Around the World In Another 80 Gays: Part 18) Songs of Love in War

Previously : 36) Georgina Beyer (b.1957) was the first openly transgender member of a national parliament, that of New Zealand, a nation in which Maori gender identities have been studied by her former teacher 37) Clive Aspin, a traditional legend of same-sex relationships appears in the story of Hinemoa and 38) Tutanekai.

The story of Hinemoa and 38) Tutanekai has been handed down from generation to generation. It was first put into print in the 19th century.

While the love story follows a typical heterosexual course there is the added element of another love story, that of Tutanekai and his friend Tiki. Throughout the oral history of the story Tutanekai and Tiki are called “takatapui”, the word often still used in the lgbt community in New Zealand and which originally meant an intimate companion of the same sex.

Tutanekai was the illegitimate son of a chief and raised in the tribal homeland on the small island of Mokoia in the middle of Lake Rotorua. The lake itself was formed in the crater of an old volcano, which means there are hot springs dotted around the island.

Tiki was a member of the same tribe and formed an intimate friendship with Tutanekai in their childhood. Both were very musical and they made traditional flute instruments to play. Tutanekai’s flute had a special significance for him because it was made from the leg bone of the Maori spiritual leader who had “baptised” him as an infant. Unfortunately, the spiritual leader broke a sacred tribal tradition shortly afterwards and was executed.  Legend says that this gave the flute an extra resonance which other flutes didn’t have. Its ethereal sound was carried further than other flutes.

Tiki played a smaller, ordinary flute and the two friends would sit on a little platform on the shores of Mokoia in the evening and play music together.

Over on the mainland on the south shore of Lake Rotorua lived another tribe. Among the tribal leader’s family was a beautiful young woman called Hinemoa. Every night when Tutanekai and Tiki were playing their music Hinemoa sat on the shore outside her village and listened, captivated by the almost magical sound.

Hinemoa knew who was playing the music. She and Tutanekai had attended tribal gatherings and had admired each other’s beauty from afar but they couldn’t bring themselves to approach each other to discover if that love was mutual. Hinemoa’s father, the chief, was aware of her growing love for Tutanekai but had resolved to keep the two apart because even though Tutanekai was the son of a chief he was illegitimate and not considered to be of lower social rank than his daughter. He ordered that all the canoes be hidden at night to ensure that she could not paddle across to Mokoia. After many days Hinemoa decided the only option was to swim to the island.

After an arduous swim across Lake Rotorua in the dead of night, with only the sound of Tutanekai playing his flute for guidance, Hinemoa arrived at the island. When she reached the shore she refreshed herself in one of the hot springs.

At about this time Tutanekai had become thirsty through playing his music and he sent a servant to fetch some water from the hot spring. It so happened that the servant went to the same spring where Hinemoa was bathing. She hid when the servant arrived to fill a hollow gourd with water. The servant suspected someone was there and called out. Hinemoa replied, in a deep voice and hiding in the shadows to disguise she was a woman, “Who is the water for?” “Tutanekai”, said the servant. “Let me taste it before you take it to him”, said Hinemoa and she took a swig of water and smashed the gourd on the rocks.

The servant was rather taken aback by this. He went back to Tutanekai and told him what happened. Tutanekai sent the servant back for some more water with another gourd, and Hinemoa did the same thing – twice. Tutanekai was very annoyed by now and stormed down to the spring.

After a few minutes of “hide and seek” Tutanekai realised that the mysterious person as the spring was Hinemoa and the two rejoiced that they were together at last. Tutanekai took Hinemoa back to his house, and his bed, and it was there that the two were discovered the following morning. Tribal law decreed that they had now become man and wife.

As for Tiki this was sad news. When Tutanekai brought Hinemoa home he left them in peace. Now that he was married Tiki would see very little of his intimate friend and became depressed. Tutanekai was also unhappy for his friend and came up with a solution. Tiki married Tutanekai’s sister and was brought into the family home. And so there was a happy ending all round.

This legend of Hinemoa and Tutanekai, not to mention Tiki, is well enough known in New Zealand for it to be turned into dance, song, play, movie and art. One song in particular has been adapted to allude to the story of Hinemoa and Tutanekai and was sung by a very unusual choir in 2013. When the New Zealand parliament voted to legalise same-sex marriage the assembled politicians broke spontaneously into song, and the song they sang was “Pokarekare Ana”. Here’s a video of the occasion:

The song has been adapted many times. The first verse translates into English as “They are agitated, the waters of Waiapu, but when you cross over girl, they will be calm”. The name of a stretch of water is changed by the singer to suit the occasion and location. When changed to Rotorua the love song becomes a reference to Hinemoa and Tutanekai.

“Pokarekare Ana” originates in its present format a century ago as a popular song sung by Maori soldiers leaving New Zealand to fight in Europe during World War I. As such it was also reminiscent in the sentiment of being reunited with a loved one to another popular song sung by troops in World War I, “Keep the Home Fires Burning”, written by 39) Ivor Novello (1893-1951).

Next time: Tarzan speaks and Mexico revolts.

Heraldic Alphabet 2018

Happy International Heraldry Day. This is my fifth Heraldic Alphabet in which I display coats of arms of lgbt armigers (a person who has a coat of arms). As my intention is to stop this blog (in its current format) at the end of the year this may be the last alphabet so I’ve written a brief explanation for each coat of arms as a bonus.

Thanks to the encouragement of people who read last year’s list I can provide the most complete alphabet since 2015. I have enjoyed researching and compiling these alphabets.

Again, I’ve tried to produce a varied mixture of arms. They cover over 700 years and go all around the world, though I am disappointed that I’ve not been able to include armigers of more varied ethnic backgrounds.

In English and Scottish heraldry unmarried women display their arms on a lozenge. Here I’ve shown them on shields for aesthetic purposes.

Several terms I use are:
Assumed – arms adopted officially.
Family arms – arms of the head of the family. Each family member should add a cadency mark to show which son or daughter they are (i.e. eldest, second, third, etc.). In England they don’t need to register their cadenced arms, and women need only show their father’s cadency. In Scotland each family member must matriculate a new coat of arms based on their father’s.
Impaled – two coats of arms placed side by side on one shield. A method of displaying the arms of a married couple or someone’s arms of office (e.g a bishop or mayor).
Matriculate – to officially register a coat of arms, principally applicable in Scotland.

A) Charles Adams (1770-1800); arms inherited from his father, US President John Adams, who assumed them in 1783. The President believed that English heraldic rules didn’t apply in the US after independence and, because his father’s family had no coat of arms, Adams assumed those of his mother’s, to which he added a fleur-de-lys and lions to the black discs.

B) Mary Blathwayt (1879-1961), suffragette; family arms bearing the cadency mark of a third son (star) as borne by her grandfather. The family arms were first recorded in 1690 for Mary’s ancestor William Blathwayt, MP.

C) Olive Custance (1874-1944), poet; inherited family arms, probably first used by her ancestor Hambleton Custance (d.1757). After several lesbian affairs Olive married Lord Alfred Douglas, Oscar Wilde’s old boyfriend, after which she could display her arms on a small shield in the middle of his (as her father’s only child and heraldic heir). Their children could, consequently, place the Custance arms as a quarter on their arms.

D) Natalie de Clare, Countess of Markland (b.1975); personal arms registered by the South African Bureau of Heraldry in 2016. The design incorporates the red chevrons of the medieval de Clare family from whom the countess descends.

E) Nicholas Eden, 2nd Earl of Avon (1930-1985), government minister; family arms inherited from his father, former Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon. These arms have been used by the Eden family since the 1600s.

F) Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499), philosopher; probably assumed arms. I’ve only recently begun to research these arms. Ficino drew them on a manuscript dated 1455. The arms of his pupil’s family, Francesco Cattari da Diaceto, differ only in the substitution of a white stripe for the sword. It is unclear if Ficino assumed his similar design as the Cattari family or was influenced by it.

 G) Lady Anne Gordon (b.1988), daughter of the Marquess of Aberdeen; family arms of her father and direct male ancestors back to the 17th century. Being Scottish arms Lady Anne would need to matriculate her own distinctive version.

H) Jennifer Hilton, Baroness Hilton of Eggardon (b.1936); personal grant. See here.

I) Sir Charles Irving (1924-1996), MP; arms of office, being those of the borough of Cheltenham granted by the College of Arms in 1877. Sir Charles could assume these arms during his two terms of office as mayor. He was granted personal arms in 1991 which I have not yet researched.

J) Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone (1928-2015), ex-MP; personal arms granted by the College of Arms in 1997. Green and red represent the Houses of Commons and Lords respectively.

K) Capt. Martin Oranmore Kirwan (1847-1904), 5th Battalion, Royal Dublin Fusiliers; inherited family arms, Capt. Kirwan was heir to Cregg Castle, Co. Galway.

L) Most Rev. Roger LaRade, Primate Archbishop of the Eucharistic Catholic Church (ECC) in Canada; personal arms of office as authorised by the ECC. The arms of the ECC appear at the top of the shield. The Archbishop’s personal arms, assumed following his appointment as archbishop in 2005, are beneath.

M) Violet Martin (1862-1915), writer; inherited family arms. The date of origin is uncertain, but Dublin Castle archives record the family legend of Richard the Lionheart granting these arms in the 1190s to the Crusader knight Sir Oliver Martin, the supposed ancestor of the family. The arms were later confirmed to the family by the Office of Ulster King of Arms.

N) Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), scientist; inherited family arms, originally assumed, with permission given by the College of Arms in 1634. They were used by various Newton families since the 15th century.

O) Charles George Oates (1844-1902), barrister; personal arms, being the inherited family arms of his father with Charles’ cadency mark as a third surviving son (a star).

P) Richard Püller von Hohenburg (d.1482), knight (to be featured in a future “80 Gays” article); inherited family arms, used by his paternal ancestors since before 1300.

Q) Lt. Cmdr. Michael J. Quigley (b.1970), US Navy, Counter-terrorism officer; personal honorary grant from the College of Arms in 2012. Based on the arms of the Quigleys of County Donegal.

R) Hon. Nancy Ruth (b.1942), Canadian Senator 2005-17; inherited family arms, being those granted by the College of Arms to her father in 1955. (Note: Nancy Ruth does not use her family name but prefers to be known by her first names together. This means she should really be placed under “N”. I placed her arms under “R” because I had already chosen who to place under “N”, and had no-one for “R”.)

S) Winnaretta Singer, Princess Edmond de Polignac (1865-1943), marital arms, being those of her husband Prince Edmond. The quarters represent the families of de Polignac (top left), Parkyns of Bunny Hall Nottinghamshire (top right, bottom left), and Middlemore of Lusby (bottom right).

T) Jaci Taylor (b.1945), Mayor of Aberystwyth 2000-1; arms of office, being the arms granted to the borough of Aberystwyth by the College of Arms in 1961 and transferred to the town council in 1975. Jaci could assume these arms during her term of office.

V) Ole von Beust (b.1955), President of the German Bundesrat 2007-8 (to be featured in a future “80 Gays” article); inherited family arms dating from before 1300.

W) Horace Walpole (1717-1797), writer, 4th Earl of Orford; inherited family arms. Until he inherited the title in 1791 Horace would have used his cadency mark of a third son (a star). Walpole featured in an “80 Gays” article earlier this year.

Y) Will Young (b.1979), singer and actor; family arms as suggested by Jeffrey Poole in “An Illustrated General Armory of South Australia”. Poole lists these arms as those of Sir Henry Young (1803-1870), Governor of Tasmania, Will’s ancestor. They are also the arms of the baronets of North Dean, Buckinghamshire, though I have yet to establish a precise family relationship.

Z) St. Zosima of Siberia (1767-1833), monk and Russian Orthodox saint; probable inherited family arms, being those of the family of Verkhovsky of Kostroma in Russia to which the saint belonged.