The members of the Mitiaro performing arts team, which performed at Te Maeva Nui New Zealand in Auckland last weekend, are in the country visiting their motherland for the first time.

The 57-member group, most of whom have never been to Mitiaro, will be visiting the island to discover, connect, and absorb the island and its people.

The local Mitiaro community welcomed the group with beautiful sweet-scented flowers at Rarotonga airport on Wednesday.

Mitiaro joined Te Maeva Nui New Zealand this year for the first time, participating in a significant event that was established in 2019 to celebrate Cook Islands culture and traditions.

The Mitiaro Te Maeva Nui NZ team is led by Maggie Anitelea (nee Nicholas) and her strong committee members: Antony “Ant” Vavia, Lily Nanai, Ben Samuel, Dickie Humphrey, Joe Anitelea, and Ruth Sio-Lokam.

They registered 245 members for Te Maeva Nui NZ, but each team was restricted to 140 members, and only 80 people could be on stage for each performance.

Anitelea said: “We knew this was a very special time, the first time Mitiaro was joining.”

She also believes culture should not be just about performing on stage.

“Yes, you get on the stage and you represent your island,” she said. “But, what does your island look like, what do your people look like?”

“I thought how beautiful it would it be to introduce our children and our group to Mitiaro. I’ve never seen Mitiaro and I’d love to visit my ancestors…”

So the group has taken things further to give everyone the opportunity to be in Mitiaro, to make connections, and meet their people.

Today they will be performing some of their items, and they have plans to have more interaction on the island, sing their imene tuki at church, and hopefully catch and eat itiki – the freshwater eels the island is well known for.

Anitelea says for them, the itiki symbolises resilience and loyalty, so they have chosen eel as their emblem which features on their uniforms and banners.

“I’m really proud we have a lot of us coming on this ‘Te Itiki’ tour of Mitiaro,” she said.

The group will return to Rarotonga on Monday.