Te Koparapara: An Introduction to the Maori World - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1869408675 ISBN 13: 9781869408671

Publisher: Auckland University Press, 2018

Synopsis

An accessible introduction to Māori culture, history, and society from an indigenous perspective.

Te Kōparapara allows the Māori world to speak for itself through 21 illustrated chapters by leading scholars. Explore Māori culture, including tikanga, pōwhiri, and tangihanga; Māori history, from waka migration to protest and urbanization; and contemporary Māori society, including education, health, political economy, and identity.

• Discover Māori tikanga on and off the marae
• Understand key rituals like pōwhiri and tangihanga
• Trace Māori history from creation to today

With images, maps, diagrams, songs, and sayings, this is an essential resource for anyone seeking a deeper insight into the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. For professional and scholarly audiences.

About this title

About the Author

Lyn Carter is a senior lecturer at Te Tumu: School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies at the University of Otago. Suzanne Duncan is a researcher from Te Rarawa and Te Aupouri. She was a lecturer in Te Tumu before moving to Te Hiku. Lachy Paterson is an associate professor in Te Tumu with research interests in Maori-language print culture and history. Matiu Tai Ratima is the Maori Dean at King’s High School in Dunedin. He is a te reo Maori teacher and a Fulbright fellow, and his research focuses on the teaching and learning of indigenous languages with second language learners. Michael Reilly is a professor in Te Tumu whose scholarly focus is on traditional histories in Aotearoa and Mangaia in the Cook Islands. Poia Rewi is a professor in Te Tumu who is committed to Maori language revitalization.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Te Koparapara

An Introduction to the Maori World

By Michael Reilly, Suzanne Duncan, Gianna Leoni, Lachy Paterson, Lyn Carter, Matiu Ratima, Poia Rewi

Auckland University Press

Copyright © 2018 Michael Reilly, Suzanne Duncan, Gianna Leoni, Lachy Paterson, Lyn Carter, Matiu Ratima and Poia Rewi
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-86940-867-1

Contents

E Tiu, Whakamihia: Acknowledgements, 
E Tiu, Wahia: An Introductory Note Michael Reilly, 
Part One: He Tumu: Foundations, 
Introduction to Part One Michael Reilly, 
1 Te Timatanga mai o te Ao: The Beginning of the World Michael Reilly, 
2 Tikanga: How Not to Get Told Off! Suzanne Duncan and Poia Rewi, 
3 Whakapaparanga: Social Structure, Leadership and Whangai Merata Kawharu and Erica Newman, 
4 Nga Hekenga Waka: Migration and Early Settlement Richard Walter and Michael Reilly, 
5 Kaitiakitanga: Land, People and Resource Management Merata Kawharu, 
6 Marae Paul Tapsell, 
7 Ritual Today: Powhiri Suzanne Duncan and Poia Rewi, 
8 Takiaue (Tangihanga): Death and Mourning Megan Potiki, 
Part Two: Tahuhu Korero: Histories, 
Introduction to Part Two Lachy Paterson, 
9 Te Tutakitanga o nga Tangata: The Meeting of Peoples Michael Reilly and Erik Olssen, 
10 He Whakaputanga me te Tiriti: The Declaration and the Treaty Janine Hayward, 
11 Piki, Heke: Opportunity and Disappointment, 1840–1863 Lachy Paterson, 
12 He Morearea, he Kairiritanga, he Whakatikatanga: Crisis and Conflict, Resistance and Readjustment, 1863–1881 Michael Belgrave, 
13 He Takaoraora, he Whakameto: Struggle and Advancing in a Stealthy Manner, 1881–1918 Tom Brooking, 
14 Torangapu Ohaoha: Maori and the Political Economy, 1918–1945 Richard S. Hill, 
15 Te Hunuku: Maori Urban Migration Karyn Paringatai, 
Part Three: Takiri te Ata: Futures, 
Introduction to Part Three Suzanne Duncan, 
16 Te Tiriti me Ona Whakatau: The Waitangi Tribunal and Treaty Settlements Jacinta Ruru, 
17 Nga Hurihanga o te Reo Maori i te Matauranga: Changes in Maori Language Education Tangiwai Rewi and Matiu Ratima, 
18 Hauora Maori – He Timatanga: Maori Health – An Introduction Anne-Marie Jackson, Joanne Baxter and Hauiti Hakopa, 
19 Whakahiatotanga me te Matauranga Maori: Maori and Indigenous Knowledge in Development Contexts Lyn Carter, 
20 Hangarau me te Maori: Maori and Technology Te Taka Keegan and Acushla Sciascia, 
21 He Tatai Tuakiri: The 'Imagined' Criteria of Maori Identity Gianna Leoni, Marcelle Wharerau and Tawini White, 
Glossary, 
Notes, 
Bibliography, 
Information on Contributors, 
List of Illustrations, 
Index, 

CHAPTER 1

Te Timatanga mai o te Ao: The Beginning of the World

Michael Reilly

Introduction

How did the world begin? Who are we? Where did we come from? Why do we live the way we do? What are the origins of our beliefs and values? Every human society and culture requires satisfactory answers to these existential questions. Maori tohunga responded with a series of creation traditions that established the foundational cultural themes and practices that gave meaning to the day-to-day lives of the ancestors, and continue to do so for their descendants.

This chapter selects three key clusters of creation texts that describe important moments in the Maori genesis, and explores some of the key themes and ideas these works conveyed to subsequent generations. The first group of traditions concerns Io, who initiated the creative process according to certain Maori iwi. The second group, arguably the best known of the three, describes the creation of the world as a consequence of the separation of Rangi-nui (Rangi) and Papa-tu-anuku (Papa). The final group relates to the creation of the first human beings by the atua (ancestor of ongoing influence, spirit being, creative power). Following the retelling of these traditions, the chapter discusses some of the important ideas these traditions convey to subsequent generations.

Io

Io, as a high or supreme atua, is controversial. Many scholars consider Io a later tribal tradition developed by tohunga after they became familiar with Christianity, arguing that such a tradition is inauthentic as it was intentionally created in response to foreign ideas. However, others argue that traditions adapt to changes in the surrounding society and culture and that Io was a modification of existing indigenous beliefs by certain tohunga who wanted to provide a counterweight to Christianity's inroads. In order to strengthen their interpretations, these tohunga intentionally focused on those traditional elements that had the most similarity to Christian ideas. In contrast, other equally respected authorities believe that Io has long been part of tribal traditions for Ngapuhi and Ngati Kahungunu, amongst others. They particularly point to the appearance of Io in karakia texts as indicating this atua's antiquity. Karakia are formulaic chants accompanying ritual acts addressed to the atua that use archaic language appropriate to works inherited from the ancestors (see also Chapter 2).

This controversy prompts a few additional observations. Firstly, it is worth remembering that Christianity was incorporated by Maori into their existing beliefs system, creating 'a distinctively Maori brand of Christianity', which for many included the recognition of other atua. Secondly, the key question in respect of Io (or any other tradition or traditional character or facet) is whether it is accepted by particular Maori communities and taught by tohunga, either in the past or today. If so, then it is authentic. Thirdly, traditions differ between iwi, hapu and even individual tohunga, just as people speak distinctive dialects of the Maori language. Each tradition is valid for its community: none is truer or possesses more authority than another. The following section sets out the traditions concerning Io according to those tohunga and scholars who accept that atua's place as a significant creative power.

In Ngapuhi traditions Io is known by a series of epithets or extensions to his base name, which reveal this atua's priority and importance in relation to other spirit beings (see Figure 1.1). According to the Ngapuhi tohunga, Maori Marsden, Io existed eternally in Te Korekore, 'the realm of potential being'. There Io encompassed all states of being: passive, negative, positive and active. Out of a conjunction of all these elements, Io initiated creation through a process of genealogical recitation or naming (see Figure 1.2).

At the head of this coming-into-being of the cosmos stood Io. This generation process moved on to a series of principal epochs, including Te Korekore (The Void), Te Kowhao (The Abyss) and Te Po (Night). Each of these domains generated further sequences (see Figure 1.2). Together these realms formed 'the seed-bed of Creation' or 'the essential foundations of the universe'. Then Io caused the state of being to come into existence, first as a seed in Te Kore and Te Kowhao, and then as a steadily growing plant, which expanded and developed in what Michael Shirres describes as 'an insensate movement towards being and self-realization'. This growth was driven by the mauri which Io had placed in the first seed, and led through a series of organic stages from Te Pu (The Taproot) down to Te Aka (The Vine), which in turn generated an active growing process starting at Te Rapunga (The Seeking) and ending with Te Hihiri (Elemental and Pure Energy).

From this state of pure energy, Io initiated further growth, initially at Te Mahara (The Subconscious), then through states of consciousness and knowledge to Te Whe (Seed Word). Io then breathed Te Hauora (The Breath of Life) into the creation process, producing more definite structures formingthe 'material natural world of sense perception'. This permitted the emergence of sky and earth, and eventually, Te Ao Wairua (the Spirit World).

Io subsequently delegated creation to other spirit beings, notably Rangi and his first-born, Tane. However, Io continued to intervene, through spirit messengers, in order to ensure that the momentum of development continued. When Rangi passively clung to Papa, Io implanted rebelliousness amongst the offspring of Rangi and Papa in order to bestir them to seek light, Te Ao Marama ('the realm of being'). Io summoned Tane and instructed him to complete the heavens and to assign various tasks and responsibilities to his younger siblings.

The nineteenth-century Ngati Kahungunu tohunga, Nepia Pohuhu, Paratene Te Okawhare and Moihi Te Matorohanga, dictated their teachings on different occasions to H. T. Whatahoro between about 1863 and 1880. They knew Io by various epithets, although some differed from Ngapuhi's (seeFigure 1.3). Although these tohunga did not describe the initial creation in any detail, Agathe Thornton suggests it may have begun through a union of Io-matua-te-kore and Papa-tu-a-nuku-matua-te-kore located, as their names indicate, in Te Kore (a state corresponding to Te Korekore). From Te Kore, Io initiated a genealogical coming-into-being through a series of Po, then a process of organic growth that led to daylight and, ultimately, the union of Rangi and Papa. Thornton interpreted Io as 'the ultimate source of the whole universe' from which all things came into existence.

Rangi and Papa's son, Tane, became responsible for continuing the development of the world. First, he and other offspring decided to separate their parents. This required Tu-mata-uenga to kill a kinsman, Kaupeka, in order to construct two adzes from which to fashion four toko (poles). These were used to push the parents apart. When they kept holding each other, Tane told Tu-mata-uenga and others to cut through their arms. Then two of the toko bent so Tane instructed his brother, Paia, to recite a separation karakia to push Rangi higher up into the sky.

After the separation the land was unpleasant to live in. Io's spirit helpers visited and performed purification and naming rituals over Tane, who became known as Tane-nui-a-rangi. The spirit helpers informed Io about the state of the world. Io ordered some of Rangi and Papa's children to climb to the heavens. There was conflict over the selection. The elder brother, Whiro, was angry at Tane's plan to go and arranged to have him killed during the ascent, but this failed. Whiro's ascent was unsuccessful. Tane reached the highest heaven, Toi-o-nga-rangi, with the assistance of Tawhiri-matea's wind-children. After undergoing appropriate purification rites, Tane was given epithets indicating his greater mana, many resembling Io's (see Figure 1.4). Tane received three baskets of knowledge (Te Kete uruuru-matua, -tipua, -tahito) and two sacred stones (Whatu-kurarehu-tai, Whatu-kura-huka-a-tai) from Io-te-wai-ora. He returned to the land of Papa-tu-a-nuku, where the baskets and stones were deposited in Whare-kura.

Rangi and Papa

Iwi and tohunga who did not accept Io as the foundational atua focus instead on Rangi and Papa. Two tribal traditions about them were written in 1849, the first by Te Rangikaheke of Te Arawa in the Rotorua region of Te Ika-a-Maui, and the second by Matiaha Tiramorehu of Ngai Tahu in Te Waipounamu.

Te Rangikaheke's Tradition

According to Te Rangikaheke, the world was in darkness. In this unending night Rangi and Papa clung to each other so that their children and all the other people lived in darkness. The children wanted night and day, so they debated for a long time searching for the right process (tikanga) to follow: whether to kill or to separate their parents. One child, Tu-mata-uenga, wanted to kill them, but Tane-mahuta, his brother, sought only to separate them, so that one would be beneath them as a parent and the other above them as a stranger. They all agreed to the separation except for one who opposed it out of his great love ('tino aroha') for his parents.

Each of Tane's brothers tried to separate their parents but failed until, finally, Tane successfully pushed them apart. The parents' response to this act is graphically retold: 'aue noa ana, "Hei aha i kohurutia ai, mo te aha tenei hara i patua ai maua, i wehea ai?" Hei aha ma Tane-mahuta?' ('loudly lamenting, "What is this grievous ill-treatment, for what reason (do you commit) this crime that harms and separates us?" What is there to gain for Tane-mahuta?').

The brother who disagreed with this decision, Tawhiri-matea, along with his father, Rangi, decided to make war against the others by generating winds and clouds. Tawhiri first attacked Tane and destroyed his forests. Next, Tawhiri assailed Tangaroa, his offspring, Punga, and Tangaroa's grandsons, Ikatere, 'father of fish', and his brother, Tu-te-wehiwehi, 'father of reptiles', who was also called Tute-wanawana. The grandsons debated whether to go inland or to sea and the family split into two hapu. That of Punga and Ika went to the sea, while Tu-te-wanawana's went inland, with each warning the other of their likely fates: that they would become cooked food. Papa-tu-anuku took and concealed two of her sons, Rongo-ma-tane and Haumia-tiketike, in the earth.

Tawhiri attacked Tu-mata-uenga. Tu was the only one of the brothers who stood and fought Tawhiri and Rangi until they were calmed. Tu-mata-uenga decided to fight his brothers for failing to assist him. Tu-mata-uenga first attacked Tane, fearing that the latter's numerous progeny might cause him harm; he fashioned traps and snared them. Next, he found Tangaroa's descendants, made nets from flax and caught them. Then he saw the hair of Rongo and Haumia above the earth in which they were hidden, and dug them up, letting them dry in the sun.

At this point in some of his narratives, Te Rangikaheke explains that Tane-mahuta was the trees and birds; Tangaroa, the fish; Rongo-ma-tane, the kumara (sweet potato); Haumia-tiketike, the aruhe, or fernroot; Tawhiri, the wind; and Tu-mata-uenga, the people. Te Rangikaheke adds that Tu-mata-uenga ate his tuakana (elder brothers) as 'utu' (compensation) for letting him fight Tawhiri alone. They became his teina (younger brothers) and fell under his authority (whakanoatia). Only Tu's adversary, Tawhiri, was beyond the former's power (tapu). He remained an opponent ('hoa whawhai'), his anger equal to that of Tu, his teina. Tu-mata-uenga's authority over his fallen tuakana was further marked by his adopting a series of names (see Figure 1.5). He also acquired authority over his kin by using karakia. There were distinct karakia for each of his defeated tuakana, as well as ones for Tawhiri and Papa-tu-a-nuku.

Te Rangikaheke's narratives conclude by describing how the light greatly increased after the separation, as did the numbers of people who had been hidden until then, including Tu-mata-uenga and his brothers (see Figure 1.6). Some of Te Rangikaheke's accounts provide lists of ancestors descended from Tu who began to settle the world, down to important semi-divine ancestors such as Tawhaki and Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga (also known as Maui-tikitiki-o-Taranga), and to ancestors associated with Hawaiki and Aotearoa, such as Uenuku and Toi-te-huatahi. Some of Te Rangikaheke's versions note that during the attack of Tawhiri against his brothers large parts of their mother's land disappeared into the sea. The increasing numbers of Tu-matauenga's descendants (down to the Maui brothers) had to subsist on the remaining dry surface of the land.

Matiaha Tiramorehu's Tradition

Tiramorehu's text opens dramatically with the 'Atua' singing creation into being in Te Po. The world is conceived of as a genealogy, passing through stages of light and void, with some terms resembling the Ngapuhi Io tradition (see Figure 1.7).

Te Maku lived with Mahora-nui-atea and they produced Raki (Rangi in northern dialects). According to Tiramorehu, Raki had a series of families. He first lived with Pokoharu-a-te-po, and they had numerous progeny including Te Ha-nui-o-raki, Taputapu-atea and Mahere-tu-ki-te-raki. Raki then married Papa-tu-a-nuku, and they had their first son, Rehua, and daughter, Hakina, as well as other spirit beings, who continue to dwell in the heavens. This union produced many other offspring including Tane, Paia, Tu and Roko, down to Uenuku, Ruatapu and, finally, Paikea, from whom, Tiramorehu believed, humanity was descended. Raki had a series of other wives, including Hekeheke-i-papa, some of whose offspring remained in the heavens, Hotupapa, Maukuuku and Tauhare-kiokio.

Papa-tu-a-nuku had originally been married to Takaroa (or Tangaroa in northern dialects). Papa had gone to live with Raki when her first husband went away with the popoki (placenta) of their child. By the time he returned, Papa-tu-a-nuku and Raki had produced a number of children, notably Rehua and Tane. The two men went and fought on the beach; Takaroa wounded Raki by piercing him through the buttocks with a spear. While Raki survived, his subsequent children were sickly and weak.

Raki, who was still clinging on top of Papa-tu-a-nuku, now told Tane and his taina (younger brothers) to kill him so that people might live. When Tane enquired as to how they would do this, Raki informed them that they must separate him from Papa-tu-a-nuku so that the light might grow for the children. When Tane suggested that his elder brother, Rehua, should undertake the deed, Raki insisted that it had to be done by all the brothers. Tane then accepted the plan to kill his father 'kia tipu ai te ao hei ao' ('so that the world can develop to be the world').

Tane gave instructions to other of Raki's offspring to stamp down on Papa and prop Raki above. According to Tiramorehu, this was the beginning of the construction of Raki by Tane. Rehua, Tane and their younger brothers helped lift up their father, while Paia prayed to give them strength.

As the children separated the parents they bid each other farewell, and Paia continued praying as Tane used props to prise his parents apart. At the end, everyone gave a great shout.

Tane, whose name significantly means man or husband, was responsible for completing the construction of the world. He searched high and low for appropriate things with which to decorate the naked Raki. He coupled with various female beings but nothing they brought forth was entirely satisfactory. Tane coupled with Te Puta-rakau and produced Hine-titama and Hine-a-tauira. He then coupled with Hine-a-tauira and they produced offspring. Tane returned from visiting his brother, Rehua, in the heavens with trees to plant, so that the birds that came down from the sky might have something to eat on earth. While Tane was away, people had told Hine who her father was. Overcome with shame ('mate i te whakama') she ran off to Te Po. Tane pursued her but she told him to return to the world ('te ao') to raise their progeny. They each sang love songs as they parted: 'He tamaiti ranei koe ... I wehe ai a rohi' ('Whether you are a child ... we are divided, weeping'); 'he matua nohoku ... I waiho e koe ... ka nunumi au' ('a parent of mine ... I was left by you ... I departed'). On his way back Tane got hold of the stars in Te Po and covered Raki with them.

The Creation of Humanity

Having created the natural world, the atua turned to considering ways to populate it. Various tohunga related stories about the making of the first human beings. These stories are sexually frank, reflecting the social and cultural worldview of those who made and told them, especially the world of pre-Christian Maori. The following is Tiramorehu's version (Figure 1.9).

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Te Koparapara by Michael Reilly, Suzanne Duncan, Gianna Leoni, Lachy Paterson, Lyn Carter, Matiu Ratima, Poia Rewi. Copyright © 2018 Michael Reilly, Suzanne Duncan, Gianna Leoni, Lachy Paterson, Lyn Carter, Matiu Ratima and Poia Rewi. Excerpted by permission of Auckland University Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

Edition details

• Publisher: Auckland University Press
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1869408675
• ISBN 13: 9781869408671
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 474
• Editor: Carter Lyn, Duncan Suzanne, Leoni Gianna, Paterson Lachy, Ratima Matiu Tai, Reilly Michael, Rewi Poia