Maori Religion and Mythology Part 5

When anyone becomes _porangi_ or insane, as not unfrequently happens, he is taken to a _tohunga_, who first makes an examination as to the cause of the disease. He and the sick man then go to the water-side, and the _tohunga_, stripping off his own clothes, takes in his hand an obsidian flint. First he cuts a lock of hair from the left side of the sick man's head, and afterwards a lock of hair from the top of his head. The obsidian flint is then placed on the ground, and upon it the lock of hair which had been cut from the left side of the head. The lock of hair cut from the top of the head is held aloft in the left hand of the _tohunga_, while in his right hand he holds a common stone, which is also raised aloft, while the following _karakia_ is being repeated by him.

Tu, divide, Tu, split, This is the _waiapu_ flint, Now about to cry aloud To the Moon of ill-omen.

Then the _tohunga_ breathes on the flint, and smashes it with the stone held in his right hand. After this he selects a shoot of the plant _toetoe_, and pulls it up, and then fastens to it both the locks of hair. Then diving in the river, he lets go the _toetoe_ and locks of hair, and when they float on the surface of the water, he commences his great _karakia_ thus-

This is the _Tiri_ of Tu-i-rawea, This is the _Tiri_ of Uenuku.

Where lies your fault?

Was eating a _kutu_ your fault?

Was sitting on _tapu_ ground your fault?

Unravel the tangle, Unravel, untie.

Take away the fault from the head Of the _Atua_ who afflicts this man.

Take away the disease, And the _mana_ of the curser.

Turn your _mana_ against your _tohunga_, And your _whaiwhaia_.7 Give me the curse To make as cooked food.

Your _Atua_ desecrated, Your _tapu_, your curse, Your sacred-place-dwelling _Atua_, Your house-dwelling _Atua_, Give me to cook for food.

Your _tapu_ is desecrated by me.

The rays of the sun, The brave of the world, The _mana_, give me.

Let your _Atua_, and your _tapu_ Be food for me to eat.

Let the head of the curser Be baked in the oven, Served up for food for me Dead, and gone to Night.

7 A _karakia_ so called.

The latter part of this _karakia_ is a curse directed against some _tohunga_ supposed to have caused the disease by his art of _makutu_.

_Makutu_ was the weapon of the weak, who had no other mode of obtaining redress. There is no doubt but that it exercised a restraining influence, in a society where no law but that of force generally prevailed, as a check to theft and unjust dealing generally; for there is among the _Maori_ a firm belief in and dread of its power. This is very evident from the following account given by one of themselves of the mode employed to detect and punish a petty theft.

A woman is much vexed when any of the flax sc.r.a.ped by her is stolen, and she consults a _tohunga_, in order to discover the thief. Whether the flax has been stolen from her house or from the water, the woman's house must be _tapu_. No one must be allowed to enter it. This is necessary, that the _makutu_ may take effect, and the person who stole the flax be discovered. So when the woman comes to the _tohunga_ he first asks her "Has any one entered your house?" She replies "No." Then the _tohunga_ bids her return home, saying "I will come to you at night." The woman returns home, and at night the _tohunga_ comes to her. He bids her point out her house, and then goes with her to the water side. Having taken off his clothes, he strikes the water with a stick or wand, brought with him for that purpose, and immediately the form of the thief stands before them. The _tohunga_ thus curses it-

May your eyes look at the moon- Eyes of flax be yours, Hands of flax be yours, Feet of flax be yours.

Let your hands s.n.a.t.c.h At the rays of the Sun.

Let your hands s.n.a.t.c.h at Whiro, Whiro in vast heaven, Whiro born of Papa.

s.n.a.t.c.h, s.n.a.t.c.h at your own head, Perishing in the Night of Darkness, In the Night of Death-Death.

_Whakahokitu_

Is the name given to forms of _makutu_ employed to counteract the curse of some other _tohunga_, or wise-man; for whoever practises _makutu_, even though he be skilled in the art, may have to yield to the _mana_ of some other wise-man who can command the a.s.sistance of a more powerful _Atua_. The following is a specimen of this kind of _makutu_-

Great curse, long curse, Great curse, binding curse, Binding your sacredness To the tide of destruction.

Come hither, sacred spell, To be looked on by me.

Cause the curser to lie low In gloomy Night, in dark Night, In the Night of ill-omen.

Great wind, lasting wind, Changing wind of _Rangi_ above.

He falls. He perishes.

Cause to waste away the curser _tohunga_.

Let him bite the oven-stones.

Be food for me, The _tapu_ and the _mana_, Of your _Atua_, Of your _karakia_, Of your _tohunga_.

Among the _Atua_ much held in awe by the _Maori_ were the _Atua noho-whare_, or house-dwelling G.o.ds-spirits of the germs of unborn infants. They are also known by the name _kahukahu_, the meaning of which word was explained in a former publication.

The _Maori_ has also a firm belief in omens derived from dreams, and from any sudden movements of the body or limbs during sleep, all which signs are believed to be warnings from the _Atua_.

There is a cla.s.s of dreams called _moe-papa_, which are very unlucky: and if any one has one of these dreams, he will avoid going on a projected journey; for it is firmly believed that should he persist in going he will fall into an enemy's ambush, or meet with some other misfortune. Hence the proverbial remark, if a person has neglected such a warning, and has fallen in with a war-party, "He was warned by a _moe-papa_, and yet went." The kind of sleep denoted by this word is described to be the climbing a precipice, the wandering astray in a forest, entering a house, climbing a tree. Such dreams are death warnings. They appear to be such as we term night-mare.

The startings of the limbs or body during sleep are called _takiri_, some of which are lucky, and some unlucky, each kind being distinguished by a special name.

The lucky _takiri_ are-

The _hokai_, or starting of the leg or foot in a forward direction. It denotes the repulse of the enemy.

The _tauaro_, or starting of the arm towards the body.

The _whakaara_, when in sleep the head starts upwards. It signifies that ere long the _Ariki_ or his father will arrive.

The _kapo_, a very lucky sign. While a man sleeps with his right arm for a pillow, if the arm starts so as to strike his head, on awaking he will not mention it to his companions; for he knows by this omen that in the next battle which takes place it will be his good fortune to kill the first man of the enemy.

The unlucky _takiri_ are-

The _kohera_, a starting of the arm and leg of one side of the body in an outward direction.

The _peke_, a starting of the arm outwards from the body.

The _whawhati_, a sleep in which the legs, the neck, and the head are bent doubled up towards the belly. This is very unlucky. The evil will not come to another person, but attends the man himself.

The former _takiri_ do not necessarily denote evil to the individual sleeper, but to any of his companions.

CHAPTER IV.

RELIGIOUS RITES OF THE MAORI.

Tantum Relligio potuit suadere.-_Lucretius_.

You ask me about the customs of _Maori_ men, and their origin, how men came to learn them. This is the source whence men learnt them. Their knowledge is not from modern times. Papa, Rangi, Tiki were the first to give rules to men for work of all kinds, for killing, for man-eating, for _karakia_. In former days the knowledge of the _Maori_ was great, in all matters, from this teaching, and so men learnt how to set rules for this thing and for that thing. Hence came the ceremony of _Pure_ for the dead, the _karakia_ for the new-born infant, for grown men, for battle, for storming a _Pa_, for eels, for birds, for _makutu_, and a mult.i.tude of other _karakia_. Tiki was the source from which they came down to the _tupua_, the _pukenga_, the _wananga_, and the _tauira_. The men of antient days are a source of invocation for the _tauira_. Hence the _karakia_ had its power, and came down from one generation to another ever having power. Formerly their _karakia_ gave men power. From the time when the _Rongo-pai_ (=Gospel) arrived here, and men were no longer _tapu_, disease commenced. The man of former days was not afflicted by disease. He died only when bent by age. He died when he came to the natural end of life.

My writing to you begins with the _karakia_ for a mother when her b.r.e.a.s.t.s give no milk. After a child is born, if the mother's b.r.e.a.s.t.s have no milk, her husband goes for the _tohunga_. When the _tohunga_ arrives the mother and child are carried to the water-side, and the _tohunga_ dipping a handful of weed in the water, sprinkles it on the mother. The child is taken away from the mother by the _tohunga_, who then repeats this _karakia_:-

Water-springs from above give me, To pour on the breast of this woman.

Dew of Heaven give me, To cause to trickle the breast of this woman; At the points of the breast of this woman; b.r.e.a.s.t.s flowing with milk, Flowing to the points of the breast of this woman, Milk in plenty yielding.

For now the infant cries and moans, In the great night, in the long night.

Tu the benefactor, Tu the giver, Tu the bountiful, Come to me, to this _tauira_.

After this the child is dipped in the water, and the mother and child are kept apart. One whole night they are kept apart, in order that the _karakia_ may take effect. The mother remains alone in her house, while the _tohunga_ seated outside it repeats his _karakia_. The _tohunga_ also instructs the woman thus-"If the points of your b.r.e.a.s.t.s begin to itch, lay open your clothes, and lie naked." Some time after her b.r.e.a.s.t.s begin to itch, and the woman knows that the _karakia_ is taking effect.