The meetuupaki is an ancient Tongan group dance, already reported by early European navigators like captain Cook. This dance has been traditionally designed for men although women may take part if there are not enough men. The (mee tuu paki resembles a kind of war dance; albeit, it is done with little symbolic paddles as opposed to arms.

Dress

The dress for this dance invariably is a large sheet of ngatu

Tapa cloth

Tapa cloth is a bark cloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii...

 wrapped around the body from chest to ankles. A girdle of leaves around the waist (sisi) is often added.

Movements

The movements are largely with the paddles in the hand, but the proper addition of the small and subtle movements with the head and legs make the difference between a good and poor performance. The paddles are not used for row like gestures, but are rotated around, moved to left and right or up and down. The dancers start in one row, maybe two if there are many, but from time to time split up the rows in what seems chaotic movements, yet at the end they come back again in perfect unison.

Music

It is usually the dance master who operates a little slit drum (lali) to keep the beat, while the dancers themselves sing the song, possibly with assistance of others. The beat is always slow in the beginning, but goes faster and faster when the end approaches to excite the dancers and the public.

History

The words of the songs are in a largely unintelligible language, although some sailor terms can be distinguished. As there is also a version of the meetuupaki in Futuna

Futuna Island, Wallis and Futuna

Futuna is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna. It is one of the Hoorn Islands or Îles Horne, nearby Alofi being the other...

, called tapaki even though different, a link in that direction seems to be most likely. The theory is that the meetuupaki was composed somewhere in the 12th to 16th century by an internationally oriented poet on Uvea

Wallis Island

Wallis is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna....

 to honour the Tui Tonga empire

Tu'i Tonga Empire

Some early European commentators have propagated the notion of a pre-historic "Tui Tonga Empire" or "Tongan Empire" in Oceania.This idea has long been a source of cultural pride among some Tongans even though it has been seriously challenged and generally discounted by modern archaeologists,...

. When the Tui Tonga

Tu'i Tonga

The Tui Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the 10th century with the mythical Ahoeitu; withdrew from political power in the 15th century by yielding to the Tui Haatakalaua; and died out with Laufilitonga in 1865...

 Kauʻulufonua I (Kauulufenua-fekai, K. the wild, in Futunan) had lost some decisive battles, which heralded the end of the empire and the of the political function of the Tui Tonga, he was forced to give meetuupaki to Futuna, where the parts are still guarded as secrets. In addition the Futunans declared that from now on the Tui Tonga title should be inferior to any Futunan title, and if ever a Tongan boat would make it to their island, it would be destroyed and offered to the gods. (This still happened in the 19th century as recorded by William Mariner (writer)

William Mariner (writer)

William Mariner was an Englishman who lived in the Tonga Islands from 29 November 1806 to 8 November 1810. He wrote an account of his experiences, Tonga Islands, that is now one of the major sources of information on pre-Christian Tonga.-Mariner's sojourn in Tonga:William Mariner was a teenage...

. A Tongan proverb: vete fakafutuna (take apart in the Futunan way), still refers to something to be dismantled completely.

There is also a theory that the meetuupaki was a kind of Tongan passport of olden times. When a boat from Tonga arrived on one of the conquered islands the crew was invited to show their typical dance to prove that they came from Tonga and not from somewhere else. As they then still had their paddles in their hand, using them in a dance seem quite straight forward.

Verses

Verse 1

Kolulu e, Kolulu e

Kolulu e, sua mai mate

Fakapo, sua mai. Tu

E Fakapo, sua mai. Tu

Verse 2

'O Latu, Latu e

Pe 'i Tonga mu'a kae tokelau.

'Ia, 'i'i'a, 'i'i'a.

Kaleki pala pui le vaha,

Kae liua manu ole vaha,

Kae ta ko ia si'ene nga'uta.

'Ia, 'i'i'a, 'i'i'a. Tu

Verse 3

'O Taputea taputea mai

He uia mala mai letai

'O Taputea taputea mai

He uia mala mai letai.

'o sulu'ia laupeanga tuia,

E uia mala maile uia. Tu

Verse 4

Lakuta e, Lakuta e

Lakuta sikipoi e, sikipoi e, sikipoi e

Lakuta e, Lakuta e

Lakuta sikipoi e, sikipoi e,sikipoi e

Si ki 'olunga matau foe,

Ma'u e tata malie. Sikipoi e, sikipoi e. Tu

Verse 5

'O anu mai, fai mai

Tapu la e maile tai.

'E velo 'i sila, talava e

Vaka e sua, kite fonua.

Tafoe mai fe a fulisia lanumea

'E Tafea ki 'Uvea 'akatu.

Tonu mo tekau ki tu'a hakau

Fakahakea ki ai te vaka

Ko Tapunasili mo Longotevai

Fakangalo nai a e

Fakatakutaku he ta ko Tonga pasipasi mai

Fetuna ka toa e, 'io e

Verse 6

'O ngalutai ngalutai, 'o ngalutai ngalutai

'Utufia tefua te langi mana tefua fekai

Faka'oseia feliuekina holo e kina.

Kuo lava matautulia taumalakia, 'isa ke

Pule mei vaka, 'ia.

Pule mei vaka kae tapa mai ama

Kae au mai kava kae ma'u te tangata

Kae to taulata, se ue i, se ue a.

Hifo le ala hakea le ala kae tau longolongo

Fakapuepue fano to mui tao, 'isa ke

'O ngalutai ngalu 'isa ke.