To write our stories is to give voice to our ancestors, to celebrate our identity, and to ensure that our children will know where they come from.”

This captures the essence of Te Maeva Nui, and the passing down of our Da Vinci Code, our secret code of who we are and how we celebrate who we are to each other. Because those art forms of song and dance are not just entertainment, but the commitment to memory of libraries of knowledge passed down from one generation to the next.

An art form that John Pule (Niuean artist and writer) identified as “Our art, our tattoos, our dances – all expressions of who we are. When we celebrate these, we celebrate our identity and our connection to our ancestors.”

To all those competing this week, dancing, costume making, composing, and judging, may God continue to guide you all in your preparation for these 59-year celebrations. And as we fast approach the milestone of 60 years as a self-governing country, Te Maeva Nui reminds us with each breath, each dance, each song, to stand on the shoulders of those whose names go back for centuries and to whose shoulders we place our feet and they their hands to steady us for the journey ahead. E tu ki runga i toou paku ivi.