We have met taka before, e.g. in the story about Ure Honu:

'...Ure sat out and caught eels, lobsters, and morays. He procured a great number (? he ika) of chickens, yams, and bananas and piled them up (hakatakataka) for the banquet to celebrate the new house ...'

Furthermore, in the story about Kui and Fakataka we have it also:

'... Fakataka swims and swims, reaching another land. She goes there and stays on the upraised reef in the freshwater pools on the reef, and there delivers her child, a boy child. She gives him the name Taetagaloa ...'

Earlier I have commented about the name Fakataka:

In the middle of the night and in the middle of the dark season of the year one period will end and another will start. At that point there must be somebody who ties the ends of the ‘branches’ together to make a circle, Fakataka.

The circle in question presumably is the cycle of the sun. We notice that one of the meanings of taka is ruddy.

Ruddy … red, reddish, orig. of the face ... (English Etymology)

The meaning of taka is close to teke, koti etc - a junction in timespace. There is a kind of piling up or gathering together or whirling around at the break, at renewal time, a tying together evidently also involving all the people, cfr Te Piringa Aniva:

... The cult place of Vinapu is located between the fifth and sixth segment of the dream voyage of Hau Maka. These segments, named 'Te Kioe Uri' (inland from Vinapu) and 'Te Piringa Aniva' (near Hanga Pau Kura) flank Vinapu from both the west and the east. The decoded meaning of the names 'the dark rat' (i.e., the island king as the recipient of gifts) and 'the gathering place of the island population' (for the purpose of presenting the island king with gifts) links them with the month 'Maro', which is June. Thus the last month of the Easter Island year is twice connected with Vinapu.

My intuition, however, also tells me that the renewal spot is Apina:

... It grew light. On the second day, Ira said again, 'Go back to riding the waves!' They all went back out there. Ira got up and again picked up the (second) ornament. He took it, went on, came to Apina Nui, drilled a hole into the stone, put the ornament in the hole, with the shiny side to the outside, and gave (the place) the name 'Pu'. He turned around, went on, and came to the cave Pu Pakakina. There he lay down. The young kinsmen arrived and also lay down.

It grew light on the third day, and again Ira said, 'Go back to swimming on a board, to riding the waves!' All went back out there, and Ira got up. He picked up two stone figures (moai maea) and two mother-of-pearl necklaces (tuitui reipa). The name of the first stone figure was Apina Iti, and the name of the second one was Rapa Kura. Ira took the figures and the ornaments, went on, and came to Apina Iti. He dug a pit, let the figure slide down into the pit, and covered it up with pebbles (kirikiri). The head remained completely free (? he puoko i hakapaka). He put the necklace around the neck of the figure and called the place 'Apina Iti A Rapa Kura'. Ira gave the stone figure the name 'Hinariru', the name of the master, (son) of Tuu Hokorua, who had given the figure to Ira. He turned around, went on, and entered the cave Pu Pakakina and remained there. All the young men arrived and settled down (to sleep) ...

... the placing of the mother-of-pearl ornaments on artificially created abutments is most unusual. The two stones, Ruhi Hepii and Pu, which flank the pair of figures 'on the right and on the left', function as beacons emitting their signals toward the sea. Late in the afternoon or toward evening, when the sun is in the west, the rays strike the ornaments and the reflected light can be seen by canoes approaching the shore. To this day, the Easter Islanders have a well-developed system of fixed points along the shore that helps fishing boats determine their positions. Perhaps the 'beacons' of Ruhi Hepii and Pu were intended to focus on a point out at sea to the west of Apina, since this is the best landing site for (European) ships. However, this explanation is unsatisfactory primarily because the shining ornaments were intended as guides to voyagers from Polynesia. I would rather suspect that Ruhi Hepii and Pu were designations for two stars, which were essential in determining the proper sea route from the land of origin to Easter Island.

The information, which was projected westward by the two 'beacons', only had to be applied to the proper season, and, with the help of the (heliacal) pattern of the rising stars, the route across the sea became fixed in the memory of the immigrants. Since 'adornment' (rei) is sometimes part of the name of a star (RAP. tuhi rei and rei atanga, Barthel 1962b:3), it could be considered a likely astronomic indicator ...

To make this idea, about Apina being the spot of renewal, even more clear I have another citation from Barthel 2 to offer:

"Apina, where the 'second list of place names' begins and ends and which is the point of departure for taking possession of the island and the point from which the sea route is fixed, also served as residence for the first missionary, Eugéne Eyraud, who came to the island in 1864:

La pequeña casa del Hermano estaba en una altura que se levanta sobre la caleta de Apina, porque hasta ahí habían conducido durante su ausencia, desde la playa de Hangaroa, sus cofres, materiales y demás efectos. Desde la pequeña altura de Apina se tiena una bonita vista sobre el mar. (Englert 1964:24-25)

Was the place assigned to the lay brother because this was where the tyrannical Torometi lived and could therefore keep an eye on the newcomer, or was this traditionally the 'spatial zero point' for all newcomers?"