Blanca Hucki Atan

Ester Blanca Huki Atán, better known as Blanca or Tata to those close to her, was born on March 6, 1953. She has four children, three females and one male. She is a proud grandmother of seven grandchildren and soon a great-grandchild who already brightens her days. At 71 years old, she shares with us her life testimony, written by herself, to pay tribute to her family and the contributions they have made for their land and future well-being.

“My parents were Petero Tangaroa Huki Huki and Maria Rosario Atán Tepihi. We were 14 siblings, 12 by blood and 2 by upbringing. I am the seventh. My childhood, adolescence and youth were very beautiful with my family; I loved to ride horses and go around the island. In 1981, I joined the cultural group Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti, a group that brought to the stage ancient stories and tales about the ancestors through exciting theatrical plays. The group was born on May 7th, 1974 in my parents’ house, managed by Carlos Hipólito Huki Atán, who was the legal representative”. It was the only group at the time that used Rapa Nui ancestral clothing, made of mahute fibers, the members painted with kie’a pigments, and accompanied by wooden symbols in their presentations. This group was visionary in showing a spectacle not only for tourists, but also for their own people and future generations, being recognized as a great school and leaving a legacy that educated many young people about their history and roots Who participated in the famous Tehoe Manu academy.

Rosario Atán Tepihi – Blanca’s mother

Blanca’s hands

The clothing was not casual, Blanca tells us, “Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti was inspired by the message of the ancestors in a dream of my older sister, Elvira del Carmen Huki Atán, then she narrated it to my mother, a woman noted for her gift of interpreting dreams. My brother Joel made a sketch of what was told by my sister, who dreamed that inside a large trunk a voice could be heard saying “let us out of here”. What that dream showed were the costumes and crowns, there was in that trunk an Ao, a baton, the Rapa, also a woman’s baton, the Reimiro, pectoral symbol of the king and the Rapa Nui national flag, the Tahonga, the Ua, the Paoa, the Hami”. “I remember when we were made pulla (mockery) in those times by the Rapa Nui themselves, calling us “the crazy ones of the Maria Porotu of Tangaroa, Maripaū Rereva, kaka rereva”. They also called us guerrillas and Marijuana users for defending our traditions. These were pejorative terms at a time when it was still embarrassing to show what we really were.” Many groups did not use the ancestral or preferred foreign attire, because it was considered “Indian” to show the half-naked body, although it was not obscene at all. “To me, it is funny that today many wear the maripaū in the air and make money with the Hami that their own families despised. The precursor to this was our group, like Alberto Hito, better known as Hoto-Hoto,who participated as a member and actor of Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti, is the one who should be Retributed.

Clothing-traditional-clothing-of-Rapa-Nui

Traditional Rapa Nui clothing clothing

I want to pay homage to the members of the first generation that founded Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti, we had a different style, with time many people followed us, we excited the community with our plays, who went to see us in the countryside on horseback, even on foot. They are:

Carlos Hipólito Huki Atán (legal representative), Andrés Joel Huki Atán, Alberto Pakomio Hotu, María Tuki Hotu, José Bernardo Tuki Hotu, Elena Tuki Hotu, María Elena Pate Hotu, Miguel Tuki Atán, Ana María Tuki Pate, Beatriz Tuki Pate, Eusebio Tuki Tepano, Taurana Huki Atán, María Luisa Pakarati, Akterama Huki Atán, Ida Luz Huki Atán, Hilaria Pakarati Tuki, Olga Ika Pakarati, Armando Ika Pakarati, Germán Ika Pakarati, Gabriel Ika Pakarati, Bernardo Hereveri Teao, Nicolás Teao Chávez. There were also capitalist partners like my parents Pedro Huki Huki and María Rosario Atán Tepihi. Historians in charge of rescuing stories of our ancestors: Leon Tuki Hey, Jose Fati Puarakei and Benedicto Tuki Tepano. There was also a group in charge of carving the instruments, headed by Quintini Tuki Tepano, Samuel Tuki Chávez, Rafael Tuki Tepihi, Antonio Tepano Hito and Benedicto Tuki Tepano. Suppliers of food products: María Luisa Ika Nahoe, Ventura Tuki Hotu, Rafael Tuki (Koro Mati), Verónica Hotu Atán, Macario Teao and María Auxiliadora Hereveri.

Staging of Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti

There is an anecdote that Blanca wanted to tell: “Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti competed with other groups on December 9th, 1975 and won the prize of a trip to New Zealand representing the Rapa Nui people. However, it was not the group that traveled to New Zealand, but the ensemble of Luis Avaka Pate, better known as Papa Kiko. During the inauguration of the public library, today called Katipare, the mayor of that year, my uncle Juan Edmunds, approached my mom and confessed that he had granted the trip to Papa Kiko, for 2 reasons, first because he had kept our dances and songs alive, and second because he was Older than legal age. But he told my mom: “Maria, your children will travel in the future and the plane will be for them like horses that come and go”. That prophecy has come true, as my brothers have opened doors all over the Pacific, all the way to the Atlantic, and all over French Polynesia. They did this for future generations, as we have seen with the group that traveled to Hawai’i . These stories are, to me, the real truth. My family has been a forerunner in art and has left monumental sculptures in different places such as the airport, museum and on the coast shore”.

Blanca was given the position of director of Mata Tu’u Hotu Iti by her sister Maria Leticia Huki Atán, where she was in charge of teaching and directing the songs that the historians recovered, looking for the appropriate intonations of the group. Each song represents an exact moment of the history, as director, she was in charge of teaching the chronological order of them. For example, she tells us that for the representation of the arrival of King Hotu Matu’a and Queen Avareipua, there are previous songs that narrate the search for the island in Hiva, which is good to show the complete legend so that the young people learn their history well.

Finally Blanca signs: “I am Blanca Huki Atán, owner of what I say, this story is born from the tip of my pencil”.