Topic: The Maori of Aotearoa (New Zealand)

[nichi]

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.

[nichi]

[Michael]

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.

[nichi]

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.

[nichi]

That is something. I have used this concept in two chin-wags already today.

I hear you saying you used the concept, but I'm here picturing you doing the haka!

[nichi]

Pendants

[nichi]

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.



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).

[dc_chance]

I am really enjoying reading about the Maori.... thanks for sharing this culture...

[nichi]

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!

[tangerine dream]

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!)

[nichi]

    

[nichi]

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):
<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/3GpTsPNwwms/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3GpTsPNwwms"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/3GpTsPNwwms&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/3GpTsPNwwms&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

2005-2008 (Kapa O Pango)
<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/WOjp8M6XH4c/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WOjp8M6XH4c"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/WOjp8M6XH4c&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/WOjp8M6XH4c&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9yRAukE__BU/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9yRAukE__BU"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/9yRAukE__BU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/9yRAukE__BU&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>


<span data-s9e-mediaembed="youtube" style="display:inline-block;width:100%;max-width:640px"><span style="display:block;overflow:hidden;position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%"><iframe allowfullscreen="" loading="lazy" scrolling="no" style="background:url(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/GrtUeJGuQGA/hqdefault.jpg) 50% 50% / cover;border:0;height:100%;left:0;position:absolute;width:100%" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/GrtUeJGuQGA"></iframe></span></span><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/GrtUeJGuQGA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/GrtUeJGuQGA&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

[tangerine dream]

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.

[nichi]

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.

[Michael]

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.