A COLUMN WRITTEN BY KALIOPATE TAVOLA, PUBLISHED IN ISLANDS BUSINESS, SEP 2022
The ‘2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent’ was launched at the 51st Pacific Islands Leaders (PIF) Meeting held in Suva on 11-14 July 2022. At the welcoming ceremony, PIF’s Chair, PM Bainimarama reminded the Leaders of their commitment they made in 2019. “Fellow Leaders”, he said, “you would recall we agreed to develop the 2050 Strategy when we last met in Tuvalu. We will have the opportunity to consider the Strategy in our Retreat later this week, and I am very optimistic that this supremely important document will serve as our ‘North Star’ for the decades to come – providing us with a long-term vision, key values to guide our way, and a sense of our shared trajectory.”
Bainimarama’s solicitation for astral guidance at the eve of the launching of the 2050 Strategy is, admittedly, consistent with ‘Blue Pacific’ – PIF’s leitmotif and which doubles up as the region’s ‘identity’. The sub-themes of ‘ocean identity’ and ‘ocean geography’ subsumed under ‘Blue Pacific’ attest our ancestors’ great mastery of sweeping oceanic navigation aided, inter alia, by individual, clusters or constellations of stars that light up the nightly stellar highways in the sky.
Be that as it may, the choice for the North Star as a guide for the region, the majority if its members are spread wide and deep south of the equator – including one that straddles it, is absurd, to say the least. The North Star or Polaris does not quite sit directly on the Earth’s north celestial pole, but it is very close to it. As you travel south, Polaris drops closer to the northern horizon. When viewed from the equator, Polaris sinks to the horizon and cannot be seen from the south of the equator.
If we were to view the choice as a means of peace-offering to placate PIF’s Micronesian members in the northern hemisphere, given the fracture in the Forum caused by their withdrawal, it can only be said that whilst the thought is admirable, the reality is farcical.
The North Star marks the way due north. It may not be the brightest star in the night sky, but it is easily located making it a reliable gauge of North for travellers without a compass. As you travel northward, the North Star climbs higher in the sky. If you go as far north as the North Pole, the North Star will appear directly overhead.
One cannot escape the double-entendre presented by the picture on the cover of the ‘2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent.’ Four vaka are sailing north away from the south and all that entails; being directed by the North Star. Surely, it is not the North Pole their intended destination. It is too frigid there. Perhaps it is one metaphorical northern destination, known to the framers of the Strategy. Sadly, the travelling passengers, as depicted in the artwork, are ill-equipped for the journey’s perils ahead.
If the Strategy’s framers were intent on being guided by a star native to the northern hemisphere, and popularly used by northern Pacific navigators, they could have selected Star Arcturus or Hokule’a to the Hawaiians. The Hawaiians themselves have called their double hulled canoe Hokule’a. The Hawaiians’ navigational folklore is celebrated by their southern hemisphere cousins, and vice versa.
Star Arcturus is one of the five brightest stars in the night sky, and the brightest star in the northern constellation Bootes.
If the framers of the 2050 Strategy were adamant on being star-guided, they could have at least selected one native to the southern hemisphere, the home of over 83% of PIF’s membership. And there are options galore.
The Southern Cross is the best-known constellation in the southern hemisphere. Its position near the South Celestial Pole means, for Australia for example, that it is almost always visible from anywhere on the continent. In any case, its long line of the cross points south. Thus, the star is a favourite for navigators for fixing their current location and for estimating their relative direction home. It is also favourite of campers who get lost in the dark and have to be guided back to camp where they relate their escapade ad nauseum to disinterested listeners.
Apart from the Southern Cross, three other stars in the southern hemisphere have navigational significance.
Pleiades, the Seven Sisters, or Matariki to Maori, is located in the Taurus the Bull constellation. Apart from its directional functionality, Matariki also has cultural significance. It signals the Maori New Year. The star’s appearance heralds a time of remembrance, joy and peace. It is a time for communities to come together and celebrate.
To the Fijian, Pleiades resembles a cluster of sorts. Its versions of the name in Fijian societies reflect that meaning, namely: isoso (in Vatulele), isosotarawau (in Muana, Rewa), isosodawa (in Qoma), and taisosowi (in Lau). I am grateful to linguist Dr. Paul Gerahty for these Fijian versions.
Orion, the Hunter, is probably the best-known constellation after the Bigger Dipper. It is easy to trace in the night sky. Seek the shape of a man, holding up either a sword or a club, depending on one’s imagination. Orion is the world’s most recognizable constellation. It lies on the celestial equator, making it visible from both the Northern and Southern hemispheres.
To the Fijian, they can locate the Hunter through the three bright stars, in a straight line, that form the Hunter’s belt. They then connect these three stars to that, equally bright, on his shoulder holding up the sword/club and extending this line to another bright star on his clenched fist. The configuration/constellation thus formed resembles a fan which gives it its name: ‘iri buli’.
Pacific ancestors also navigated using Venus, a planet. Due to its characteristics, navigators regarded it as a star and gave it two names depending on when it becomes visible. The orbit of Venus is inside the orbit of the Earth. Unlike the outer planets, Venus is always relatively close to the Sun in the sky.
When Venus is at its brightest, it becomes visible just minutes after the sun goes down. This is when Venus is seen as the Evening Star – Na iVola Bogi in Fijian. When Venus is on the other side of the sun, it leads the sun as it travels across the sky. Venus will rise in the morning a few hours before the sun. Then as the sky brightens and Venus fades away in the daytime sky. This is Venus the Morning Star. Na iVola Siga in Fijian.
From a navigational perspective, when Venus is near the horizon, navigators would know that they are looking roughly east or west. The direction would be affirmed when they determine the relative timing of the sighting and positioning of the sun.
As it is, the newly launched 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent is incomplete. It still needs an implementation plan and an architecture to be fully functional. Now, to be guided by the North Star specifically on its primal voyage, is a directive that lacks cognition. Early Pacific navigators would have realized the faux pas and would already be preparing tacking to enable the vaka proper passage onto the unknown.
Framers of the 2050 Strategy are best advised to invoke the wisdom of our ancestors’ ‘ocean identity’ and ‘ocean geography’ for the essential tacking of our vaka to avoid any mishap.
© Kaliopate Tavola and kaidravuni.com, 2025. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Kaliopate Tavola, kaidravuni.com and Islands Business with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
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