Maori Religion and Mythology Part 4

Ascend, O Tawaki, by the narrow path, By which the path of Rangi was followed; The path of Tu-kai-te-uru.

The narrow path is climbed, The broad path is climbed, The path by which was followed Your ancestors, Te Aonui, Te Ao-roa, Te Ao-whit.i.tera.

Now you mount up To your _Ihi_, To your _Mana_, To the Thousands above, To your _Ariki_, To your _Tapairu_, To your _Pukenga_, To your _Wananga_, To your _Tauira_.

When Tawaki and Parekoritawa mounted to the Sky, they left behind them a token-a black moth-a token of the mortal body.

Pare gave birth to Uenuku (=Rainbow). Afterwards she brought forth What.i.tiri (=Thunder). Hence the rainbow in the sky, and the thunder-clap.

CHAPTER III.

RELIGIOUS RITES OF THE MAORI.

???? ??e d? t??a ??t?? ??e??e?.-Hom. Il. 1-62.

The religious rites and ceremonies of the _Maori_ were strange and complex, and must have been a severe burden, as will be understood from the translations of _Maori_ narratives relating to such matters contained in these pages. To make these translations more intelligible to the reader, a brief review of the subject is now given in explanation.

The religious rites under consideration are immediately connected with certain laws relating to things _tapu_, or things sacred and prohibited, the breach of which laws by anyone is a crime displeasing to the _Atua_ of his family. Anything _tapu_ must not be allowed to come in contact with any vessel or place where food is kept. This law is absolute.

Should such contact take place, the food, the vessel, or place, become _tapu_, and only a few very sacred persons, themselves _tapu_, dare to touch these things.

The idea in which this law originated appears to have been that a portion of the sacred essence of an _Atua_, or of a sacred person, was directly communicable to objects which they touched, and also that the sacredness so communicated to any object could afterwards be more or less retransmitted to anything else brought into contact with it. It was therefore necessary that anything containing the sacred essence of an _Atua_ should be made _tapu_ to protect it from being polluted by the contact of food designed to be eaten; for the act of eating food which had touched anything _tapu_, involved the necessity of eating the sacredness of the _Atua_, from whom it derived its sacredness.

It seems that the practice of cannibalism must have had a close connexion with such a system of belief. To eat an enemy was the greatest degradation to which he could be subjected, and so it must have been regarded as akin to blasphemy to eat anything containing a particle of divine essence.

Everything not included under the cla.s.s _tapu_ was called _noa_, meaning free or common. Things and persons _tapu_ could, however, be made _noa_ by means of certain ceremonies, the object of which was to extract the _tapu_ essence, and restore it to the source whence it originally came.

It has been already stated that every tribe and every family has its own especial _Atua_. The _Ariki_, or head of a family, in both male and female lines, are regarded by their own family with a veneration almost equal to that of their _Atua_.7 They form, as it were, the connecting links between the living and the spirits of the dead; and the ceremonies required for releasing anything from the _tapu_ state cannot be perfected without their intervention.

7 It is observable that Homer attributes special honor to a few of his heroes, who appear to have been the male representatives of their race,-as to Agamemnon of the race of Pelops, and to Aeneas of the race of a.s.saracus. With respect to each of them, it is mentioned that he was honored as a G.o.d by his people. "Te?? d' ??

t?et? d??." Among the Maori these chiefs would have been distinguished by the t.i.tle of _Ariki_. Homer gives them the t.i.tle "??a? ??d???," the old meaning of which words has been a matter of much inquiry. Mr Gladstone (Homer and Homeric Age, vol. I. p. 456) says, "It seems to me that this restraint in the use of the name '??a? ??d???' was not unconnected with a sense of reverence towards it;" and he suggests the word chieftain as its fit representative. Might not its original meaning have been similar to that of _Ariki_?

On arriving one evening at a _Maori_ settlement, I found that a ceremony, in which everyone appeared to take deep interest, was to take place in the morning. The inhabitants were mostly professing Christians, and the old sacred place of the settlement was, from the increase of their numbers, inconveniently near their houses; a part of it was, therefore, required to be added to the _Pa_. I was curious to see in what way the land required would be made _noa_. In the morning when I went to the place I found a numerous a.s.sembly, while in the centre of the s.p.a.ce was a large native oven, from which women were removing the earth and mat-coverings. When opened it was seen to contain only _k.u.mara_, or sweet potato. One of these was offered to each person present, which was held in the hand while the usual morning service was read, concluding with a short prayer that G.o.d's blessing might rest on the place. After this each person ate his _k.u.mara_, and the place was declared to be _noa_. I could not but think that the native teacher had done wisely in thus adopting so much of old ceremonial as to satisfy the scruples of those of little faith. In this case, every one present, by eating food cooked on the _tapu_ ground, equally incurred the risk of offending the _Atua_ of the family, which risk was believed to be removed by the Christian _karakia_.

By neglecting the laws of _tapu_, _Ariki_, chiefs, and other sacred persons are especially liable to the displeasure of their _Atua_, and are therefore afraid to do a great many ordinary acts necessary in private life. For this reason a person of the sacred cla.s.s was obliged to eat his meals in the open air, at a little distance from his sacred dwelling, and from the place which he and his friends usually occupied; and if he could not eat all that had been placed before him he kept the remainder for his own sole use, in a sacred place appropriated for that purpose: for no one dared to eat what so sacred a person had touched.

The term _karakia_ is applicable to all forms of prayer to the _Atua_: but there are a variety of names or t.i.tles to denote _karakia_ having special objects. The translations of those now presented to the reader will, it is believed, speak for themselves as to the nature of _Maori_ worship, and carry with them a more clear and full conviction as to what it really was than any mere statements however faithful. It will be seen that a _karakia_ is in some cases very like a prayer,-in other cases for the most part an invocation of spirits of ancestors in genealogical order,-in other cases a combination of prayer and invocation.

_The Karakia of Hineteiwaiwa_.

Said to have been used at the birth of her son Tuhuruhuru. It is of great antiquity, dating from a time long anterior to the migration to New Zealand.

Weave, weave the mat, Couch for my unborn child, Qui lectus aqua inundabitur: Rupe, et Manumea inundabuntur: Lectus meus, et mei fets inundabitur: Inundabor aqua, inundabor; Maritus meus inundabitur.8 Now I step upon (the mat).

The _Mat.i.tikura_? to Rupe above, * * * Toroa *

* * * Takapu *

* * * to cause to be born, My child now one with myself.

Stand firm _turuturu_ of Hine-rauwharangi, * * * * Hine-teiwaiwa, Stand by your _tia_, Ihuwareware, Stand by your _kona_, Ihuatamai, Chide me not in my trouble, Me Hine-teiwaiwa, O Rupe.

Release from above your hair, Your head, your shoulders, Your breast, your liver, Your knees, your feet, Let them come forth.

The old lady4 with night-dark visage, She will make you stretch, She will make you rise up.

Let go _ewe_,5 let go _take_,5 Let go _parapara_.5 Come forth.*

8 Haec ad effusionem aquarum sub tempus parts spectant.

? The name of a powerful _karakia_.

_Turuturu_, a sharp pointed prop, two of which are fixed in the floor to serve as a frame for weaving mats-also used by women in child-birth to hold by.

Names of lower parts of abdomen.

Rupe or Maui-mua, brother-in-law of Hine-teiwaiwa.

Addressed to the unborn child.

4 The old lady referred to was Hine-nui-te-po, the mother of the female ancestress of mankind.

5 Names of different parts of the decidua.

[*] For tradition as to Tuhuruhuru and other names here mentioned vid.

Sir Geo. Grey's "Mythology and Traditions of New Zealand," p. 39 et seq.

This _karakia_ is still in use with the Arawa tribe in cases of difficult parturition. When such cases occur, it is concluded that the woman has committed some fault-some breach of the _tapu_, which is to be discovered by the _matakite_ (=seer). The father of the child then plunges in the river, while the _karakia_ is being repeated, and the child will generally be born ere ever he returns.

The following form of _karakia_ is also used by members of the same tribe in similar cases:-

O! Hine-teiwaiwa, release Tuhuruhuru, O! Rupe, release your nephew.

The ancestors of the father of the child are then invoked by name. First the elder male line of ancestors, commencing with an ancestor who lived in Hawaiki and terminating with the living representative of that line.

Then follows a repet.i.tion of the ancestral line next in succession, and the third in succession, if the child be not born.6 After which the _tohunga_ addressing the unborn child says, "Come forth. The fault rests with me. Come forth." The _tohunga_ continues thus-

6 In the _Maori_ MS., of which the above is a translation, the names of the ancestors of the chief of the tribe referred to are given in genealogical order, but are omitted here.

Unravel the tangle, unravel the crime, Untie _manuka_, let it be loosed.

Distant though Rangi, He is reached.

If the child be not now born, Tiki is invoked thus-

Tiki of the heap of earth, Tiki sc.r.a.ped together, When hands and feet were formed, First produced at Hawaiki.

If the child be a male, it will be born-if a female, the mother's line of ancestors must be invoked.

Intimately connected with the superst.i.tion respecting things _tapu_ is the belief as to the cause of disease, namely, that a spirit has taken possession of the body of the sufferer. The belief is that any neglect of the law of _tapu_, either wilful, or accidental, or even brought about by the act of another person, causes the anger of the _Atua_ of the family who punishes the offender by sending some infant spirit to feed on a part of his body-infant spirits being generally selected for this office on account of their love of mischief, and because not having lived long enough on earth to form attachments to their living relatives, they are less likely to show them mercy. When, therefore, a person falls sick, and cannot remember that he has himself broken any law of the _tapu_, he has to consult a _matakite_ (seer) and a _tohunga_ to discover the crime, and use the proper ceremonies to appease the _Atua_; for there is in practice a method of making a person offend against the laws of _tapu_ without his being aware of it. This method is a secret one called _makutu_. It is sufficient for a person who knows this art, if he can obtain a portion of the spittle of his enemy, or some leavings from his food, in order that he may treat it in a manner sure to bring down the resentment of his family _Atua_. For this reason a person would not dare to spit when in the presence of anyone he feared might be disposed to injure him, if he had a reputation for skill in this evil art.

With such a belief as to the cause of all disease it will not be wondered at that the treatment of it was confined to the _karakia_ of a _tohunga_ or wise man. One or two examples of such cases will be sufficient to explain this as well as to show the in-rooted superst.i.tion of the _Maori_.