Hatana

Accessing the island of Hatana is a complicated process. Its landowners are the people of the village of Losa, district Ituʻtiʻu, on the west coast of the main island, and hence no one is allowed to land on the island without the permission of the Losa people, and must travel with a Losa villager in their party. Groups generally go to collect seabirds or their eggs, delicacies made all the more remarkable by the difficulty in process to procure them. However, groups do also go on day trips to visit the burial place of Raho, and picnic on the island.

The island is surrounded by a perimeter of high reef that boats cannot breach, meaning that to reach the island, travellers must disembark from their vessels at the edge of the reef and either swim or run along the coral to the land at a distance of around 50 metres. This requires careful timing: should one embark on the run or swim at the wrong moment, they can find themselves struck against the reef or a rock by the large waves that pound against the sides of the island.

Once on the island, given its sacred, taboo or haʻa status, there are various prohibitions which people cannot contravene. For example, visitors must not defile the island by relieving themselves on the land, and must do so into the sea. Also, any physical or even verbal act of insult, directed to the burial site, the ancestors associated with it or the people of Losa can cause the seas to become quite rough, and groups have been recorded as being stranded on the island for up to several days, until actions were taken to pacify the angry spirits.

• Desert island
• List of islands

• Inia, Elisapeti, 2002, Katoʻaga: Rotuman Ceremonies, IPS, Fiji Islands
• Parke, A. (ed.), 2002, Seksek ʻE Hatana / Strolling on Hatana: Traditions of Rotuma and its Dependencies, IPS, Fiji