CHAPTER XI. ON THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE MAORIS.
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CHAPTER XI.
ON THE MYTHOLOGY OF THE MAORIS.
THE mythology of the Maoris embraces a larger area than New Zealand. All the peoples of the South Sea Islands call their principal god Tangaroa, with the exception of those of the New Hebrides and a few other groups. The meaning of this name is uncertain. It may come from Ngaro (concealed). In New Zealand he is god of the sea. He is said to appear when the rays of the sun play on the breaking waves and paint rainbows in them. He was married to the earth goddess, who had the name Papatuanuku (papa means flat; tua, above; nuku, wide landscape), but the meaning is uncertain. Once in Tangaroa's absence his nephew Rangi (heaven), the god of heaven, seduced his wife, the goddess of earth. When Tangaroa came back, Rangi was obliged to fight a duel for this injury done to him. Each was armed with a spear. The nephew Rangi threw his spear first, but the uncle eluded it and struck the nephew through both thighs and lamed him. Tangaroa was satisfied, and handed over his wife to his nephew, so that now the god of heaven (Rangi) and the goddess of earth were looked upon as being married.
It is quite apparent that there is a deep meaning in this myth, which, however, had long vanished from the Maori "wise people." It may mean the creation of the sea, and the springing up of the dry land, as in Genesis i., 9, 10, from which time the earth was watered from the heaven above. The resemblance truly does not seem very clear, but in the following more comes out that makes it clearer.
As Rangi, the heaven, was lamed, he could no longer stand upright, and was, therefore, obliged to lie flat on the ground. Now everything was dark and still; no light could shine, no air blow. "Darkness moved over the face of the waters." Still in this way heaven and earth produced many children. Most of them, however, were cripples and of monstrous shapes. Some had, however, healthy limbs, and were of a superior kind. Amongst these the
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most noteworthy are Tane (interpreted man, later god of the woods); Paiao, god of the clouds; Tawhirimatea, god of the winds. In time the children got tired of the darkness and of the immovableness of things. They called a meeting, therefore, to consider what was to be done to get light and freedom. Some suggested they should kill their father (heaven), and content themselves with their mother (earth). Others advised that the father should be let live, but that he should be set upright and fastened up. This advice was taken. Only one of the children objected (the god of the winds); he was conservative and opposed to all change. He advised they should let the old one and other matters alone, but he was out-voted. After the resolution was come to, they went to work to lift the heaven and divide it from the earth, at which the old one bitterly complained that he was being badly treated by his children.
Tane and Paiao (cloud) were the most active in lifting their father up, and Tane fastened him so that he was obliged to keep the heavens standing. "And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so." (Gen. i., 7.)
It may appear strange that so changeable a god as that of the winds should have shown himself to be so conservative at the consultation. This is to be explained in this manner: Tawhirimatea in the beginning was a quiet youth, but when he was over-ridden by his brothers, and his parents were torn asunder against his will, he became restless. He swung himself up to heaven and spoke with his father about his children's injustice to him. He came back in a contentious mood and began at once to war against his brethren on all sides. He hunted Paiao's clouds about, stirred up Tangaroa's sea for him, and broke the branches of his trees in the woods.
When the heavens were fastened up, and the bearers of it had come down, Tane looked up to his father, but the old man looked black and sorrowful. Then Tane made bright ornaments, climbed up to heaven again, and covered it with a glancing colour. When he came down again and looked at what he had done he thought his
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appearance was too uniform. He then climbed up again supplied with other ornaments. He took the fish up to heaven (the milky way), painted the two Patari (two bright stars in the southern sky in the neighbourhood of the pole), put the stars in their places so that they might serve to show the time of the year. "And let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." (Gen. i., 14.) Then he came down and looked at what he had done, and behold, kua pai (it was good).
Now, Tane looked at his mother, who had no ornaments so far. He lifted her crippled children, and planted them as plants and trees. The latter he set first of all with their legs (branches) on the ground and the heads (the stumps, with roots as hair) in the air. Then he went to one side and looked at what he had done, and it did not please him: the trees and plants had not an agreeable appearance. Accordingly, he took them up again and turned them upside down, with their legs (the branches) in the air and their heads in the ground. Then he stepped on one side again and looked at what he had done, and said, kua pai (it is good).
Although Rangi (the God of Heaven) and Papatuanuku were separated, their mutual love still continued. He wept tears of love on to her in the shape of dew drops, and sighs of love rose from her bosom up to him in the mists of the woody mountains.
It is remarkable that the sun and moon have no representatives among the gods. The names Ra (sun) and Rangi (moon) may have some connection with one another. The moon is called simply Te Marama (light). In the old mythology the representations are always spiritual and sublime; for that reason, there are no idols and no prayers to creatures. Why this is, whilst the other South Sea Island peoples have so many gods (to which peoples the Maoris belong), may be here explained.
It is true Tangaroa was considered the original father of gods, but by reason of the prominent part Tane took in the development of creation and in the institution and final destiny of mankind, he was thought less of, and at last his dominion was diminished to that of the sea alone. Tane, amongst all the South Sea peoples, and especially in New Zealand, is considered the
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next in place to Tangaroa: his destiny to be god of the woods appears to have developed later. I have been astonished that Meinecke in his "South Sea People and Christianity" could not find him in the New Zealand mythology, although he sought for him there. The information which was available for him must, therefore, in this respect, have been very superficial. If you compare the history of Tane, as follows, with the first three chapters of Genesis, you will sometimes take him to be Elohim (God), and at others man (Adam). His name, Tane (man), is then seen to be of importance.
After Tane had ornamented his father and mother (heaven and earth), he wandered alone through the woods, and sought amongst the birds and the fountains a helpmeet for himself, but found none. "But for Adam there was not found a helpmeet for him."
Then he turned to his mother, the goddess of earth, and she advised him to make the form of a wife out of earth, and to breathe life into it, which he did. The woman thus formed he called Hinehaone (in the present language Hine is the name of a virgin; ha, breath; one, loose earth). This figure does not appear to have had much life in it. Yet Tane and she produced a daughter named Hineatauria (ata, morning; uria, fiery glance: therefore, morning glow). The name Hine adhered to women who had many names in their childhood, and the name sometimes adhered afterwards. The mother, Hinehaone, then disappears out of the narrative. When the daughter, Hineatauria, grew up, Tane took her for his wife, but she did not know that he was her father. She had many children, whose names appear to mean frailty and mortality, and these are considered the first of the human race, as Tane and Hineatauria are considered the first parents of the race.
Once Tane made a journey to the upper heaven, inhabited as it was with different beings, and visited his older brother Rehua. Who this Rehua was, or what he represents, I have not been able to discover. The origin of the idea had long vanished from the Maori "wise people." Only this was known, that he lived up in the tenth heaven. He is not named amongst the children of heaven
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and earth, and can, therefore, not have been a brother, properly speaking. He was called Tane's tuakane. This word means an elder brother, or else a descendant of an older family line. If the Maoris have brought the original ideas of their old religion from Western Asia, which appears probable, the angels as a class must be here meant by tuakane, as older brothers of mankind. When Tane arrived at the first heaven, entrance was refused to him by the inhabitants, who did not know him, the meaning evidently being that Tane had set the bounds of this heaven, which the inhabitants of the lower regions were not allowed to pass. But, conscious of his strength, he swung himself aloft, and had to encounter the same interdict at the second heaven. Thus it went on until the tenth heaven, when he met Rehua. The brothers recognised one another with tears of welcome in verses of great poetic beauty. The actions and conversation which followed appear to mean that Tane, although he did not undervalue his own worth, recognised the superior holiness of his brother. As it goes on the folk-lore becomes confused, perhaps because we have only fragments, and can no longer get at the original ideas. What was going on in the earth in the meantime is of considerable importance. During Tane's absence Hineatauria asked her mother-in-law, "Why is my husband absent so long?" "What," replied she, "your husband? He is your father." And then she told her the story of her birth. She took this so much to heart that, overcome by shame and penitence, she took a solemn departure from her mother-in-law with a prayer that she should tell Tane to undertake the education of her children, and then went into the under world, Po, or night. Thus death came into the world by the shame and penitence of the mother of mankind. When Tane came back to earth he asked his mother, "Where is my wife?" "You no longer have a wife," said his mother; "she is gone into the world of night, and has commended the education of her children to your care." Then Tane went into the underworld himself, if possible, to bring his wife back. For a long while he wandered around alone in the land of the shades till at last he found a house. He spoke up towards the front pillars of the house. No answer. When leaving the house, sad and downcast,
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he heard a voice saving in the inside, "Where are you going to, Tane?" "I follow our sister," replied he. A peculiar expression, the word "our" includes the person addressed. Then said the voice:
"Go back, Tane, to the world of light
To educate our fruit;
Leave me here in the world of night
To sorrow for our guilt."
Since then, the mother of mankind is also goddess of death, and has now the name of Hinenuiotepo (hine, virgin--here goddess--nui, adjective great; o, genetive; te, article; po, night or kingdom of death), the great goddess of death; she now lives in the kingdom of death, and draws her children, mankind, after her.
In this mythology of the Maoris, I have only mentioned a resemblance to, not an exact coincidence, with the Mosaic record. This resemblance may be accidental, but it may arise from Western Asiatic sources, where something similar is still to be found in old inscriptions. You find there also, as well as in the folk-lore of many other people, reports of and allusions to the flood. To this I have not been able amongst the Maoris to find any satisfactory allusion. Perhaps a great darkness is confused with a great flood, a substitution which may well have occurred amongst a bold seafaring people in the course of time, as a great darkness would be much more terrible to them than a great flood. There is such a report, which is considered to belong to a very ancient time, and has no connection with any other folk-lore. Without any indication it begins and ends as suddenly, and all its deep meaning has been forgotten, so that I took it for an incomprehensible fragment of some old poem. The names that occur in it have various meanings, so that I can derive no indication from them. I, therefore, for the most part omit them.
Tutakahinahina was a man who could walk on water. Before he died, he ordered a supply of firewood and provisions for his house. Then he died, and was buried in the house by the wall, with his face turned down and his back up. The grave was surrounded with a fence. The sun was now held back (here the
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names of many beings are given who held the sun back), and the world was shut up in darkness. The darkness was so great that nothing could be seen except by the light of the fire. Tutakahinahina's family could live because it was supplied with the necessary firewood and provisions. The rest of mankind used what they had and could get at, and then had to perish in the darkness. When in Tutakahinahina's house the firewood was used up, they were obliged to use the fence of the graveyard. Then his son Teroiroiwhenua heard his father speaking in the grave. "This is where I am buried--look where there is a mound." While he listened, he heard the gnawing of the maggots in the grave. Then he saw two maggots creep out of the grave, a male and a female. He seized the male one--(he let the female one go)--and roasted it in an oven, heated with holy fire, especially kindled, by rubbing, for the purpose. Then came Tametea (since Tawhirimatea, god of the winds) and moved the oven. A shimmer of the returning light came at once. First the birds began to sing, then the men to rejoice.
The old mythology of the Maori, although it is a heathen one, is sublime, and points to a higher degree of culture than that in which the Maoris in New Zealand then were, and as long as they lived and moved in the midst of these sublime conceptions, in a measure, they could thrive as heathen. It is in no way maintained, even from a worldly point of view--Christianity has a far higher aim,--that a heathenish religion, even one of the best, is sufficient for certain people. A heathenish religion has never, and never can, elevate a people so that it can compare with enlightened Christian nations in progress of useful and higher knowledge and science.
Inflexible heathen opinions, like cherubim with blazing swords, always barred the way to Paradise, and obstructed the path to the Tree of Life. Where such hindrances arise in Christendom, it is not from the teaching of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and His Apostles, but from a misunderstood Christianity that must become converted and illuminated by the Holy Spirit. The mythology of the heathen has arisen from poetic inspiration. It is, therefore, sublime; and as long as a people thoroughly live in it, it may well
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impart a spiritual impulse. The external life, however, always lingers far behind the poetic aspiration. If we regard the old mythology of a people from our own standpoint, and admire the sublimity of the gods and heroes, we may easily overlook the inward corruption that is mixed up with it, and consider too little the cruelty, the vices, as well as the outward and inward uncleanness of the mass of the people. A heathen religion, even when it teaches the loftiest virtue, always lacks strength to turn people to what is good in practical life. There is no purity of heart, no intelligent probity, no heartfelt pity, for one's fellow creatures, and, above all, no peace in life, no comfort in death in the natural man. If such moral failings are also to be found in Christendom--but far from such depravity as is found among the heathen,--it arises from the fact that by so many Christianity is only adopted externally, just as a heathen religion is adopted by the heathen; and it would always become worse: many of the adopted noble sentiments and manners would disappear, vice would become bolder, manners would become cruel and heathenish, if God did not take care to keep a salt of the earth alive amongst the so-called mystics and pietists. By them the inward and outward essentials of Christianity, the consciousness of dependence on God, our Saviour Jesus Christ, the father of peace and goodwill towards all men, is maintained in the mass of Christendom.
Reasonable men, who dislike pietists because they (reasonable men) have allowed themselves to be led astray by small-minded and ignorant slanderers, will find that this is true, if they will examine the matter without a foregone conclusion and in an intelligent way. By that salt of the earth inside Christendom, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is sent to the far-off heathen. "That they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God; that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified." By its means raw savages are made into respectable men, so that they are prepared for useful and beautiful progress and friendly relations with the enlightened peoples of older Christendom. Thus, in accordance with the counsels of God, a new-born manhood is developed from a lost one. Far-away heathens, through it, become "fellow-citizens with the saints and
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of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth into a holy temple of the Lord."
"The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation." One shall not say see here or see there, in this or that Church community, for "Behold the Kingdom of God is within you." It is in the superficial Christian and in the better heathen. It is the inward yearning after a higher life, the respect for goodness, uprightness and truth. But it is overgrown with worldliness, disputes, folly, and sin, and a want of acquaintance with the inner Christian life and its working in practical life. A garden overgrown with weeds may bloom in a luxurious green, amongst which here and there a few leaves of good plants may be prominent, but it is not a sight which pleases the eye of a practical man. If the weeds are rooted up and taken away, the good plants at first stand up, but in a weak manner. He who has once experienced a thorough cleansing of the heart through Jesus Christ will understand how miserable his own goodness was. In a few days the light of the sun gives them a healthy green and a proper growth. Christianity must be inwardly accepted, and the heart will, unhindered, enter into a junction with Jesus Christ, and will daily enjoy his mercy as a plant does the light of the sun. It cleanses us from all wickedness, and renews in us the image of God. It then works from inward outward into practical life, first in the hearts of pious people, and from them, the salt of the earth, into the mass of the people. The Kingdom of God is then inwardly in the hearts of pious people, and, through them, in the nation--as Christ, as the Kingdom of God, was amongst the Pharisees and Jews. Let us, therefore, "put on, as the elect of God, holy and well-beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another."
