Elekana

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Elekana was the first person to introduce Christianity to the Pacific islanders in what is now called Tuvalu. He was born in the Cook Islands in the 19th century, although the dates of his birth and death are unknown. [1] [2]

Contents

History

Christianity came to Tuvalu in 1861 when Elekana, a deacon of a Congregational church in Manihiki, Cook Islands, became caught in a storm and drifted for 8 weeks in a canoe before landing at Nukulaelae in the Ellice Islands on 10 May 1861. [3] [4] The distance between the two places is approximately 2,772 kilometres (1,722 mi).

Elekana began proselytising during the four months he spent on the atoll. [5] He travelled to Funafuti where he also preached before returning to Samoa. [3] He then trained at the London Missionary Society (LMS) Malua Theological College in Samoa before beginning his work in establishing the Church of Tuvalu. The "miraculous" drift voyage of Elekana was featured in the publications of the LMS. [6] [7]

Elekana, Ioane and Matatia, graduates of Malua Theological College, were appointed by the LMS to work in the Ellice Islands. [3] Elekana and the other teachers started work in the Ellice Islands in 1865; travelling to the islands with the Revd. A. W. Murray of the LMS. [3]

Monument

The "Elekana Tuvalu-Christianity Memorial 1861" is a monument that is located on Nukulaelae atoll. [8]

Sources

Related Research Articles

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Neli Lifuka was born in 1909 on Vaitupu, he worked as a marine engineer and from 1945 to 1951 he was the magistrate on Vaitupu. He organised the collection of the funds necessary to purchase Kioa island in Fiji in 1946 and in 1956 he joined the Kioa community and became the chairman of the council.

Donald Gilbert Kennedy

Donald Gilbert Kennedy was a teacher, then an administrator in the British colonial service in the Gilbert and Ellice Islands Colony and the British Solomon Islands Protectorate. For his services as a Coastwatcher during the Pacific War, he was awarded the DSO, and the Navy Cross (U.S.). He published journal articles and books on the material culture of Vaitupu atoll, land tenure and the language of the Ellice Islands.

References

  1. ↑ Goldsmith, M. and Munro, D. (1992). "Encountering Elekana Encountering Tuvalu". Rubinstein, D.H. Ed. Pacific History: Papers from the 8th Pacific History Association Conference: 25–41.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Luker, V.; Lal, B. V., eds. (2013). Telling Pacific Lives: Prisms of Process. ANU Press. p. 110.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Kofe, Laumua (1983). "Chapter 15, Palangi and Pastors". Tuvalu: A History. University of the South Pacific/Government of Tuvalu. p. 110.
  4. ↑ Goldsmith, Michael & Munro, Doug (2002). The accidental missionary: tales of Elekana. Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury. ISBN   1877175331.
  5. ↑ Goldsmith, M. and Munro, D. (1992). "Conversion and Church Formation in Tuvalu". Journal of Pacific History. 27 (1): 44–54. doi:10.1080/00223349208572690.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ↑ Besnier, Niko (1995). Literacy, Emotion and Authority: Reading and Writing on a Polynesian Atoll . Cambridge University Press. pp.  153–177.
  7. ↑ Besnier, Niko (2009). Gossip and the Everyday Production of Politics . University of Hawaii Press. p.  48.
  8. ↑ "Elekana Tuvalu-Christianity Memorial 1861". geoview.info. 7 April 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
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