Tuki Tuki Teni Teni: A Game from The Cook Islands

Equipment:
A coconut shell per player (A stone or shell can be used instead)

To play:
Players - any number - sit in a circle on the ground. Each player has a coconut shell and one shell (or more if the circle is large) is marked as the 'ghost'. Tapping shells on the ground players chant the first line of the tukituki chant. During the remainder of the chant, players pass the shell banging it down in front of the player on their right. The player who has the 'ghost' on the word 'toke' must perform a hula in the middle of the circle.

Chant:
Tuki Tuki Teni Teni
Tuki tuki teni teni takaia rakau kamu
tere rua ki mua ra.
Tu toru e papa roroa tairi metua rakau
kamu tare kanu tare.
Kia akatere pakanuu e toke.
Chant: Ranitu (for the hula)
Ranitu Ranitu itiiti Ranitu
(Repeat as many times as you like).

The information above is from a booklet called 'Guide to Pacific Guiding', published by The Girl Guides Association New Zealand (Inc.), 1981, with sponsorship provided by Air New Zealand. This booklet is no longer in print and, to the best of my knowledge, no longer available.

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This page last updated August 5th, 1999