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Map of Indonesia, Polynesia, Micronesia, and Oceania (http://www.escapeartist.com/efam18/Map_Of_Oceania.html)
From Wiki and other sources::
Origins
The Māori settlement of New Zealand represents an end-point of a long chain of island-hopping voyages. (Or does it?)
Archaeological and linguistic evidence (Sutton 1994) suggests that several waves of migration came from Eastern Polynesia to New Zealand between AD 800 and 1300. Māori oral history describes the arrival of ancestors from Hawaiki (a mythical homeland in tropical Polynesia) in large ocean-going canoes (waka). Migration accounts vary among tribes (iwi), whose members may identify with several waka in their genealogies or whakapapa.
**Navigation, some sources say, was dependent on the position of the Pleiades, in 7-year cycles. This navigational issue has been examined because contemporary anthropologists are confounded that Aotearoa was found at all, per the presumed level of advancement/lack of by the Maori seafarers.**~V
No credible evidence exists of human settlement in New Zealand prior to the Polynesian voyagers; on the other hand, compelling evidence from archaeology, linguistics, and physical anthropology indicates that the first settlers came from East Polynesia and became the Māori.
**It should be noted that theories of Maori origin are controversial and still are not conclusively substantiated. Thor Heyerdahl, for example, posited that the existence of the sweet potato in Maori agriculture proved that Maori originated from Central America, to which the sweet potato is indigenous.
Prior to Heyerdahl’s thesis, the consensus among scholars was that Maori originated from Tibet and China.
Most recently, it has been stated that DNA markers in some Maori women indicate origins in Southeast Asia.
While the Maori generally attribute their genealogy to the boats which came from Hawaikki, there are those elders who say that the ancient peoples of Aotearoa have always been there, migration aside. **~V
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/U/U_32.jpg)
Development of Māori culture
The Eastern Polynesian ancestors of the Māori arrived in a forested land which featured abundant birdlife, including now extinct (due to mass hunting) moa species weighing from 20 to 250 kg. Other species, also now extinct, included a swan, a goose, and the giant Haast's Eagle which preyed upon the moa. Marine mammals, in particular seals, thronged the coasts, with coastal colonies much further north than today. In the mid-19th century, people discovered large numbers of moa-bones alongside human tools, with some of the bones showing evidence of butchery and cooking. Early researchers, such as Julius von Haast, a geologist, incorrectly interpreted these remains as belonging to a prehistoric Paleolithic people; later researchers, notably Percy Smith, magnified such theories into an elaborate scenario with a series of sharply-defined cultural stages which had Māori arriving in a Great Fleet in 1350 AD and replacing the so-called "moa-hunter" culture with a "classical Māori" culture based on horticulture. Current anthropological theories, however, recognise no evidence for a pre-Māori people; the archaeological record indicates a gradual evolution in culture that varied in pace and extent according to local resources and conditions. Subsequent research dismisses the "Great Fleet" theory as largely a fabrication.
In the course of a few centuries, growing population led to competition for resources and an increase in warfare. The archaeological record reveals an increased frequency of fortified pā, although debate continues about the amount of conflict. Various systems arose which aimed to conserve resources; most of these, such as tapu and rāhui, used religious or supernatural threats to discourage people from taking species at particular seasons or from specified areas.
As Māori continued in geographic isolation, performing arts such as the haka developed from their Polynesian roots, as did carving and weaving. Regional dialects arose, with minor differences in vocabulary and in the pronunciation of some words. However, the language retains close similarities to other Eastern Polynesian tongues, to the point where a Tahitian chief on Cook's first voyage in the region acted as an interpreter between Māori and the crew of the Endeavour.
Around 1500 AD a group of Māori migrated east to Rekohu (the Chatham Islands), where, by adapting to the local climate and the availability of resources, they developed a culture known as Moriori — related to but distinct from Māori culture in mainland Aotearoa. A notable feature of the Moriori culture, an emphasis on pacifism, proved disadvantageous when Māori warriors arrived in the 1830s aboard a chartered European ship.
Interactions with Europeans before 1840
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/HekeKawiti1846.jpg)
1846
Early European explorers, including Abel Tasman (who arrived in 1642) and Captain James Cook (who first visited in 1769), recorded their impressions of Māori. From the 1780s, Māori encountered European and American sealers and whalers; some Māori crewed on the foreign ships. A trickle of escaped convicts from Australia and deserters from visiting ships, as well as early Christian missionaries, also exposed the indigenous New Zealand population to outside influences.
**Many different sources report that some, perhaps most, of the Maori tribes were cannibals prior to the escalating encroachment of the Europeans come the 19th century, and treated many of the visiting peoples there by this end. Eating another was viewed as an insult to that other (in contrast to other Polynesian cultures where eating another was viewed as an honor), and Maori's carved warning-tikis with very fat bellies to illustrate how "full" their stomachs were with those who became dinner.
(http://www.hps.com/~tpg/singapore/graphics/nz-maori-carving.jpg)
By 1830, estimates placed the number of Pākehā (Europeans) living among the Māori as high as 2,000. The newcomers had varying status-levels within Māori society, ranging from slaves to high-ranking advisors. Some remained little more than prisoners, while others abandoned European culture and identified as Māori. Many Māori valued such Pākehā as a means to the acquisition of European technology, particularly firearms. These Europeans "gone native" became known as Pākehā Māori. When Pomare led a war-party against Titore in 1838, he had 132 Pākehā mercenaries among his warriors.
During the period from 1805 to 1840 the acquisition of muskets by tribes in close contact with European visitors upset the balance of power among Māori tribes, leading to a period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, which resulted in the decimation of several tribes and the driving of others from their traditional territory. European diseases such as influenza and measles also killed an unknown number of Māori: estimates vary between ten and fifty per cent. Economic changes, such as the export of flax, also took a toll.
(cont.)
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1840 to 1890: The marginalisation of Māori
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/MeriMangakahia1890s.jpg)
Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia, a member of the Kotahitanga movement in the 1890s, who argued that women should have equal voting-rights in the Māori Parliament
With increasing Christian missionary activity, growing European settlement in the 1830s and the perceived lawlessness of Europeans in New Zealand, the British Crown, as a world power, came under pressure to intervene. Ultimately, Whitehall sent William Hobson with instructions to take possession of New Zealand. Before he arrived, Queen Victoria annexed New Zealand by royal proclamation in January 1840. On arrival in February 1840, Hobson negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with northern chiefs. Other Māori chiefs subsequently signed this treaty. In the end, only 500 chiefs out of the 1500 sub-tribes of New Zealand signed the Treaty, and some influential chiefs — such as Te Wherowhero in Waikato, and Te Kani-a-Takirau from the east coast of the North Island — refused to sign. The Treaty made the Māori British subjects in return for a guarantee of Māori property-rights and tribal autonomy.
Dispute continues over whether the Treaty of Waitangi ceded Māori sovereignty. Māori chiefs signed a Māori-language version of the Treaty that did not accurately reflect the English-language version. It appears unlikely that the Māori-language version of the treaty ceded sovereignty; and the Crown and the missionaries probably did not fully explain the meaning of the English-language version.
Māori set up substantial businesses, supplying food and other products for domestic and overseas markets.
Among the early European settlers who both learnt the Māori language and also recorded Māori mythology, George Grey, Governor of New Zealand from 1845 to 1855 and from 1861 to 1868, stands out.
In the 1860s, disputes over questionable land purchases and the attempts of Māori in the Waikato to establish what some saw as a rival to the British system of royalty led to the New Zealand land wars. Although these resulted in relatively few deaths, the colonial government confiscated large tracts of tribal land as punishment for what they called rebellion (although the Crown had initiated the military action against its own citizens), in some cases taking land even from tribes which had taken no part in the war. Some tribes actively fought against the Crown, while others (known as kupapa) fought in support of the Crown. After most of the active fighting had ceased, a passive resistance movement developed at the settlement of Parihaka in Taranaki, but Crown troops dispersed its participants in 1881.
The Native Land Acts of 1862 and 1865 set up the Native Land Court, which had the purpose of breaking down communal ownership and facilitating the alienation of land. As a result, between 1840 and 1890 Māori lost 95 per cent of their land (63,000,000a of 66,000,000 -55,000,000a in 1890).
With the loss of much of their land, Māori went into a period of numerical and cultural decline, and by the late 19th century a widespread belief existed amongst both Pakeha and Māori that the Māori population would cease to exist as a separate race or culture and become assimilated into the European population.
In 1840, New Zealand had a Māori population of about 100,000 and only about 2,000 Europeans. By the end of the 19th century, the Māori population had declined to 42,113 (according to the 1896 census) and Europeans numbered more than 700,000.
REVIVAL
The decline of the Māori population did not continue; instead levels recovered. Despite a substantial level of intermarriage between the Māori and European populations, many Māori retained their cultural identity. A number of discourses developed as to the meaning of "Māori" and to who counted as Māori or not. (Māori do not form a monolithic bloc, and no one political or tribal authority can speak on behalf of all Māori.)
From the late nineteenth century, a number of successful Māori politicians emerged. These men, such as James Carroll, Apirana Ngata, Te Rangi Hīroa and Maui Pomare showed skill in the arts of Pākehā politics; at one point Carroll became Acting Prime Minister. The group, known as the Young Māori Party, cut across voting-blocs in Parliament and aimed to revitalise the Māori people after the devastation of the previous century. For them this involved assimilation — Māori adopting European ways of life such as Western medicine and education. However Ngata in particular also wished to preserve traditional Māori culture, especially the arts. Ngata acted as a major force behind the revival of arts such as kapa haka and carving. He also enacted a programme of land-development which helped many iwi retain and develop their land.
(http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/files/images/maori-turks.jpg)
This work by William Blomfield, entitled 'The spirit of his fathers', appeared in the Christmas, December 1915 issue of the New Zealand Observer. It shows a Maori soldier charging two Turkish soldiers with the ghost of a Maori warrior behind him. This was the sort of propaganda that attempted to evoke the spirit of the Maori god of war, Tu-mata-uenga, to encourage Maori participation in the war.
The New Zealand government decided to exempt Māori from the conscription that applied to other citizens in World War II, but nonetheless Māori volunteered in large numbers, forming the 28th or Māori Battalion, which performed creditably, notably in Crete, North Africa, and Italy. Altogether 17,000 Māori took part in the war.
***The usual inequities for the Maori soldier existed, one of which wasn’t acknowledged or corrected by the Crown until March, 2007:
28th Maori Battalion Haane Manahi
Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi --World War II hero Lance Sergeant Haane Manahi was recommended to receive the ultimate British war honour, the Victoria Cross, by five Generals. He never received it died in a car crash in 1986, but today he has been awarded the Distinguished Conduct medal in a Royal ceremony.
http://www.youtube.com/v/NNslXwzlK4U&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=NNslXwzlK4U&feature=related
Since the 1960s, Māoridom has undergone a cultural revival strongly connected with a protest-movement. Government recognition of the growing political power of Māori, combined with political activism, have led to a limited redress for unjust confiscation of land and for the violation of other property-rights. The State set up the Waitangi Tribunal, a body with the powers of a Commission of Enquiry, to investigate and make recommendations on such issues. Significantly, because of the manner in which the Government empowered it, the Tribunal cannot make binding rulings. However, as a result of the redress paid to many iwi (tribes), Māori now have significant interests in the fishing and forestry industries. Tensions remain however, with complaints from Māori that the settlements occur at a level of between 1 and 2.5 cents on the dollar of the value of the confiscated lands. The Government need not accept the findings of the Waitangi Tribunal, and has rejected some of them, with a most recent and widely-debated example in the New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy.
The urbanisation of Māori proceeded apace in the second half of the 20th century. A majority of Māori people now live in cities and towns, and many have become estranged from tribal roots and customs.
Once Were Warriors, a 1994 film adapted from a 1990 novel of the same name by Alan Duff, brought the plight of some urban Māori to a wide audience. It became the highest-grossing film in New Zealand that year and received international acclaim, winning several international film-prizes. While some Māori feared that viewers would consider the violent male characters an accurate portrayal of Māori men, most film-critics praised it as exposing, on an international stage, the raw side of domestic violence. Some Māori opinion, particularly feminist, welcomed the debate on domestic violence that the film enabled.
In many areas of New Zealand, the Māori language lost its role as a living community language (used by significant numbers of people) in the post-war years. In tandem with calls for sovereignty and for the righting of social injustices from the 1970s onwards, many New Zealand schools now teach Māori culture and language, and pre-school kohanga reo (literally: "language-nests") have started which teach tamariki (young children) exclusively in Māori. These now extend right through secondary schools (kura tuarua). In 2004 Māori Television, a government-funded television channel committed to broadcasting primarily in te reo, began broadcasting. Māori language enjoys the equivalent status de jure as English in government and law, although the language continues marginalised in mainstream use. At the time of the 2006 Census, Māori figured as the second most widely-spoken language in New Zealand after English, with 4% of New Zealanders able to speak Māori to at least a conversational level.
The Unveiling of Prime Time Maori TV (http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=-NyZLzy385k&feature=related)
As of 2008, Māori politicians have seven designated Māori seats in the Parliament of New Zealand (and they may and do stand in and win General-roll seats), and consideration of and consultation with Māori have become routine requirements for many New Zealand councils and government organisations. Debate occurs frequently as to the relevance and legitimacy of the Māori electoral roll, although currently neither of the two "major" political parties intend to abolish it quite just yet.
Despite significant social and economic advances during the twentieth century, Māori tend to cluster in the lower percentiles in most health and education statistics and in labour-force participation, as well as featuring disproportionately highly in criminal and imprisonment statistics. Like many indigenous cultures around the world, Māori suffer both institutional and direct racism. For example, in December 2006, vandals sprayed racist graffiti on ancient Māori rock-art at the Raincliff Historic Reserve in South Canterbury.
Treaty of Waitangi settlements
During the 1990s and 2000s, the New Zealand government negotiated with Māori to provide redress for breaches by the Crown of the guarantees set out in the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. As of 2006 the government had provided over NZ$900 million in settlements, much of it in the form of land deals. The single largest settlement, signed on 25 June 2008 with seven Māori iwi, transferred nine large tracts of forested land to Māori control.
Pop culture
According to Tania Kopytko, Māori youth have always had a difficult time maintaining ties with the traditional Māoritanga culture, especially lacking "the commitment and effort necessary for a knowledge of [it]". For this reason, Māori youth import mainstream and popular cultural icons, identities, and lifestyles in considerable quantities. Most typically, these Māori youth will take after the African American hip hop culture, as its perceived mainstream status makes it readily accessible to them. Kopytko also says that the socio-political position of African Americans resisting a dominant white culture mirrors the situation of Māori, Polynesian, and even poor-white youth resisting the oppressive white forces which occupy the higher economic strata of society in New Zealand. Finally, the mass consumption of British punk in 1982 marked the first real establishment of a youth culture and, more importantly, paved the way for such a warm reception of foreign forms with the influx of what Kopytko calls the "breakdance package". In this way, facilitation by a pre-existing youth culture and identification with the African-American cause have both made importing the associated hip hop culture quite easy. One feature of this youth import culture, breakdancing, arrived in New Zealand as early as 1983 from Western Samoa, confirms Kopytko. Indeed, "breakdance provided a very strong and positive identity that did much to raise [Māori] self esteem and realize their capabilities." Māori youth utilize the social space that breakdancing provides them in a very dynamic fashion, she says, gaining recognition and notions of increased self-worth in the process. Kopytko suggests that this appropriation of breakdancing allowed the later arrival of rap to become "a vehicle for vernacular expressions of Māori militancy". The white upper class of South Auckland's suburbs views breakdance as inextricably bound to gangster ideologies and violence, as practised in the African American hip-hop scene, which gains breakdance aficionados infamy and, conversely, intensifies the level of defiance implied on behalf of Māori in both the politics of breakdancing and rapping. Ultimately though, these black cultural styles have provided Maori youth with an avenue for free expression, where a more rigidly applied Māoritanga culture could make no such offer.
(http://www.nationalgeographic.com/tattoos/popups/maori_gang.jpg)
According to the National Geographic Magazine, urban Maori gangs have fashioned themselves after the Black Power Movement of the USA, with a strong anti-European component.
(cont)
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(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1911-1920/1915_2_55.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1911-1920/1915_2_18.jpg)
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(http://www.natlib.govt.nz/images/collections-exhibitions-science/Matauraunga%20Maori%20-%20english%202.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1931-1940/1939_13_1.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1991-2000/1999_18_27.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1991-2000/1999_18_22.jpg)
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(http://www.natlib.govt.nz/images/collections-exhibitions-makereti/Maggie-Papakura-1913.jpg)
(http://www.natlib.govt.nz/images/collections-exhibitions-makereti/Margaret-Staples-Browne-in-academic-dress-1927.jpg)
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MAORI MUSIC
http://www.janesoceania.com/newzealand_maori_music/index.htm
The New Zealand Maori are Polynesian, and have lived in New Zealand ever since approximately the eleventh century A.D. They refer to their homeland as Aotearoa, The Land of the Long White Cloud. In terms of the origins of the Maori, modern evidence, including DNA analysis, confirms the opinion that modern man, in the form of Homo sapiens, first came out of Africa as early as 160,000 years ago. Of the pioneers who moved across Asia, one group moved south-east down through the Indo-Malaysian archipelago, crossing over into Australia during a brief window of opportunity 65,000 years ago when water levels dropped. They also reached Papua, also possibly as early as 65,000 years ago, eventually moving from there across the Pacific.
Archaeologists believe that Polynesian people came from a small central group that spoke the Austronesian language on the island of Taiwan. Genetic studies have also now indicated that the ancestors of this group were the sailors of the great canoes who started out on their journey further back along the trail in eastern Indonesia.
Researchers in New Zealand have also recently concluded that the male and female ancestors of Maori people came from different places. The team, from Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, have found that Maori women have genetic markers that suggest their ancestors came from mainland South-east Asia, probably about 6,000 years ago. As they travelled south from island to island, it appears that Melanesian men joined the men and women on the boat, with a small group of people eventually arriving in New Zealand via the Polynesian triangle, about 1,000 years ago.
(http://www.janesoceania.com/newzealand_maori_music/MAORI%20BOYS%20WANGANUI%20NEW%20ZEALAND1905.jpg)
(http://www.janesoceania.com/newzealand_maori_music/maori_1947.jpg)
(http://www.janesoceania.com/newzealand_maori_music/Maori_Haka.jpg)
Indeed, the word Polynesia, which means many islands, comes from the Greek words 'poly' which means 'many' and 'nesos' which means 'island'. Polynesia stretches in a huge triangle from New Zealand in the southwest to Easter Island, 8,000 kilometres away in the southeast and up to Hawaii at its northern point. The Polynesian people are lighter skinned and are generally taller than the Melanesian and Micronesian people.
The Maori view of creation in which all nature was seen as a great kinship tracing its origins back to a single pair, the Sky Father and the Earth Mother, was a conception which they brought with them when they came from Central Polynesia about 1,000 A.D. Furthermore, this belief in a primal pair, as well as the metaphysical idea of an original Void or Darkness, seems to be part of the stock of ideas which the ancestors of the Polynesians brought with them from the west, from the Asian mainland, and which they carried with them as they dispersed into marginal Polynesia. The resultant shift in names and attributes, and the elaboration of themes which occurred throughout the area certainly cannot obscure this underlying unity of ideas.
The name 'Maori' is derived from Ma-Uri, which means 'Children of Heaven'. Their nickname is 'Vikings of the Sunrise', because they are fierce warriors. Originally, they were hunters, but soon became peasants, living off agriculture. Today, approximately 300.000 Maori are mainly living in the cities, but they remain closely connected to their tribes. Their tribal groupings are derived from the people of each canoe, settling New Zealand in the early times.
Traditional Maori villages are fortified with an open space in the centre, called the 'marae', on which the meeting house or 'whare hui' is located. This building represents the symbolic body of the ancestor. Around the fort sites, a palisade with watch tower is built. In these watch towers are suspended alarm gongs comprising huge wooden plates referred to as 'pahu'.
The Maori religion is closely related to nature and to the ancestors. Nature itself is considered a living being and thus the interaction between man and nature is bound by prescripts and rituals. The notion 'tapu' (sacred), from which the word 'tabu' is deduced, is still a central notion in contemporary Maori society.
Tiki are anthropomorphic ornaments representing spiritual beings. Many times they have some kind of deformation, like only 3 fingers and they can be both positive and negative towards mankind. Much of the Maori religion remains intact and many rituals associated with traditional visual arts and traditional music are still carried out with strong ties between songs and magic still remaining. Traditional Maori music, in the main, only used aerophones and idiophones to support the vocals.
Aerophones were mainly of the following types. Koauau, which can be made out of different materials: wood or even a human bone. It is a straight blown flute, blown under an angle, 12 to 15 cm long and with a bore of 1 to 2 cm. When the instrument isn't played, it's worn around the neck. It has 3 finger holes.
(http://www.carving.co.nz/images/koauau.jpg)
Koauau – primarily made from albatross bones
Porutu is a flute similar to the koauau but longer: it measures between 30 and 40 cm. There is doubt about whether it is an original Maori instrument or an imitation of the western flute. Nguru is a small instrument (8 to 10 cm). It is curved at one end, because originally this flute was made out of a whale tooth. It can also be made out of wood, stone, clay. It has one open end like the koauau and one small opening at the curved end. It has 2 to 4 finger holes.
(http://www.crystalinks.com/nguru.gif)
Whio is a bone flute made out of an albatross bone. The instrument is 15 cm long, has a diameter of 1.5 cm and 4 finger holes. The instrument was played by men in order to attract the attention of women they longed for. Puukaaea is a wooden war trumpet, made out of two pieces of wood cut lengthwise and hollowed out. Both pieces are again assembled and kept in place by fibres or ropes. The length varies between 1m and 2,5 meter. At one side there is a sculptured wooden mouthpiece and the other side of the instrument is broader and resembles an open mouth. Inside tohu are sculptures, representing the human tonsils and uvula. The puukaaea could be used during the war as a megaphone or as an alarm instrument.
Puutoorino, which is often referred to as a bugle-flute instead of trumpet, because the instrument could also be used as a flute, but originally it was a trumpet. It is about 30 to 60 cm long and is made as the puukaaea out of two pieces of wood, but here widest in the middle and more narrow at both end sides. In the middle are sound holes, mostly in the shape of an eight, are made as the open mouth of a sculptured face. Near the mouthpiece, another face is carved, or a tiki (men/spirit) or a manaia (men/bird). The player placed his hand over the sound hole in order to change the tones of the instrument. Originally, this instrument was mainly used to announce the coming and arrival of a tribal chief.
(http://www.carving.co.nz/images/putorino.jpg)
Puutoorino
The name implies the binding of two voices, instrument and human, to create spirit voice. Usually made from two bones joined (i.e., albatross) or wood hollowed, they produce two distinct (male & female) voices, one trumpet-like, one flute-like.
Teetere are flax trumpets simply made by winding a leaf to a horn shape. It was probably a children's toy, but could also be used to announce one's arrival in the village. Non-blown aerophones include the Puurorohuu which is a bullroarer made out of a piece of wood. By swinging the bullroarer around, a roaring sound is produced which it was thought would bring rain. The idiophone used comprised the following. Pahuu are wooden gongs: flat slabs of resonant wood, which were horizontally suspended above a platform in the watch tower of the palisade around the fortified village. It was hit in case of danger, but also used to call the men to go to war. Some tribes, living in the woods, carved their war pahuu out of a hollow tree. The wooden slab was sometimes cut away and separated from the tree or sometimes it remained a fixed part of the tree.
Paakuru is an instrument, which is held between the teeth of the player, can be compared to a jew's-harp. It comprised a simple piece of wood of 40 to 50 cm long, 2 to 5 cm broad and 1 cm thick, struck by a little wooden stick. The sound is changed by the position of the mouth and the movements of the lips. Nowadays, the paakuru knows a revival as a whalebone paakuru. Rooria are similar to paakuru, but smaller: only 7 to 10 cm long. Maori lovers use it for intimate conversations. Finally, Tokere are whalebones used as clappers.
(http://www.carving.co.nz/images/hue.jpg)
Hue (Gourd) Instruments
Hue Puruhau
Deep vibrating sound used to pacify tangaroa (god of the sea).
Hue Puruwai
Dried intact, it is twisted to create "rain" sound with seeds rattling inside.
Poiawhiowhio
Twirled on a string, this instrument imitates various bird songs depending on size and shape of gourds and holes in them. The string inside also vibrates as gourd spins.
Koauau Ponga Ihu
Small gourd with top removed and two small holes. Blowing across the top with one nostril produces flute-like sound.[/size]
(http://www.carving.co.nz/images/porotiti.jpg)
Porotiti
Often used as a toy, the alternating spin produces a whizzing or whirring sound. This sound is enhanced by carving the surface, used for healing by spinning over areas of rheumatism or arthritis, the sound vibration massages joints in a similar way to modern ultrasound.
Purerehua
Also known as "Bull-roarer" and made of bone, wood or stone, they are blade-like and swing on a long cord producing a loud, deep whirring that can be heard from a distance. Uses vary from luring lizards, summoning rain and attracting a soul mate to several being played together at a Tangi (funeral).
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The traditional vocal music can be divided in two categories: the recitatives and the songs. The recitatives have no fixed pitch organisation and the tempo is much higher than the song's tempo. Among the recitatives is a welcome ceremony known as Powhiri. This welcome ceremony is a mixed form. Men shout fiercely, whilst women sing in a melodic way. The Powhiri often starts with the men standing in front of the women. The men make clear they are ready for a battle by shouting, menacing with their weapons and grimacing. After a while, the women gently come to the front, singing and carrying green leaves. The men kneeled down on one knee and put their weapons on the floor. Most of the time a Powhiri ends with a haka (men song) without weapons.
Haka are shouted speeches by men, combined with a fierce dance. Haka Taparahi are performed without weapons and they can give expression to different emotions depending on the situation for which they are performed. Haka Peruperu are performed with weapons and associated with war dances.
Another form of recitative is known as Ngeri and is used to annihilate any form of tapu. Other forms of recitatives are Karakia which are quick incantations and spells. They are used during daily life by both adults and children, but also during rituals. The ritual karakia is difficult and dangerous to execute, because a mistake during the performance will attract bad luck, illness and even the death of the reciter. For very important karakia, two priest reciters are needed in order to alternate the breathing pause, because even the slightest moment of silence could result into disaster. Paatere are mainly performed in group and composed by women in answer to gossip. The texts of paatere consist merely out of summing up of the kinship connections of the author. Kaioraora are like paatere answers to gossip but with a rude, offensive text.
The second form of traditional music are Songs and the Sung Poetry, also called Nga Moteatea, which often consist mainly of laments, but sometimes also consist of love songs and lullabies. Traditionally, sung poetry of this form was accompanied by a koauau flute.
Traditional songs comprise the following forms: Poi, which are songs accompanied by a form of dance in which women hit their body rhythmically with one or two mainly cotton balls attached to the end of a string. Oriori, which are songs composed to teach children of high rank about their special descent and history. Pao are songs originating out of a kind of instant-composing: the composer sings the first couplet and is then repeated by the chorus, and so on. These are songs of local interest. They can be funny or serious.Waiata is the most common category of Maori songs and comprise laments about different topics. Traditionally, waiata are sung in groups and in unisono.
Waiata tangi are laments for the dead. The word 'tangi' means 'weeping'. This form is mainly composed by women. During burial ceremonies, women were expected to show signs of deep grief, for example, by wounding their faces with sharp stones. Sometimes, these waiata were very personal, telling about the composer's emotions and feelings towards the dead. When composed by men, the waiata tangi can also instruct us about the warrior qualities of the dead person. They can also, for example, allude to most of the calamities that can befall mankind.
Finally, waiata ahore are love songs, and waiata whaiaaipo are songs for the beloved one. They are often still laments and tell us about all the misery that a love affair can provoke.
(cont.)
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Te Iti Kahurangi ~Waiata Tira ~
from a Regional Maori Choir Festival/Competition
(I love this one!)
http://www.youtube.com/v/xyI8rvZhbkM&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=xyI8rvZhbkM&feature=related
Opotiki-Mai-Tawhiti~Waiata-a-ringa~
http://www.youtube.com/v/LjDYolkA9nA&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=LjDYolkA9nA&feature=related
Poi Song by Performance Group Rangiwewehi
http://www.youtube.com/v/xz1f7DjELGY&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=xz1f7DjELGY&feature=related
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Maori Elders Speak and Sing
Napi Waaka Speaks of the Legal Battles over Land Ownership
and the Global Crisis
http://www.youtube.com/v/rWfpPf5HPu8&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rWfpPf5HPu8
Dr. Rangimarie Turuki Rose Peri
Explains Who She Is
http://www.youtube.com/v/zHLNQuTruhc&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=zHLNQuTruhc
On the Significance of the Hongi (nose to nose greeting) and Interrelatedness
http://www.youtube.com/v/uwN3TcsLXsU&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=uwN3TcsLXsU
http://www.youtube.com/v/rhTaL3R8tmY&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=rhTaL3R8tmY
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Thank you for this V. Looks fascinating. I can't wait to read all this and see the youtubes when I get home from work today!
:-*
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More from Wiki:
Origins
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/TamatekapuaMeetingHouse.jpg)
Wharenui (meeting house)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Maori_carving.jpg)
The East Polynesian ancestors of the Māori were hunters, fishermen, and gardeners. After arriving in New Zealand, Māori had to rapidly adapt their material culture and agricultural practices to suit the climate of their new land - cold and harsh in comparison to tropical island Polynesia. Great ingenuity was required to grow the tropical plants they had brought with them from Polynesia, including taro, kumara, gourds, and yams; this was especially difficult in the chillier southern parts of the country. The harakeke (flax plant) served as a replacement for coconut fronds and hibiscus fibre in the manufacture of mats, baskets, rope, fishing nets and clothing.
Seasonal activities included gardening, fishing and the hunting of birds. Main tasks were separated for men and women, but there were also a lot of group activities involving food gathering and food cultivation, and warfare. Art was and is a prominent part of the culture as seen in the carving of houses, canoes, weapons, and other items. The people also wore highly decorative personal ornaments, and people of rank often had their skin marked with extensive tā moko similar to tattooing.
With the growth of tourism and exposure of haka to international audiences on TV and at sporting competitions, Māori culture that was previously observed only in Māori society and social gatherings with a significant Māori aspect, is increasingly seen as fundamental to New Zealand culture as a whole.
Marae
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/TeAuoteWhenua2.jpg)
A carved representation in contemporary style of Te Au-o-te-whenua, an ancestor of the Kawerau-ā-Maki people.
The most appropriate venue for any Māori cultural event is a marae, an enclosed area of land where a wharenui or meeting house (literally "big house") stands. A marae is the spiritual home of a person who is culturally Māori. Any place appropriate to an occasion can, however, be used. Generally the Māori language is spoken, though translations and explanations are provided when the primary participants are not Māori speakers. Increasingly, New Zealand schools and universities have their own marae to facilitate the teaching of Māori language and culture.
The marae is a communal ceremonial centre where meetings and ceremonies take place in accordance with traditional protocols. The marae symbolises group unity and generally consists of an open grassed area in front of a large carved meeting house, along with a dining hall and other facilities necessary to provide a comfortable stay for visiting groups. On the marae official functions take place including formal welcomes, celebrations, weddings, christenings, tribal reunions, and tangihanga (funerals). The older people have the authority on the marae, and they impart to the young people traditions and cultural practices including legends, songs or the arts of weaving or carving.
Locals and visitors have to respect certain rules, especially during the rituals of encounter. This is when the phrase tāngata whenua (people of the land) comes into play. Should a group of people come to stay on a marae, they are considered manuhiri (guests) while the owners of the marae are known as tāngata whenua. Should other groups of manuhiri arrive, the manuhiri who arrived previously - regardless of their race - are considered tāngata whenua for the purposes of formally welcoming the new group. When Māori refer to themselves as tāngata whenua this is not done solely to emphasise their indigenous status, as is often assumed, because the connotation in Māori of the phrase is one not of separation but rather of welcome and inclusion.
Although marae have modern cooking facilities, the hāngi, a traditional way of cooking food in Polynesia, is still used to provide meals for large groups because the food it produces is considered flavourful. The hāngi consists of a shallow hole dug in the ground. A fire is prepared in the hole and stones are placed on the top of it. When the stones are hot the hāngi is prepared for cooking by leaving the hot stones and some of the coals at the bottom of the hole. The food is placed on top of the stones, the meat first, with the vegetables, such as kumara and potatoes, on top of it. The hāngi is then covered with leaves or mats woven out of flax (or wet sacks) and left to cook. Finally, soil is heaped over the hāngi to keep the heat in.
The history of individual tribal groups is kept by means of narratives, songs and chants, hence the importance of music, story and poetry. Oratory, the making of speeches, is especially important in the rituals of encounter, and it is regarded as important for a speaker to include allusions to traditional narrative and to a complex system of proverbial sayings, called whakataukī.
Events and activities
Significant Māori cultural events or activities include:
The hui or meeting, usually on a marae. It begins with a pōwhiri or welcome. If a visitor is noteworthy, he or she may be welcomed with an aggressive challenge by a warrior armed with a taiaha (traditional fighting staff), who then offers a token of peace, such as a fern frond, to the visitor. Acceptance of the token in the face of such aggression is a demonstration of the courage and mana (charisma) of the visitor. The pōwhiri is highly structured, with speeches from both hosts and guests following a traditional format, their sequence dictated by the kawa (protocol) of that place, and followed by waiata, songs. Hui are held for business, for festivities or for rites of passage such as baptism, marriage and death.
The haka - an action chant, often described as a "war dance", but more a chant with hand gestures and foot stamping, originally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess and abusing the opposition. Now regularly performed by New Zealand representative rugby and rugby league teams before a game begins. There are many different haka though one, "Ka mate" by Te Rauparaha, is much more widely known than any other.
Kapa haka (haka groups) often come together to practice and perform cultural items such as waiata or songs, especially action songs, and haka for entertainment. Poi dances may also form part of the repertoire. Traditional instruments sometime accompany the group, though the guitar is also commonly used. Many New Zealand schools now have a kapa haka as part of the Māori studies curriculum. Today, national kapa haka competitions are held where groups are judged to find the best performers; these draw large crowds. (The common expression "kapa haka group" is strictly speaking, a tautology.)
Koha are gifts to the hosts, often of food or traditional items, though money is most commonly used today. The essence of koha is that it is voluntary and comes from the heart, so to specify the amount is contrary to its spirit. Recipients rely on the donors' aroha (empathy), manaakitanga (cherishing) and wairua (spirit) to ensure that it is enough. Thanks for koha are accordingly warm.
Dramatic representations
The best known dramatic work that features the Māori culture is the acclaimed film, Whale Rider.
(http://www.moras.ch/film_whale_rider.jpg)
(http://chronicle.augusta.com/images/headlines/012804/14964_512.jpg)
Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary "whale rider." In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir, and the aging chief is desperate to find a successor. Kahu is his only great-grandchild--and Maori tradition has no use for a girl. But when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the Maori tribe, it is Kahu who saves the tribe when she reveals that she has the whale rider's ancient gift of communicating with whales.
The movie Once Were Warriors also gained international acclaim with its depiction of modern urban Māori and a potent message about domestic violence.
The Bone People is a novel by New Zealand writer Keri Hulme. It won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1985.
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I found a video which is a clip from the show, "No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain."
He has gone to New Zealand in this episode, and this clip shows the "welcome encounter" at the wharenui to which he was invited. (His narration makes cracks, please forgive him -- he's a NYC smart-ass.) But I thought it was a good example of the presenting fierceness in Maori culture, so here it is.
He brings some abalone for the feast. Then he goes surfing, a bit boring, and comes back to the wharenui for the feast. The clip shows how the food is cooked in an underground pit, which is interesting.
The rest of the clip ... moves away from the wharenui... watch for your own bemusement if at all.
http://www.youtube.com/v/7iAaTVSGO_M&hl=en&fs=1
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=7iAaTVSGO_M&feature=related
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Whale Rider was a great film
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(http://www.moras.ch/film_whale_rider.jpg)
(http://chronicle.augusta.com/images/headlines/012804/14964_512.jpg)
Eight-year-old Kahu, a member of the Maori tribe of Whangara, New Zealand, fights to prove her love, her leadership, and her destiny. Her people claim descent from Kahutia Te Rangi, the legendary "whale rider." In every generation since Kahutia, a male heir has inherited the title of chief. But now there is no male heir, and the aging chief is desperate to find a successor. Kahu is his only great-grandchild--and Maori tradition has no use for a girl. But when hundreds of whales beach themselves and threaten the future of the Maori tribe, it is Kahu who saves the tribe when she reveals that she has the whale rider's ancient gift of communicating with whales.
Loved the film!
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The hui or meeting, usually on a marae. It begins with a pōwhiri or welcome. If a visitor is noteworthy, he or she may be welcomed with an aggressive challenge by a warrior armed with a taiaha (traditional fighting staff), who then offers a token of peace, such as a fern frond, to the visitor. Acceptance of the token in the face of such aggression is a demonstration of the courage and mana (charisma) of the visitor. The pōwhiri is highly structured, with speeches from both hosts and guests following a traditional format, their sequence dictated by the kawa (protocol) of that place, and followed by waiata, songs. Hui are held for business, for festivities or for rites of passage such as baptism, marriage and death.
I got waylaid by my pc and didn't get to drive home that what we saw in the Bourdain clip was a hui. Bourdain even mentions this in his narration.
The haka is an action chant, often described as a "war dance", but more a chant with hand gestures and foot stamping, originally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess and abusing the opposition. Now regularly performed by New Zealand representative rugby and rugby league teams before a game begins. There are many different haka though one, "Ka mate" by Te Rauparaha, is much more widely known than any other.
I have a lot of material on the haka, with which I'll be finishing this thread ... down the road. There's a lot more to present beforehand.
But most intriguing in my travels/exploration thus far has been this concept of mana -- the charisma and spirit of a person. The purpose of both the hui and the haka, I've seen it stated, is to bring forth the mana of the other -- be it the enemy, the opponent, or a visitor. My own interpretation is that these challenges are intending to bring out the energetic essence of the other. Which certainly implies awareness of our lack of time, given that the thrust is to expedite and draw out, and it also implies a unique approach to individual spirit. Show me -- show me now!
And this is one of my main fondnesses in what I've seen so far. It parallels my current phase in life, on some level. There's also an undeniable robustness which is appealing to me. Take, for example, the first video in the Regional Choir competition a few posts back:: the strength which comes through that performance, from the very beginning, is quite a force. No one could question it.
~Just a few comments on the material before I continue things.
Oh! And Micahel and Daphne -- yes, Whale Rider is wonderful -- I saw it in California, but would like to get hold of it for a slower, closer look.
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(http://www.totaltravel.co.nz/guide/photos/rotorua/moariarts_k019.jpg)
(http://www.maorisource.com/maori-carving.jpg)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/TahuhuNgatiAwa.jpg)
(http://www.hps.com/~tpg/singapore/graphics/nz-maori-carving.jpg)
(http://www.bioneural.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/06/tiki.jpg)
(http://www.keanz.net/files/Koru_Carving_Waka_canoe_.jpg)
(http://www.photographybyjohncorney.com/culture-society/maori-carving-christ.jpg)
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/MaoriChief1784.jpg/202px-MaoriChief1784.jpg)
(http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/explore/maori.jpg)
(http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/BRGPOD/43531~A-Maori-Warrior-Posters.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1961-1970/1969_10.jpg)
(http://community.iexplore.com/photos/journal_photos/Hangi3_prefRes.jpg)
(http://johnroyalgallery.com/images/mask_rma.jpg)
(http://images.elfwood.com/art/p/h/phantomsrose/maori_mask.jpg)
(http://www.newzealand-infocenter.com/picts/mart.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/CHARTWELL/C1994_1_448.jpg)
(http://www.holman.id.au/NZ2004/KauriDesigns.jpg)
(Some speculate that the Kauri tree is part of the inspiration in Maori design.)
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(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/MaoriChief1784.jpg/202px-MaoriChief1784.jpg)
(http://www.updatecenter.britannica.com/eb/image?binaryId=9096&rendTypeId=4)
(http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~tonyf/explore/maori.jpg)
(http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/BRGPOD/43531~A-Maori-Warrior-Posters.jpg)
(http://collection.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/collection/images/display/1961-1970/1969_10.jpg)
(http://community.iexplore.com/photos/journal_photos/Hangi3_prefRes.jpg)
(http://johnroyalgallery.com/images/mask_rma.jpg)
(http://images.elfwood.com/art/p/h/phantomsrose/maori_mask.jpg)
(http://www.newzealand-infocenter.com/picts/mart.jpg)
Oh! I really love these painted faces and designs!
Something interesting, the more I read in this thread of yours, the more I see that Maori people very much resemble the headhunters in my recent dream.
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Oh! I really love these painted faces and designs!
Something interesting, the more I read in this thread of yours, the more I see that Maori people very much resemble the headhunters in my recent dream.
Hmmmm...another connection... very interesting!
There hasn't been too much I've encountered yet about the head-hunting. (I've read so much in the last week.) It was a dying practice by some of the iwis, that in the 19th century was revived because there was a European black market for it. Then it became officially outlawed by the Crown.
There hasn't even been too much discussion of the old cannibalism, and I attribute that absence to the current renaissance of the Maori culture in New Zealand, the rewards of which go to NZ's tourism-industry.
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(http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/bestvintage/images/post08_photo.jpg)
(http://www.totaltravel.co.nz/guide/photos/rotorua/maoris_rotorua_h014.jpg)
(http://www.maorisource.com/MaoriChief2.JPG)
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Hinepare.jpg)
(http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/images/goldie_allesame.jpg)
(http://www.rudyrucker.com/blog/images/goldie_ina_te_papatahi.jpg)
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But most intriguing in my travels/exploration thus far has been this concept of mana -- the charisma and spirit of a person. The purpose of both the hui and the haka, I've seen it stated, is to bring forth the mana of the other -- be it the enemy, the opponent, or a visitor. My own interpretation is that these challenges are intending to bring out the energetic essence of the other. Which certainly implies awareness of our lack of time, given that the thrust is to expedite and draw out, and it also implies a unique approach to individual spirit. Show me -- show me now!
That is something. I have used this concept in two chin-wags already today.
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(http://www.hickerphoto.com/data/media/152/maori-tattoo-designs_3598.jpg)
(http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/images/ga/newzealand_maori-tattoo.jpg)
Excerpt from an interview done by National Geographic Magazine in the US with a Maori Chief (George Tamihana Nuku) on the meaning of the facial tattoo (moko).
Is it appropriate for people to ask you about the moko and your culture? How does that make you feel?
I'm glad people stare because it's something that's meant to be looked at…I'm sure people are curious about moko. I would be. If I didn't know anything about it and I saw someone who looked like me, I'd want to ask something and I'd want to stare. I find that the children are the ones who don't have a problem with that. They come straight up to me and "What's that on your face." And they stare. That can be unnerving and it's sort of just as educational for me as well as for them.
Can you talk a little more about how moko represents connections between the past and the future, and connections between generations?
The moko is our signature…It is what our ancestors signed their documents with. They used their facial moko when they first traded with the Europeans—the British. Historically, we say that moko comes from the underworld.
The gods associated with the tattooing gave it to the people to bring up to the surface. It is a beautiful metaphor for the revival, because we say that it was underground when it was abolished and there was persecution. We have brought it back up to the surface again like they did in the ancient times…It is not a static art form. It is a breathing, living, growing art form.
The practitioners of today are doing a fantastic job of creating a moko for the twenty-first century that is relevant to our needs and our aspirations of now and our lifestyle. For example, we are using modern technology in the creation of moko. We are using sterilizing machines and rubber gloves and electric needles. We say this is a very traditional practice to use the best things available to you to create your story.
I think our ancestors would be proud of us for adopting this approach of utilizing the best to maintain our standard, to lessen the likelihood of degeneration of the art form…I know that in the [next generation's] time, the moko will be an exciting art form. It will be something that will reflect their times.
We're not really interested in photocopying the past…But we combine things with the things that we hold dear from our ancestors' notions of having the mandate of your group, of being accountable, of attainment, of mana, prestige—through doing good things and sharing and providing for each other. Those things are timeless and they're always going to be like that for us Maori people. If we don't do those things, then we can't call ourselves Maori anymore.
Elements of moko have been adopted by certain parts of Western popular culture. I'm curious what you would say to a young American teenager who has a tattoo with elements of the moko in it. What would you want him or her to know?
Young people…are going to seek something that's exciting and intoxicating like moko and the connotations that go with it. They're also going to look for some form of identity and something that makes them distinctive in the global morass…This has been a subject of long and bitter discussion at home amongst the peoples, where people have advocated that we shut the door and don't allow people access to our moko…
The practitioners are saying quite the opposite. They're saying we must go and engage and we must take our art form to the world because then at least we have a say in the quality of the art form and we are present when the questions are asked, so we get the first opportunity to explain the moko firsthand as opposed to somebody interpreting the moko on our behalf, who may not necessarily be correct or be qualified to say those things.
How would you respond to non-natives who wear some of the designs that are similar to the moko?
If you don't live the things that go with it, then it's only a design. It's not a moko. First and foremost, it comes from your lineage. It defines who your parents and grandparents [were] from the beginning of time. That's number one.
Number two is that the moko is reinforced and validated by your commitment to the group. And the group owns you. You are the group and the group is you. If you don't have those things, then it's not a moko.
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That is something. I have used this concept in two chin-wags already today.
:D
I hear you saying you used the concept, but I'm here picturing you doing the haka!
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Pendants
(http://www.nzpacific.com/products/512/10.15%20Maori%20Carving%20Mother%20of%20Pearl%20Hook%20Necklace%20Orig.jpg)
(http://www.mereana.co.nz/teika.jpg)
(http://www.cabanillamakau.com/images/kahawai.jpg)
(http://www.tahitoi.com/data/storage/attachments/1d76faec40d8f5a8e5c5492593125c26.jpg)
(http://www.carving.co.nz/images/Maori.jpg)
(https://secure.digithink.net.nz/buriedvillageconz/images/news/Montage.jpg)
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Maori Myths
Wiki:
Myths are set in the remote past and their content often have to do with the supernatural. They present Māori ideas about the creation of the universe and the origins of gods and of people. The mythology accounts for natural phenomena, the weather, the stars and the moon, the fish of the sea, the birds of the forest, and the forests themselves. Much of the culturally institutioned behaviour of the people finds its sanctions in myth. "Perhaps the most distinctive feature of myth, as distinct from tradition, is its universality. Each of the major myths is known in some version not only throughout New Zealand but also over much of Polynesia as well" (Biggs 1966:448).
The Māori understanding of the development of the universe was expressed in genealogical form. These genealogies appear in many versions, in which several symbolic themes constantly recur. "Evolution may be likened to a series of periods of darkness (pō) or voids (kore), each numbered in sequence or qualified by some descriptive term. In some cases the periods of darkness are succeeded by periods of light (ao). In other versions the evolution of the universe is likened to a tree, with its base, tap roots, branching roots, and root hairs. Another theme likens evolution to the development of a child in the womb, as in the sequence “the seeking, the searching, the conception, the growth, the feeling, the thought, the mind, the desire, the knowledge, the form, the quickening”. Some, or all, of these themes may appear in the same genealogy" (Biggs 1966:448). The cosmogonic genealogies are usually brought to a close by the two names Rangi and Papa (father sky and mother earth). The marriage of this celestial pair produced the gods and, in due course, all the living things of the earth (Biggs 1966:448).
The earliest full account of the origins of gods and the first human beings is contained in a manuscript entitled Nga Tama a Rangi (The Sons of Heaven), written in 1849 by Wī Maihi Te Rangikāheke, of the Ngāti Rangiwewehi tribe of Rotorua. The manuscript "gives a clear and systematic account of Māori religious beliefs and beliefs about the origin of many natural phenomena, the creation of woman, the origin of death, and the fishing up of lands. No other version of this myth is presented in such a connected and systematic way, but all early accounts, from whatever area or tribe, confirm the general validity of the Rangikāheke version. It begins as follows: 'My friends, listen to me. The Māori people stem from only one source, namely the Great-heaven-which-stands-above, and the Earth-which-lies-below. According to Europeans, God made heaven and earth and all things. According to the Māori, Heaven (Rangi) and Earth (Papa) are themselves the source' " (Biggs 1966:448).
Rangi and Papa
In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatuanuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/WahineTane.jpg)
Union and separation
Rangi and Papa are the primordial parents, the sky father and the earth mother who lie locked together in a tight embrace. They have many children all of which are male, who are forced to live in the cramped darkness between them. These children grow and discuss among themselves what it would be like to live in the light. Tūmatauenga, the fiercest of the children, proposes that the best solution to their predicament is to kill their parents (Grey 1956:2).
But his brother Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to push them apart, to let Rangi be as a stranger to them in the sky above while Papa will remain below to nurture them. The others put their plans into action—Rongo, the god of cultivated food, tries to push his parents apart, then Tangaroa, the god of the sea, and his sibling Haumia-tiketike, the god of wild food, join him. In spite of their joint efforts Rangi and Papa remain close together in their loving embrace. After many attempts Tāne, god of forests and birds, forces his parents apart. Instead of standing upright and pushing with his hands as his brothers have done, he lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs. Stretching every sinew Tāne pushes and pushes until, with cries of grief and surprise, Ranginui and Papatuanuku are prised apart (Grey 1956:2-3, Biggs 1966:448).
War in heaven and earth
Tāne adorned Rangi with starsAnd so the children of Rangi and Papa see light and have space to move for the first time. While the other children have agreed to the separation Tāwhirimātea, the god of storms and winds, is angered that the parents have been torn apart. He cannot not bear to hear the cries of his parents nor see the tears of the Rangi as they are parted, he promises his siblings that from henceforth they will have to deal with his anger. He flies off to join Rangi and there carefully fosters his own many offspring who include the winds, one of whom is sent to each quarter of the compass. To fight his brothers, Tāwhirimātea gathers an army of his children—winds and clouds of different kinds, including fierce squalls, whirlwinds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery clouds, hurricane clouds and thunderstorm clouds, and rain, mists and fog. As these winds show their might the dust flies and the great forest trees of Tāne are smashed under the attack and fall to the ground, food for decay and for insects (Grey 1956:3-6, Tregear 1891:54, Biggs 1966:448-449).
Then Tāwhirimātea attacks the oceans and huge waves rise, whirlpools form, and Tangaroa, the god of the sea, flees in panic. Punga, a son of Tangaroa, has two children, Ikatere father of fish, and Tu-te-wehiwehi (or Tu-te-wanawana) the ancestor of reptiles. Terrified by Tāwhirimātea’s onslaught the fish seek shelter in the sea and the reptiles in the forests. Ever since Tangaroa has been angry with Tāne for giving refuge to his runaway children. So it is that Tāne supplies the descendants of Tūmatauenga with canoes, fishhooks and nets to catch the descendants of Tangaroa. Tangaroa retaliates by swamping canoes and sweeping away houses, land and trees that are washed out to sea in floods (Grey 1971:5-6).
Tāwhirimātea next attacks his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike, the gods of cultivated and uncultivated foods. Rongo and Haumia are in great fear of Tāwhirimātea but, as he attacks them, Papa determines to keep these for her other children and hides them so well that Tāwhirimātea cannot find them. So Tāwhirimātea turns on his brother Tūmatauenga. He uses all his strength but Tūmatauenga stands fast and Tāwhirimatea cannot prevail against him. Tū (or humankind) stands fast and, at last, the anger of the gods subsided and peace prevailed.
Tū thought about the actions of Tāne in separating their parents and made snares to catch the birds, the children of Tāne who could no longer fly free. He then makes nets from forest plants and casts them in the sea so that the children of Tangaroa soon lie in heaps on the shore. He made hoes to dig the ground, capturing his brothers Rongo and Haumia-tiketike where they have hidden from Tāwhirimātea in the bosom of the earth mother and, recognising them by their long hair that remains above the surface of the earth, he drags them forth and heaps them into baskets to be eaten. So Tūmatauenga eats all of his brothers to repay them for their cowardice; the only brother that Tūmatauenga does not subdue is Tāwhirimātea, whose storms and hurricanes attack humankind to this day (Grey 1971:7-10, Biggs 1966:449).
Yearning
Tāne searched for heavenly bodies as lights so that his father would be appropriately dressed. He obtained the stars and threw them up, along with the moon and the sun. At last Rangi looked handsome (Orbell 1998:145). Rangi and Papa continue to grieve for each other to this day. Ranginui's tears fall towards Papatuanuku to show how much he loves her. Sometimes Papatuanuku heaves and strains and almost breaks herself apart to reach her beloved partner again but it is to no avail. When mist rises from the forests, these are Papatuanuku's sighs as the warmth of her body yearns for Ranginui and continues to nurture mankind (Grey 1956:11).
Hine-nui-te-pō
In Māori mythology, Hine-nui-te-pō (Great woman of night) is a goddess of night and death, and the ruler of the underworld. She is a daughter of Tāne. She fled to the underworld because she discovered that Tāne, whom she had married, was also her father.
All of the children of Rangi and Papa were male. It was Tāne who first felt the need for a wife and began to look for a companion. His mother showed him how to make a female form from red earth. Then Tāne breathed life into Hine-ahuone, the earth-formed-maid, and mated with her. Their child was Hine-ata-uira, maid-of-the-flashing-dawn (alias Hine-tītama), and Tāne took her to wife (Biggs 1966:449).
One day, while Tāne was away, Hine-ata-uira began to wonder who her father was. She was disgusted and ashamed when she heard that her husband was also her father, and she ran away. When Tāne came back he was told that she had run off to the spirit-world, and he quickly followed after. But he was stopped from entering by Hine herself, in her new role as goddess of the underworld. "Go back, Tāne", she said to him, "and raise our children. Let me remain here to gather them in." So Tāne came back to the upper world, while Hine stayed below, waiting only for Māui to bring death into the world, and begin the never-ending procession of mortals to her realm (Biggs 1966:449).
Māui attempted to make mankind immortal by crawling through her body while she slept, but the fantail's laughter woke her and she crushed him with her vagina; Māui was the first man to die (Biggs 1966:450).
Maui
In Māori mythology, Māui is a culture hero famous for his exploits and his trickery.
Māui's birth
The offspring of Tū (humankind) increased and multiplied and did not know death until the generation of Māui-tikitiki (Biggs 1966:449). Māui is the son of Taranga, the wife of Makeatutara. He has a miraculous birth—his mother throws her premature infant into the sea wrapped in a tress of hair from her topknot (tikitiki)—hence Māui is known as Māui-tikitiki-a-Taranga. Ocean spirits find and wrap the child in sea-weed. Māui's divine ancestor, Tama-nui-ki-te-rangi (or Rangi) then takes the child and nourishes it to adolescence.
Finds his mother and brothers
Māui emerges from the sea and goes to his mother's foot, with the whole around it while the father is looking for food that all the chickens eat while they are asleep, finding there his four brothers, Māui-taha, Māui-roto, Māui-pae, and Māui-waho. Māui's brothers at first are wary of the new-comer but, after he performs several feats such as transforming himself into different kinds of birds, they acknowledge his power and admire him.
At first Taranga does not recognise Māui as her child. At first she denies him, saying, "This is the first time I have seen you. Get out of this house. You are not my child." Reluctantly, Māui moves towards the door, muttering as he goes, "I'll go, then, if you say so. Perhaps I am the child of a stranger, but I did believe that I was born near the ocean, wrapped by you in your girdle, and cast into the sea. And I was rescued by Rangi, and nurtured by him in the sky, where I used to gaze down and watch this house, and listen to your voices. Indeed, I know the names of your children. There is Māui-to-the-side, and Māui-within; there is Māui-opposite, and Māui-without. And I say to you that I am Māui-the-girdle-of-Taranga!" Then, at last, Taranga calls out to him, "You are indeed my last-born, the child of my old age, Māui-the-girdle-of-Taranga" and she kisses him and takes him to sleep in her own bed.
At first the older brothers are jealous and suspicious of the newcomer, saying, “We were conceived in wedlock, and born on the wide-wefted sleeping mat of legitimacy, and we are not asked to sleep with our mother. Yet this abortion, cast into the sea and nursed by seaweed, returns to life and is called to her couch. How are we to know he is really our brother?" After a while though, the brothers accept that the newcomer is one of them (Biggs 1966:449, Tregear 1891:233).
Restrains the sun
Māui takes the jaw-bone of his ancestress Muri-ranga-whenua and uses it as a weapon in his first expedition. This is to snare the Sun and make it go slower because the days were too short for people to get their work done. With the help of his brothers, Māui nooses the Sun and beats him severely with the jaw-bone club until the Sun promises to go slower in future (Tregear 1891:233-234).
Hauls up the North Island
His next exploit is to haul up land from the depth of the ocean—here he again uses the jaw-bone, this time as a fish-hook. Māui, using blood from his nose for bait, hauls the great fish up from the depths. When it emerges from the water Māui goes to find a priest to perform the appropriate ceremonies and prayers, leaving his brothers in charge of the fish. They, however, do not wait for Māui to return but begin to cut up the fish (to grab their share), which immediately begins to writhe in agony, causing it to break up into mountains, cliffs and valleys. If the brothers had listened to Māui the island would have been a level plain and people would have been able to travel with ease on its surface. Thus the North Island of New Zealand is known as Te Ika-a-Māui (The Fish of Māui) (Tregear 1891:234).
Discovers the secret of fire
Māui stole fire from the fingernails of MahuikaMāui, finding that fire has been lost on the earth, resolves to find Mahuika the Fire-goddess and learn the secret art of obtaining fire. He visits her but his tricks make her furious and, although he obtains the secret of fire, he barely escapes with his life. He transforms himself into a hawk, but to no avail for Mahuika sets both land and sea on fire. Māui prays to his great ancestors, Tāwhirimātea and Whatiri-matakataka who answer with pouring rain and extinguish the fire. Māui soon after goes out fishing with Irawaru, the husband of Hina, Maui's sister. They disagree when their fishing lines get tangled and, when they return to shore, Māui turns Irawaru into a dog. Hina is distraught and throws herself into the sea, but she does not die. (Tregear 1891:234).
Seeks immortality
In some versions, small birds like the fantail accompanied Māui on his quest to win immortality for humankind.Māui now considers himself ready to win immortality for humankind. His father tries to dissuade him, predicting that he will fail because of the mistakes in his baptismal ceremony. His father says to him, “My son, I know that you are a brave fellow and that you have done all things. Yet I am afraid that there is someone who will defeat you.” “Who could that be?” asks Māui. “Your ancestress Hine-nui-te-pō (Great woman of the nightworld). You can see her flashing there on the horizon.” “Is she as strong as the sun?” asks Māui. “I trapped him and beat him. Is she greater than the sea, which is greater than the land? Yet I have dragged land from it. Now let us see whether we will find life or death.” His father answers, “You are right, my last-born, and the strength of my old age. Go, find your ancestress who lives at the side of the sky.” “What does she look like?” asks Māui. “The red flashing in the western sky comes from her,” says the father. “Her body is like a human being, but her eyes are greenstone, her hair sea-kelp, and her mouth is like a barracouta's mouth” (Biggs 1966:449).
Māui, undaunted, sets out westward, with his companions, to the home of Hine-nui-te-pō. In some versions, his companions are the smallest birds of the forest, the tomtit, the robin, the grey warbler, and the fantail. In other versions, the companions are his brothers. He finds Hine asleep with her legs apart and he and his companions see sharp flints of obsidian and greenstone between her thighs. “Now,” Māui tells his friends, “when I go into the body of this old woman, do not laugh at me. Wait until I come out again from her mouth. Then you may laugh as much as you want.” “You will be killed!” was all the companions could say. “If you laugh I will indeed be killed. But if I pass right through her body I will live, and she will die.”
Then he readied himself, winding the cord of his battle club tightly round his wrist and casting aside his garment. As Māui began his task, the cheeks of his watching friends puckered with suppressed laughter. As his head and arms disappear one of his brothers - or the fantail - can hold back no longer and bursts out laughing. The old lady wakes, opens her eyes, claps her legs together and cuts Māui in two. Now Māui has become the first being to die and, because he has failed in his task, all human beings are mortal. The goddess keeps her position at the portal to the underworld through which all humans must travel (Biggs 1966:449-450, Tregear 1891:234).
His canoe the South Island
In Māori traditions from the South Island of New Zealand, Māui’s canoe became the South Island, with Banks Peninsula marking the place supporting his foot as he pulled up the extremely heavy fish. Therefore, besides Te Wai Pounamu, another Māori name for the South Island is Te Waka a Māui (The canoe of Māui).
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I am really enjoying reading about the Maori.... thanks for sharing this culture... :)
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Glad you're enjoying, DC. I apologize for how slowly it's getting to the board. My PC is giving me a devil of a time with anything involving pictures or a heftily-loaded clipboard. Some posts, singularly, have taken an hour each to get on the board.
There's more to come, but it's almost wrapping up.
Enjoying your thread as well!
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Glad you're enjoying, DC. I apologize for how slowly it's getting to the board. My PC is giving me a devil of a time with anything involving pictures or a heftily-loaded clipboard. Some posts, singularly, have taken an hour each to get on the board.
There's more to come, but it's almost wrapping up.
Enjoying your thread as well!
Loving these pics V!
I am so glad you are taking the time to share with us! (dang computer!)
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:-* :-* :-*
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In the Bourdain video several posts back, we saw the children performing a powhiri, or welcome dance. If you got a chance to closely observe, you could see the fierceness in it... As I stated, the philosophy behind this is to bring forth the mana of the other. But if the kids were doing the welcome dance ... imagine their war dance, or haka!
I have a lot of material on the haka, done by Maori, but also done by non-Maori, in a sanctioned way and incorporated without a doubt into New Zealand culture. (You can see the Haka being done by Maori in all seriousness, briefly, in the clip on the Distinguished Conduct Medal ... they aren't saying welcome therein, and they aren't in obligatory tribal dress for the tourists.)
In about a week, I will give more detail about the haka. (There are mythological foundations for the tradition.) I need to put this thread in a state of temporary closure, though, so I do want to leave a few performances of the haka by NZ's All Blacks Rugby Team, for your perusal and as food for thought. The All Blacks seem to be the ones doing it in any resemblance to a real war dance right now. What I could find by the Maori themselves was being done ... for the tourists.
The AB's have been doing the haka since the beginning of the 20th century, before the game begins. They perform it facing the other team. There are different versions of the haka -- I'll post the very traditional one first, which ends with a sunburst jump into the sky, shouting "Hiiii", and then I'll post the one which was in use from 2005-2008. In my opinion, the artform reached perfection in those years.
What fascinates me is the escalation to a frenzied pitch, which is then tempered but sustained. You can hear them breathing and hissing before it begins, and to be sure, no one is cracking a smile. This isn't cheerleading, and it surpasses the proverbial 'group huddle'. For as much as a rugby (or any other) game can be for "real", this is for real. I'm hazarding a guess that there is power in it. Especially in the one performed from 2005-2008.
Next week I'll be more descriptive.
The traditional AB haka (Ka Mate):
http://www.youtube.com/v/3GpTsPNwwms&hl=en&fs=1
2005-2008 (Kapa O Pango)
http://www.youtube.com/v/WOjp8M6XH4c&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/9yRAukE__BU&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/v/GrtUeJGuQGA&hl=en&fs=1
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They definitely do have some power moves there, don't they?
Also, I've been thinking a lot about these people and the rumours of headhunting and cannibalism, which you said you found no evidence of.
What I find most interesting is that a lot of their facial make-up appears to have the look of blood dripping off the mouth and chin.
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They definitely do have some power moves there, don't they?
Yes! I have watched probably about 15-20 clips of the various performances of it, and I frankly was mesmerized that day.
Also, I've been thinking a lot about these people and the rumours of headhunting and cannibalism, which you said you found no evidence of.
What I found were glancing references to both activities. It was mentioned that some of the tiki's rubbing of their full, protruding bellies was an allusion to the cannibalism. "We will eat you, beware," was the intended message. In one of the articles I found, it was stated that "only one" of the tribes engaged in it.... The Wiki articles I used didn't mention it at all, but I remember there that those articles are available for editing. There is currently a renaissance of the Maori culture, which has been embraced to some extents by the New Zealanders in general. Take, for example, the fact that the All Blacks are a 200 million dollar a year industry. There couldn't be an All Blacks team without the haka, as I see it. It's very different than what we see in the US vs. the First Nations -- the attitude is different. There appears to be a genuine celebration of Maori, even in spite of the minority-inequities and legal suits pending. There's the Intent, I should say, to embrace Maori ... how it really plays out, I'm sure, would require residence for the observation. The cannibalism, though, would likely be a legacy everyone would rather forget.
With the headhunting, there was mention that there was a revival of the activity in the early 19th century fanned by a European black market for it, but eventually British law came down on it.
What I find most interesting is that a lot of their facial make-up appears to have the look of blood dripping off the mouth and chin.
Yes! I thought the same thing, that it has the appearance of having sunken one's face down into the bloody beast.
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I did read somewhere that after they moved to NZ, there was nowhere else to go - there had been a repeated practice of island hopping: as they arrived at each island, they ate all the eatable creatures on the island, so then they moved to the next. Once they arrived at NZ, consumed all the animals and birds, they then turned of each other. This was only just before the whities arrived.
This version may not be true - I think I got it from Jared Diamond's books 'Guns Germs and Steel' or 'Collapse' - when these books were being discussed in the media a little while back.
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I did read somewhere that after they moved to NZ, there was nowhere else to go - there had been a repeated practice of island hopping: as they arrived at each island, they ate all the eatable creatures on the island, so then they moved to the next. Once they arrived at NZ, consumed all the animals and birds, they then turned of each other. This was only just before the whities arrived.
This version may not be true - I think I got it from Jared Diamond's books 'Guns Germs and Steel' or 'Collapse' - when these books were being discussed in the media a little while back.
Hmmm, I hadn't read that about cannibalism-by-necessity. One of the articles I read stated that the Maori, as opposed to other Polynesian cultures, ate-whom-they-ate as an insult to that person, not as an honor. So it sounded like an act of aggression. (Who knows?)
But I did read that they hunted to extinction at least one of the species on the island: a 3-foot high flightless bird called the moa.
Hunting gave way to agriculture, and full-time warriors became part-time warriors -- even in their wars with the British.
About the island-hopping ... there's a whole can of worms right there. Towards my closing point of reading (to be continued later), I had just come upon these sites/literature claiming that there was a civilization there prior to the arrival of the polynesian tribes. It was posited that the roots were Celtic --- and that in the oral mythology, there was reference to the fair-skinned/white-skinned old peoples.
It intrigued me, because one of the Maori elder-clips I found (the woman) made reference to the fact that "we have always been here..."
Many unsolved mysteries. (Just the way I like it, heheh.)
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http://www.youtube.com/v/WkoR8qBSUtY&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkoR8qBSUtY&NR=1
Te Taru White is the Kaihatu (joint leader and curator) of Te Papa, Aotearoa New Zealand's national museum. He travels around the world speaking about how museums can bring cultures together, sharing stories and developing understanding and appreciation for other peoples. For more, check out www.globalonenessproject.org
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http://www.youtube.com/v/Z2ToGR1Sb98&hl=en&fs=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ToGR1Sb98&NR=1
E Ihowa Atua,
(Oh Lord, God)
O ngä iwi mätou rä,
(Of nations and of us too)
Äta whakarongona;
(Listen to us)
Me aroha noa
(Cherish us)
Kia hua ko te pai;
(Let goodness) flourish,
Kia tau tö atawhai;
(May your blessings flow)
Manaakitia mai
(Defend)
Aotearoa
Perfomed by Naomi Bradfield
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http://www.youtube.com/v/0j55G2yKzLE