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Date: March 2010 - POLYNESIA

HENRI HIRO
20th anniversary of his death.

20 years after his death in March 1990, Henri Hiro is still unquestionably today the high priest of Polynesian culture. His background, his work, everything he left us as inheritance, constitutes not only a non-exhaustible source of inspiration for young Polynesians, but above all an example, a model to follow. He was able to establish the basis of relations to be maintained by the Ma'ohi, proud of their ancestral culture, with the outside world.

Two long decades ago already, when he left the land of his Ancestors. He returned to his marae in the sky, along the trunk of a tree that has its roots in his native land and rises all the way to heaven. His memory will not fade away with time, far from it, it is always revived and has contaminated a large number among the Polynesian youth in search of its own roots.

Henri Hiro convinced them all that you can at the same time respect your own culture and also live in today's world. His theater plays, his writings, but mostly his "parau parau" (dialogues, speeches, impromptu conferences), filled with wisdom and love, were the best examples. Also, we shouldn't forget the ecologist before it was in fashion who advocated a balanced return to nature. A little before his death, Henri Hiro tried an ultimate initiation to this nature he loved so much, using short videos on TV. Shot in Huahine, these short didactic films cover the essential plants of our islands., true ecological pamphlets, beautifully enhanced with poetic commentaries.
Here are for example some of his texts talking about coconut trees, "the tree of life" for all Polynesians:  
Traveling Companion of the Polynesians,
Coconut tree, indispensable support
Pour une vie heureuse et comblée,
Coconut tree of peace, coconut tree of harmony,
Eternal coconut tree, with you, life is there.

In a few weeks, events dedicated to the anniversary of his death will live up to the expectation of an entire people, proud of his culture and of its eternal poet. What is left today of Hiro? A school bears his name, some unavoidable writings to better understand the Polynesian soul, but above all an amazingly living memory in the heart of every Polynesian.
Oral tradition is what we have in our head and never forget.   

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