Sources for Maori legends

MAORI MYTHS AND TRADITIONS

by Bruce Grandison Biggs, M.A.(N.Z.), PH.D.(INDIANA), Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Auckland.

Sources for Maori legends

Note: The spellings and use of accents in the Maori words in this article are adopted at the special request of the author – Ed.

In the early years of European contact little was learned of the extensive body of Maori mythology and tradition. The missionaries, who were in the best position to get information, failed to do so at first, partly because their knowledge of the language was imperfect. Even when they had mastered Maori only a few of them acquired any great knowledge of legendary material, for most missionaries were known to be unsympathetic to Maori beliefs and to have little interest in what were to them at best “puerile beliefs”, and at worst “works of the devil”. Notable exceptions to the general rule were Richard Taylor, who worked in the Taranaki and Wanganui River areas, J. F. Wohlers of the South Island, and William Colenso who had lived both at the Bay of Islands and in Hawke's Bay. The writings of these men are among our best sources for the legends of the areas in which they worked.

In the 1840s Sir George Grey, Edward Short-land, and other non-missionaries were collecting myths and traditions. By that time many Maoris were literate in their own language and the material collected was, for the most part, written by Maoris themselves. These scribes wrote as they spoke. The new medium seems to have had little effect on the style or content of the narratives. Genealogies, song texts, and stories were written out in full, exactly as they were recited or sung. Many of these early manuscripts were published, and today the folklorist has access to a great body of material (more than for any other area of the Pacific) containing many versions of the great myth complexes of Polynesia, as well as of more localised traditions found only in New Zealand. Much of the best material is found in two books, Nga Mahi a nga Tupuna (The Deeds of the Ancestors), collected by Sir George Grey, and Ancient History of the Maori (six volumes), edited by John White.

Literary Forms

Three forms of expression were prominent in Maori and Polynesian oral literature, namely, narrative prose, poetry, and genealogical recital. The extreme development of genealogical recital characterised Maori literature. It seems to have fulfilled several functions in the telling of tradition. It provided a kind of time scale which embraced the whole of Maori myth, tradition, and history, from the remote past to the present, and it connected the gods and heroes of legend with men. The quoting of appropriate genealogical lines linked the narrator of a tale with the characters whose exploits he described, and made explicit his right to speak of them. In the cosmogonic genealogies, to be described later, genealogical recital is revealed as a true literary form. What appears at first sight to be a mere listing of names is in fact a cryptic account of the evolution of the universe.

Maori poetry, in contrast to our own, was always sung or chanted, and it was distinguished from prose by musical rhythms rather than by purely linguistic devices. The lack of conscious use of rhyme or assonance and the shifting nature of word stress in the language sometimes makes it difficult to tell whether a written text represents prose or poetry. Only when it is sung or chanted will the metre become apparent and the lines be indicated by features of the music. Stylistically, however, the language of poetry tends to differ from prose. Extensive use of synonyms or contrastive opposites, and repetition of key words, are typical features of poetic diction. Archaic words are common, including many which have lost any specific meaning and acquired a religious mystique. Abbreviated, sometimes cryptic utterances and the use of certain grammatical constructions not found in prose are also common.

The great bulk of Maori legendary material is found in the form of prose narrative. Some of this appears to have been esoteric and sacred, but many of the legends were well-known stories repeated for entertainment during the long winter nights. Nevertheless, they should not be regarded simply as fairy tales to be enjoyed only as stories. The Maui myth, for example, was important not only as entertainment but also because it embodied the beliefs of the people concerning such things as the origin of fire, of death, and of the land in which they lived. The ritual chants concerning firemaking, fishing, death, and so on made reference to Maui and derived their power from such reference.

Myths and Traditions

It is useful to divide all Maori legends into two categories, namely, myths and traditions. Myths are set in the remote past and contain a large element of the marvellous. They embody Maori beliefs about the creation of the universe and the genesis of gods and of men. Natural phenomena, the weather, the stars and the moon, the fish that swim in the sea, the birds that fly in the forest, and the forests themselves are all accounted for in the mythology. Much, therefore, of the institutionalised behaviour of the people found its sanctions in myth. The spells, ritual, and dogma of the magico-religious system and the world view of Maori society were ultimately based on the elaborate mythology inherited from a Polynesian homeland and modified and developed in a new environment. 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.

Traditions, as opposed to myths, tell of incidents which are for the most part humanly possible. Genealogical links with the present place them within the past millenium. They are geographically located in New Zealand and knowledge of them is confined to this country. Many scholars believe that Maori traditions are basically factual accounts of historical events.

MYTHS

The main body of Maori mythology is contained in three story complexes. They are, first, the cosmo-gonic genealogies and the stories concerning the genesis of gods and men; secondly, the Maui myths; and, thirdly, the Tawhaki myth.

The Cosmogonic Genealogies

Maori beliefs about the evolution of the universe were embodied in genealogical form. There are many versions of these genealogies, and a number of symbolic themes recur constantly. Evolution may be likened to a series of periods of darkness (po) 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.

Most versions of the cosmogonic genealogy culminate in the two names Rangi (sky) and Papa (earth). The marriage of these two produced the gods and, ultimately, all life on earth.

The Sons of Heaven

The earliest comprehensive account we have of the genesis of gods and the first men is contained in a remarkable manuscript entitled Nga Tama a Rangi (The Sons of Heaven). Written in 1849 by Wii Maihi Te Rangi-kaheke, of the Ngati Rangi-wewehi tribe of Rotorua, the document gives a clear and systematic account of Maori 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 Rangi-kaheke version. It begins as follows: “My friends, listen to me. The Maori 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 Maori, Heaven (Rangi) and Earth (Papa) are themselves the source”.

Rangi and Papa were husband and wife, pressed in close embrace. Their many sons crouched in darkness in the hollow between their parents bodies. And they thought a great thought, which was to kill their parents. But one of the sons, Tawhiri-matea, god of wind and storm, felt pity for his parents and argued that they should not be killed, but only separated. One by one, Rongo-ma-tane (kumara-god), Tangaroa (ocean-god), Haumia-tiketike (fern-root god) and Tu-matauenga (god of man and of war) tried to separate the sky-father and the earth-mother. But they all failed. Then Tane-mahuta (forest-god) lay on his back and, pressing upwards with his feet and taking no pity on the lamentations of his parents, he forced them apart, until one was far above and the other was far below. Now at last were seen the great numbers of men who had been hidden between the bodies of the primal parents.

Tawhiri-the-storm, angered by his brothers' treatment of their mother and father, flew off to join Rangi, and there carefully fostered his own many offspring, who included the winds, one of whom was sent to each quarter of the compass. Also among his children were Hurricane, Storm-cloud, Flashing-cloud, and many others. When they moved abroad the dust flew, and the great forest trees of Tane broke off short under the attack and fell to the ground, food for decay.

Rongo and Haumia were in great fear of Tawhiri, but as he attacked them, the earth mother reached out and drew them to the safety of her bosom, and Tawhiri searched for them in vain. So he turned his rage against Tu-matauenga, and attacked with all his force. But it was as nothing to Tu-the-man. He alone was able to stand against Tawhiri when all the other brothers had fled.

And when finally Tawhiri's anger was abated, Tu became angry in his turn and decided to attack his brothers because of their cowardice. First he attacked Tane-of-the-forest, felling his trees and trapping, spearing, and eating his birds; then he wove nets from forest plants and cast them in the sea, so that the children of Tangaroa soon lay in heaps on the shore; he sought Rongo-the-kumara and Haumia-the-fern-root where they had hidden from Tawhiri in the bosom of the earth mother, and recognising them by their long hair which remained above the surface of the earth, he dragged them forth and ate them. So Tu-the-man eats all of his brothers to pay them out for their cowardice when he alone had the courage to stand against Tawhiri.

The First Woman

All of the children of Heaven and Earth were males. It was Tane who first felt desire and began to search for a wife. His mother instructed him in fashioning a female form from red earth. Then Tane breathed life into Hine-hauonè, the earth-formed-maid, and mated with her. Their child was Hine-ata-uira, maid-of-the-flashing-dawn (alias Hine-titama), and Tane also took her to wife.

One day, while Tane was absent, Hine 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 Tane returned he was told that she had gone 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, Tane”, she told him, “and raise our children. Let me remain here to gather them in.” So Tane returned to the upper world, while Hine remained below, waiting only for Maui to introduce death into the world, and begin the never-ending march of mortals to her domain.

The Maui Complex of Myths

The offspring of Tu increased and multiplied, and did not know death, until the generation of Maui-tikitiki, who was aborted by his mother, and cast by her into the sea. He was washed ashore, entangled in seaweed, and swarmed over by gulls and flies. Rangi reached down and took him up into the sky where he was nursed back to life, and where his childhood was spent. His mother knew no more of him until, years later, he appeared among his elder brothers one night as they stood in the dance line at their home. In a farcical incident the mother is forced to recognise the young Maui as her child, though 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, Maui moved towards the door, muttering as he went, “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 Maui-to-the-side, and Maui-within; there is Maui-opposite, and Maui-without. And I say to you that I am Maui-the-girdle-of-Taranga!” Then at last Taranga called out to him, “You are indeed my last-born, the child of my old age, Maui-the-girdle-of-Taranga.” And she kissed him and took him to sleep in her own bed.

The older brothers were 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?”

The brothers did finally accept him, and to their cost. Maui-the-last-born gave them little time for rest as he enlisted their cooperation in a series of superhuman labours which included the snaring of the sun, procuring fire from its guardian deity, and the fishing up of land. Minor exploits included turning his brother-in-law into a dog, and stealing his grandmother's jawbone. As the prototype of the “calabash-breaking youngest child” he outshone his brothers in daring, rascality, and achievement.

At last his father said to him, “My son, I know that you are a bold fellow, and that you have achieved all things. Yet I fear there is one who will defeat you.”

“Who might that be?” said Maui.

“Your ancestress, Hine-nui-te-po, the Great-goddess-of-the-underworld. You can see her flashing there where the sky meets the earth.”

“Is her strength that of the sun?” asked Maui. “I trapped him, and beat him, and sent him on his way. Is she greater than the sea, which is greater than the land? Yet I have dragged land from it. Now let us seek life or death.”

The father replied, “You are right, my last-born, and the strength of my old age. Go then, seek your ancestress who lives at the side of the sky.”

“What does she look like?” asked Maui.

“The red flashing in the western sky emanates from her,” said the father. “Her body is that of a human being, but her eyes are greenstone, her hair sea-kelp, and her mouth is that of a barracouta.”

Maui took with him the smallest birds of the forest, the tomtit, the robin, the grey warbler, and the fantail, and set off towards the west. They found Hine asleep with her legs apart, and they could see sharp flints of obsidian and greenstone set between her thighs.

“Now,” said Maui to his companions, “if I enter the body of this old woman, do not laugh at me. But wait until I reappear again from her mouth. Then you may laugh all you wish.”

“You will be killed,” was all the birds could say.

“If you laugh too soon I will indeed be killed. But if I can pass right through her body I shall live, and she will be the one to die.”

Then he prepared himself, winding the cord of his battle club firmly round his wrist, and casting aside his garment. Behold his skin, mottled like a mackerel with the black pigment of the many-toothed tattooing chisel!

As Maui began his task, the cheeks of the watching birds puckered with suppressed mirth. His head and arms had disappeared when the fantail could hold back no longer, and burst into laughter. The old lady awoke, opened her eyes, clapped her legs together, and cut Maui completely in two.

Now Maui was the first being to die, and because he failed in his self-appointed task all men are mortal. The goddess retains her position at the entrance to the underworld, through which all men must pass.

Irawaru, Hinauri (alias Hine-te-iwaiwa), Tinirau, and Rupe (alias Maui-mua)

Hinauri, sister to the Maui brothers, married Irawaru, who was transformed into a dog by Maui-tikitiki. In her grief Hinauri threw herself into the sea. She did not drown but was cast ashore at the home of Tinirau, where she attracted his attention by muddying the pools he used as mirrors. She married Tinirau and killed his other two wives, who had attacked her out of jealousy.

When her child Tu-huruhuru was born, the ritual birth ceremony was performed by Kae. After this was done, Tinirau lent Kae his pet whale to take him home. In spite of strict instructions to the contrary, Kae forced the whale, Tutu-nui, into shallow water, where it died, and was eaten by Kae and his people.

Tinirau sent his sisters to capture Kae, who was to be identified by his overlapping front teeth. The sisters made him laugh by performing indecent dances. Having made sure that he was the man they sought, they put him into a trance and carried him off. He was killed by Tinirau.

Rupe (alias Maui-mua) was lonely for his sister Hinauri, and transforming himself into a pigeon he kidnapped her and her child Tu-huruhuru. Later Tu-huruhuru was killed by the tribe of Popohorokewa for the death of Kae. In turn, Tinirau called on Whakatau to destroy the Popohorokewa, which he did by burning them all in the house called Tihi-o-manono. This incident ends the Maui myth complex.

The Tawhaki Myths

The woman Whaitiri (thunder), who was a cannibal, came down from the sky and married Kai-tangata (man-eater), thinking that he shared her taste for human flesh. Disappointed at finding that this was not so, she left him after their son Hema was born. Hema grew up and had two sons, Tawhaki and Karihi. Then he went to another place and was killed. Tawhaki grew up to be a handsome fellow, the envy of his cousins, who beat him up and left him for dead. He was nursed back to health by his wife, who fed the fire that warmed him with a whole log of wood. In memory of this incident, their child was called Wahie-roa (Long-piece-of-firewood).

Tawhaki and his young brother set off to climb up to the sky. At the foot of the ascent they found their grandmother, Whaitiri, now blind, who sat continually counting the sweet potatoes that were her only food. The brothers tormented her by snatching them away, one by one, and upsetting her tally. Eventually, they made themselves known to her and restored her sight. In return, she gave them advice about the ascent to the sky. Karihi tried first, but made the mistake of climbing up the aka taepa, or hanging vine. He was blown violently about by the winds of heaven, fell, and was killed. Tawhaki climbed by the aka matua, or parent vine, recited the appropriate spells, and gained the uppermost of the 10 heavens. Here he obtained many spells from Tama-i-waho, and married a woman called Hapai, or as some say, Maikuku-makaka. They had a son, and according to some versions of the story it was this child who was named Wahie-roa.

Wahie-roa married Tonga-rau-tawhiri. When his wife became pregnant, Wahie-roa went into the forest to get birds for her to eat. He was attacked and killed by Matuku-tango-tango.

Tonga-rau-tawhiri's child was a boy named Rata, who, when he grew up, decided to build a canoe and sail off to avenge his father's death. The first attempt to fell a tree for the hull of the canoe failed because the appropriate ritual had not been performed. When the omission was made good, the guardians of the forest stopped obstructing the work and helped Rata to complete his canoe, which was named Niwa-reka (alias Niwa-ru, Aniwaniwa, etc.).

Rata sailed off to the place where Matuku-tango-tango lived in a pit, from which he ascended when the moon was full. Rata snared and killed him, and rescued the bones of his father Wahie-roa.

So ends the Tawhaki myth complex.

TRADITION

Every Maori social group had its own body of traditional belief which validated its claims to the territory it occupied, gave authority to those of high rank, and justified the group's external relationships with other groups. These purposes were served because the members of the groups concerned believed that the traditions were true records of past events, and they acted accordingly. Alliances between groups were facilitated if it was believed that they shared a common heritage, and the commoner's respect for and fear of his chief were based, in part at least, on his belief in the semi-divine ancestry of those of high rank.

At this point it is convenient to divide tradition itself into three types, namely, discovery or origin traditions, migration and settlement traditions, and local traditions.

The two best-known discovery or origin traditions are, first, that which assigns the discovery of New Zealand to Kupe, and, secondly, that which regarded Toi as the first important origin ancestor. Both traditions were current over wide but apparently complementary areas of the North Island. Attempts to place the two in a single chronological sequence are misguided, since there is no reliable evidence that they ever formed part of the same body of traditional lore.

According to the tribes of the west coast of the North Island, and those of North Auckland, Kupe was the discoverer of New Zealand. He sailed here from the homeland, called Hawaiki, after murdering a man called Hotu-rapa, and stealing his wife, Kura-maro-tini. References in traditional songs attest his voyaging along the coast of New Zealand. A well-known one says, “I sing of Kupe, who cut up this land, so that Kapiti, mana, and Aropawa stand apart”. Proverbs refer to the rough seas (nga tai whakatu a Kupe), and the nettles, brambles, and sword grasses with which he protected the coasts of the newly discovered land. It is proverbial, too, that he sailed back to Hawaiki and never returned to the land he discovered. But, later, settlers came here according to his directions.

Toi-kai-rakau (Toi-the-wood-eater) was regarded as origin ancestor by the tribes of the East Coast of the North Island. The traditions of the tribes who trace descent from him contain no reference to his coming to New Zealand, and the inference is that he was born here. According to the Tuhoe tribe of the Bay of Plenty hinterland, it was Toi's ancestor Tiwakawaka who first settled the country, but only his name is remembered.

It is typical of discovery and origin traditions that they are confused and contradictory. In particular, consistent genealogical validation is lacking. The traditionalist will refer this inconsistency to the great time span involved. The functionalist might regard it as evidence that these traditions played little part in the social organisation of the people, serving only to account for their presence in the land.

Migration traditions are more numerous than origin traditions, and pertain to smaller areas and fewer tribes. Each group of tribes had its migrant ancestors who arrived from Hawaiki in a named canoe, though certain tribes appear to have emphasised their canoe migration tradition and descent from crew members more than the others. In particular, the Hauraki, Waikato, and King Country tribes (Tainui canoe) and the Rotorua and Taupo tribes (Te Arawa canoe) appear to have placed special emphasis on their descent from a particular canoe migration.

According to some tribes, those of matatua, for example, a people derived its mana, its prestige, and nobility through the descent lines from the canoe people, while its land claims rested ultimately on descent from the origin ancestor, in this case Toi. Other tribes, those of Te Arawa descent for example, rest both their territorial rights and inherited status on their descent from such land-claiming ancestors as Tama-te-kapua, Ngatoro-i-rangi, Tia, Kahu, and Hei, all of whom came on the canoe.

But both status and land rights had more important and more immediate locus in later ancestors, and the main function of canoe traditions appears to have been to give a sense of unity to whole groups of tribes, even though they might at times be warring one with another. The shifting alliances within groups of tribes were facilitated by appeals to common descent from the ancestral canoe and it was not unusual for a whole canoe area, when threatened, to present a common front to outside aggression.

Europeans first became aware of migration traditions in 1842, when the Tainui tradition, in much the same form as it is told today, was recited to the missionary Hamlin at Orua, near Waiuku, on the south shore of the Manukau Harbour. Within a year or two the stories of a number of canoes were known, in outline at least, and by 1850 virtually all that is now known of the canoe traditions had already been collected.

  • “There the plume of Te Arawa floats on the water”
  • In what follows, the tradition of Te Arawa canoe is presented in some detail as a typical example of a migration tradition. It is followed by brief summaries of the traditions concerning a number of other canoes.

    The chain of circumstances resulting in the voyage of Te Arawa canoe to New Zealand began when a dog called potaka-tawhiti, owned by Hou-mai-tawhiti and his sons Tama-te-kapua and Whakaturia, licked a festering sore on the high chief Uenuku. This was sacrilege, and the dog was killed and eaten by Uenuku's companion, Toi. Tama-te-kapua and Whakaturia came looking for their dog, which, hearing their calls, barked loudly within Toi's stomach. Toi clapped his hands over his mouth and said “Alas! Hidden within the great belly of Toi, still you bark. You wretch!” In revenge for the death of their dog, Tama and Whakaturia made themselves stilts, and by means of them stole the fruit from the lofty poporo tree which shaded Uenuku's house. This was a further act of sacrilege and Uenuku's men lay in wait for the brothers when next they came to steal fruit. Tama escaped but Whakaturia was taken captive. With Tama's help, however, he, too, escaped, and the incident was followed by a series of battles between Hou-mai-tawhiti and his sons on the one hand, and Uenuku on the other. Hou and Whakaturia were killed, and Tama-te-kapua decided to seek another home.

    We are told that his canoe, Te Arawa, was built by Rata, Wahie-roa, and others, all characters from mythology, and it is typical that the stories of the closing period in Hawaiki mark the borderline between myth and tradition. When the time came for Te Arawa to sail, Tama-te-kapua, having already persuaded Whakaoti-rangi, wife of Ruaeo, to abandon her husband, also managed to kidnap Ngatoro-i-rangi, navigator and priest of the Tainui canoe, together with his wife Kea-roa. On the voyage Tama incurred Ngatoro's wrath by seducing Kea-roa. In revenge the priest called on the gods to swallow up the vessel in the whirlpool called the Throat-of-the-Parata. The canoe tilted dangerously towards the vortex, and only the cry that the pillow of Kea-roa had slipped from beneath her head aroused Ngatoro's pity and persuaded him to save the vessel.

    Te Arawa made land near Cape Runaway when the pohutukawa trees were in bloom, and one of her crew, exclaiming at the prodigal display of their sacred colour, red, cast his treasured ornaments of crimson feathers into the sea, and plucked the flowers, only to find that they faded almost as soon as they were picked.

    In a series of incidents Tama was discomfited for his earlier misdeeds. He was worsted in a battle of wits with the captain of Tainui canoe over the ownership of a stranded whale. He was humiliated by Ruaeo who, although left behind in Hawaiki, appeared dramatically in New Zealand and, after defeating Tama in a duel, rubbed his head in filth and vermin. And finally, his canoe, Te Arawa, was burned by Raumati.

    According to the tradition, Tama-te-kapua, Ngatoro-i-rangi, and others of the crew of Te Arawa travelled widely in the Bay of Plenty and its hinterland, from Maketu to Moehau, and inland to Tongariro, naming and claiming the land as they went. Whatever the truth of the story it is certain that the tribes who trace their ancestry to Te Arawa did, in fact, occupy the lands described, and many scholars would see in the validation of land claims, social status, and inter-tribal alliances, rather than in historical fact, the ultimate reality of tradition.

  • “Haul Tainui, haul her to the sea”
  • The Tainui canoe, under its captain, Hotu-roa, is also said to have made its landfall at Whanga-paraoa, near Cape Runaway. After quarrelling with the people of Te Arawa canoe over the ownership of a stranded whale, the Tainui people coasted northwards and (according to most versions) crossed the Tamaki isthmus at Otahuhu. The crossing was not accomplished without difficulty because Marama-kikohura, one of Hotu-roa's wives, had committed adultery with a slave, and so rendered ineffective the canoe-hauling spells that should have made the portage easy.

    Eventually Tainui pulled out through the Manukau Heads, to be drawn ashore finally at MakeTu, the Maori settlement on the shores of Kawhia Harbour, about a mile to the west of the town. Here two upright limestone slabs, 76 ft apart, are said to mark her resting place. The people spread inland until, after some centuries, they occupied the territory stretching from Tamaki in the north to Mokau and Taumarunui in the south. Their inland boundary, marking the division between the Te Arawa and Tainui tribes, lay in the mountainous country that stretches from Coromandel south to Taupo.

  • “Aotea is the canoe, and Turi is the chief,
  • And Te Roku-o-whiti is the paddle”
  • The Aotea canoe was owned by Toto, father of Rongorongo, the wife of Turi. As the climax to a series of incidents Turi had killed Hawe-potiki, the young son of Uenuku. To escape Uenuku's revenge Turi obtained sailing directions from Kupe, and the canoe Aotea from Toto, and set off for New Zealand. On the way they called in at an island called Rangitahua, and picked up there the castaways from the wrecked canoe Kura-hau-po. Aotea reached New Zealand at the harbour which still bears her name. Working south, the people finally settled at Patea. Here, Turi's daughter, Tane-roroa, quarrelled with her brother, Turanga-i-mua. Today, we find that Taneroroa's descendants, the Ngati Ruanui tribe, live north of the Patea River, extending northwards to Oeo, near New Plymouth. Turanga's descendants, the Nga Rauru, live south of the river, extending southwards to Wai-totara, and Kai-iwi.

  • “You are destroyed, even as Kura-hau-po was destroyed.
  • The cable loosed, and the anchor lost.
  • And her plumes broken off and cast into the sea.”
  • The Kura-hau-po traditions are contradictory, and the tribes claiming descent from this canoe have a broken distribution. Te Au-pouri and Te Rarawa tribes of North Auckland say that the canoe reached New Zealand under its commander, Pou, and then either returned to Hawaiki, or became a reef which still lies off the coast. The Taranaki tribe, whose coastal boundary extends from O-nuku-tai-pari in the north to Oeo in the south, say that Kura-hau-po. under the command of Te Maunga-nui, was wrecked at an island called Rangi-tahua on the way to New Zealand. The castaways transferred to Aotea canoe and reached New Zealand in that vessel. The Muaupoko and other tribes between the Whangaehu River, and Lake Horowhenua, near Levin, agree with this story in general, but say that the commander's name was Ruatea.

  • “Recline, oh friend, on Tokomaru,
  • The canoe of Whata,
  • By Rakei-ora and Tama-ariki
  • Paddled to land.”
  • Although the Tokomaru canoe is always mentioned in any tally of the important canoes, very little information, and that suspect, is available about it. Tribes claiming descent from this canoe occupy the north Taranaki coastal area from Mokau south to O-nuku-pari, near New Plymouth. According to the published traditions about Tokomaru, it was commanded by Manaia, who left Hawaiki as the result of a series of incidents which began with the rape of his wife by a party of workmen (or her seduction by a man called Tomowhare, according to another version). The canoe is said to have made its landfall in the South Island and to have travelled north along the west coast of the North Island, to be drawn ashore finally at Tonga-porutu. A puzzling feature of the traditions about this canoe is that the tribes who claim it do not have genealogies showing their descent from Manaia.

  • “My canoe is Takitimu
  • A canoe of the gods.”
  • In the tradition of Takitimu (also called Takitumu) we once again find Uenuku involved in the incidents leading to a migration to New Zealand. He became annoyed with Ruawharo, who kept taking fish from Uenuku's net. Poutama, acting on Uenuku's instructions, tipped Ruawharo up among the fish in the net. Ruawharo and his brother Tupai went to learn magic from Timu-whakairihia. They reached Timu's home when he was away and raped his wife. Because of this, Timu would not teach the most effective spells to Ruawharo. There is a hiatus in the story at this point and we next hear of Ruawharo on board Takitimu.

    Though contradictory at many points, all versions of the story of this canoe agree that it was extremely tapu, because of the gods it carried. Accordingly, no cooked food could be brought on it. The crew suffered from hunger, and Ruawharo only saved himself from being sacrificed and eaten by using his magic knowledge to lure fish to the surface of the sea.

    The canoe is said variously to have made its landfall at North Cape, Tauranga, and Cape Runaway. The tribes that claim Takitimu are Ngati-Rangi-nui, of Tauranga, Ngati-Kahungunu, of Hawke's Bay, and the tribes of Poverty Bay and the East Coast. They all trace descent from a man named Tamatea through his sons Kahungunu and Rangi-nui, but it has also been denied that this particular Tamatea came on Takitimu at all.

  • “We came, you and I, on Horouta and Takitimu.”
  • The Horouta canoe, under its commander, Pawa, came to New Zealand as a result of quarrelling that took place in Hawaiki among sections of the Ngati Ira tribe. On board Horouta were a section of the Ngati Ira, a man named Pouheni and his followers, and a woman named Hine-kau-i-rangi and her followers. The canoe landed at O-hiwa, near Whakatane, where it went aground on the bar called Te Tukeraeo-Kanawa (Kanawa's eyebrow). Hine-kau-i-rangi and her people did not wait for the canoe to be repaired but struck inland, crossing the Rau-kumara Range and coming down the Tapuae-roa River, reached the coast at Tupa-roa, near Ruatoria. They then followed down the coast to Whangara, where they met Pouheni and his people, who had travelled round by way of East Cape, almost dead of starvation. When they had been revived, the whole group came on to Muri-wai, south of Gisborne, where they found Ngati Ira, who had come round by sea in Horouta. The Ngati Porou tribe, whose territory extends from Cape Runaway to Whangara, claim Horouta as their ancestral canoe.

  • “Now let me act the man.”
  • The matatua canoe, under the command of Toroa, made its landfall at Whanga-paraoa (Cape Runaway). It then sailed across the Bay of Plenty to Tauranga, then back to WhakaTane, where it entered the mouth of the river. While most of the people were ashore the canoe went adrift, and Toroa's daughter, Wairaka (or as some say, his sister, Muri-wai) had to play the part of a man and paddle the canoe back to shore. The name WhakaTane (act-the-man) commemorates this incident.

    Toroa quarrelled with his brother, Puhi, who took the canoe and went off to North Auckland. His son, Rahiri, is the main ancestor of the Ngapuhi and Rarawa tribes of the Bay of Islands and Hokianga districts. Ngati Awa and Te Whakatohea tribes of the Bay of Plenty and Ngai Tuhoe of the Urewera country are included in the matatua canoe area proper which extends from Nga kuri-a-Wharei (near Katikati) to Tikirau (Cape Runaway).

    Local Traditions

    Each tribe and sub-tribe kept its own particular traditional record, told for the most part in terms of great battles and great men, and tied in with the genealogical record. In some cases the story is continuous and internally consistent from the migration down to the present. In other cases it is fragmentary and discontinuous earlier than about 1600.

    Local traditions may be illustrated with a grim incident from the life of Papaka, a single chapter in the centuries-long internecine warfare among the tribes of the Waikato Valley. While Papaka was still a child his father Tapaue was killed by his own brothers-in-law, and the wife, Te Ata-i-rehia, and her son, Papaka, were taken to live at Orua (now Wattle Bay), in the hill fort still known as Ata-i-rehia, above Turner's boardinghouse. While living there the boy was ill treated by his uncles who, after their fishing trips on the Manukau Harbour, turned their backs on him and, keeping the best fish for themselves, fed him only on the scraps. Worst of all, he had to watch them use his father's skull as a fishing talisman which they taunted with the cry “Oh, Tapaue e—e! When do we get a fish?”

    It was more than Papaka could bear and he travelled up river to his father's people who agreed to help him gain his revenge. The war party came down the Waikato and crossed by the Awaroa portage into the Manukau, at Waiuku. Papaka himself killed his uncles, answering their pleas for mercy with the words, “Your fat fish! Your faces turned away!”

    The bodies were cooked and eaten, and the entrails used to lubricate the canoe skids in an ultimate insult to the dead.

    Local traditions were not always so bloodthirsty, as witness the well-known story of Hinemoa who swam across Lake Rotorua to wed her lover, Tu-Tanekai. To the descendants of the couple, however, the story has more than romantic interest, since inter-tribal relationships and the ownership of lands depended on recognising it as history.

    The Historical Value of Maori Legends

    It is one thing to agree that Maoris themselves regarded their traditions as true records of the past, but another to decide our own attitude in this respect. There is a widespread belief that Maori legends were handed down, word for word, through the generations. But in fact this does not seem to have been the case, for there is very considerable variation in the many versions of the principal myths and traditions available for comparison. Although this is so for the prose versions of the legends, the fixed form of words and the generally archaic language of poetry encourage the hope that in the songs and chants which are associated with the legends we may find unaltered material from the past.

    Comparison within and beyond New Zealand, however, shows that with the passing of many centuries even the most carefully preserved poetry has altered, until various versions of what must once have been the same text show little resemblance one to the other. Nevertheless, we cannot discount entirely the possibility that in some cases traditional lore has been transmitted without substantial change for many generations, for in spite of many alterations of detail the plots, the principal characters, and the main incidents of the great myths of Polynesia and New Zealand approach identity. This is clear proof that the Maoris and their Polynesian kin were capable of preserving the main theme of a story for centuries.

    In the case of the traditions, which deal entirely with the period since the settlement of New Zealand, it is not possible to cross check them against Polynesian versions. Our only tests of their reliability as historical records are their internal consistency, the complex way in which they dovetail with the genealogical records, and the compatibility with the information gained from archaeology and related studies.

    It is significant that most people who have worked intensively and with due regard to these criteria on the great body of tradition available to us regard it as having a considerable amount of historical value, and when the traditional record approaches nearer to the present, the sceptics are few who would regard it as other than largely a factual record of the past.

    by Bruce Grandison Biggs, M.A.(N.Z.), PH.D.(INDIANA), Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Auckland.

    • Ko nga Mahi a nga Tupuna Maori, Grey, G. (1928)
    • Ancient History of the Maori, White, J. (6 vols. 1887–90)
    • Tuhoe, the Children of the Mist, Best, E. (1942)
    • The Coming of the Maori, Buck, P. (1958).

MAORI MYTHS AND TRADITIONS 24-Nov-09 Bruce Grandison Biggs, M.A.(N.Z.), PH.D.(INDIANA), Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Auckland.