DUBU -The Sacred Platform That Became The Church

How did a traditional four-post platform become the Motuan word for church?

In DUBU – The Sacred Platform That Became the Church, Mea Podi Vai explores a question that remained with him for years: why did Motuan ancestors call their sacred platform a dubu, and how did that same word later come to describe a Christian place of worship?

At the heart of the book is a remarkable explanation recorded in 1952 by Pastor Taunao Agaru. Presented in the richness of the Motuan language, his account reveals that the traditional dubu was far more than a simple wooden structure.

It was a sacred place of gathering.

Food was brought there. Ancestors were acknowledged. Communities sought protection, rain, healthy gardens and an abundance of food.

When Christianity arrived and the first house of worship was established at Poreporena, the word dubu remained, but its spiritual direction changed. The ancestral sacred platform became the name for the house of Dirava Korikori, the true and living God.

Through a thoughtful personal reflection, the author considers how language can undergo conversion while continuing to carry cultural memory. DUBU shows how an old Motuan word became a bridge between ancestral belief and Christian faith.

The belief changed.

But the word remained.

Dedicated to the author’s grandparents, the late Reverend Vai Hekure of Kwaradubuna and Sina Konio Dika Toua of Apau-Vahoi, this book honours a generation that carried both cultural memory and Christian faith.

Part of the Journey of Discovery – Motu Sene collection, DUBU reminds us that understanding who we have become begins with remembering who we were.

Author: Mea Podi Vai
Format: Digital ebook (PDF)
Delivery: Available for download immediately after purchase