Do you know that when you drink water from a coconut you kiss an eel? Read it legend of Hina and the coconut tree, whose hand had been promised to an eel.
At the age of sixteen, the beautiful princess of Pape'uriri, Hina, was betrothed by her parents to the prince of Lake Vaihiria, Faaravaianuu. When her husband is introduced to her, she is stunned: the king of the lake is a monstrous eel. Terrified, Hina fled to Vaira'o, on the Tai'arapu peninsula, to the god Maui.
The eel, i.e. Prince Faaravaianuu, emerges from the lake and makes his way into the valley of Vaihiria. She ends up finding Hina.
Maui, horrified, placed his two stone tikis on the cliff. Thanks to this protection, he managed to catch the monstrous beast. He cuts it into three pieces and, having wrapped the head in a piece of tapa (plant tissue), he presents it to Hina:
“Don't put this package on the ground before you get home, and plant it in the center of your marae enclosure. This eel head contains great treasures. From it you will get enough to build your house, something to drink and something to eat. »
Hina leaves. A few moments later, she wishes to bathe with her servants and places her package on the grass, thus forgetting the advice of the god Maui. The earth opens and swallows the eel's head. A plant then appears and begins to grow. It becomes a strange tree, resembling an immense erect eel, its head towards the sun: the first coconut tree (tumu ha'ari) has just been born.
Hina understands that she can no longer go home. She must monitor the growth of this new wealth. The days pass. A great drought occurs and only the coconut palm resists. The men then tasted the fruits which contained sugary water and on which three dark spots appeared, outlining the eyes and mouth of the eel.
So, drinking a coconut Hina's way is like savoring a royal kiss once refused. Today, when we fly over the Vaihiria valley, the flow of the river is reminiscent of the path of an eel, and thus reminds us of Faaravaianuu's journey to find Hina.
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