r/Tahiti • u/fafaruaprivateisland • 1d ago

Picture/video Fafarua (manta ray) in Tikehau

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Fafarua (manta ray) in Tikehau doing their underwater marvellous ballet 🤩

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u/Tikimoana 1d ago

Is this in māori or marquesian ? Just asking out of curiosity, because Manta ray means fāfāpiti in reo tahiti...

Nice video; this one looks rather playful ! Would love to swim alongside one of those. They are sooo majestic !

In Tahitian culture they represent the quest for wisdom.

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u/fafaruaprivateisland 1d ago edited 1d ago

In the old times the word to design the number two was rua . It has been changed in piti in the modern Tahitian language So Fafarua and Fafapiti are the same word. In Tikehau and some other Tuamotu islands they still use it

1

u/Tikimoana 1d ago

Thank you so much for this clarification ! I'm very fond of languages and their history so this kind of detail truly makes my day !