Mahaketevi-Mi

The legend of Mahaketevi is about a voyage (the first?) to Rarotonga in order to get precious red bird feathers. Mahaketevi, originating from Rarotonga, has two children, Pepe'u and Hotunui. By an ancestral spirit they are encouraged to go to Rarotonga on their own, guided however by that ancestral spirit (=veinehae). While travelling they exchange an 'anaunau', a kind of chant invoking gods with their 'tupuna', "ancestor", or 'veinehae', "ancestral spirit", to guide and protect them during their voyage. When they arrive in Rarotonga they go up to the old house of their father, Mahaketevi. The house is in such a bad state that the birds with the precious red feathers would not enter the house (which was the only way to catch this bird). Their ancestral spirit (=veinehae) advices them to renovate the house in order to have those birds enter the house. They follow that advice and catch the precious bird. In years to follow their anaunau was a chant of protection during the voyage of people from the Marquesas to Rarotonga in order to get the precious red bird feathers