A MAORI COSMOGONY. (Translation by Hare Hongi.) 1. 1 Io dwelt within 2 breathing-space of immensity. The Universe was in darkness, with water everywhere. There was no glimmer of dawn, no clearness, no light. And he began by saying these words,— That He might cease remaining inactive: “Darkness, become a light-possessing darkness.” And at once light appeared. (He) then repeated those self-same words in this manner,— That He might cease remaining inactive: “Light, become a darkness-possessing light.” And again an intense darkness supervened. Then a third time He spake saying: “Let there be one darkness above, Let there be one darkness below (alternate). Let there be a darkness unto 3 Tupua, Let there be a darkness unto 4 Tawhito; It is a darkness 5 overcome and dispelled. Let there be one light above, Let there be one light below (alternate). Let there be a light unto Tupua, Let there be a light unto Tawhito. A dominion of light, A bright light.” And now a great light prevailed. (Io) then looked to the waters which compassed him about, and spake a fourth time, saying: “Ye waters of 6 Tai-kama, be ye separate. Heaven, be formed.” Then the sky became suspended. “Bring-forth thou 7 Tupua-horo-nuku.” And at once the moving 8 earth lay stretched abroad. 2. Those words (of Io) became impressed on the minds of our - 114 ancestors, and by them were they transmitted down through the generations. Our priests joyously referred to them as being: “The ancient and original sayings. The ancient and original words. The ancient and original 9 cosmological wisdom. Which caused growth from the void, The limitless space-filling void, As witness the tidal-waters, The evolved heaven, The birth-given evolved earth.” 3. And now, my friends, there are three very important applications of those original sayings, as used in our sacred rituals. The first occurs in the ritual for implanting a child within the 10 barren womb. The next occurs in the ritual for enlightening both the mind and the body. The third and last occurs in the ritual on the solemn subjects of death, and of war, of baptism, of genealogical recitals, and such like important subjects, as the priests most particularly concerned themselves in. The words by which Io fashioned the Universe—that is to say, by which it was implanted and caused to produce a world of light—the same words are used in the ritual for implanting a child in a barren womb. The words by which Io caused light to shine in the darkness are used in the rituals for cheering a gloomy and despondent heart, the feeble aged, the decrepit; for shedding light into secret places and matters, for inspiration in song-composing, and in many other affairs, affecting man to despair in times of adverse war. For all such the ritual to enlighten and cheer, includes the words (used by Io) to over-come and dispel darkness. Thirdly, there is the preparatory ritual which treats of successive formations within the universe, and the genealogical history of man himself. [Ask not of me, thine elder brother, O friend, for a fuller recital of these and kindred matters, I know not the details. I have caught but fragments of them, this I do not conceal; neither may I (indulge your wish) by inventing that which would be false. Yet (albeit it is fragmentary) am I filled with great and mighty things. These may now, for our sojourn in this world draws to a close, be left to others. They may be placed side by side with the (European) law, to become a basis for the history following on after our own time. Thus it is that I, thine elder brother, O friend, who am filled therewith, willingly impart unto you all, these, the wisdom of mine ancestors. Neither shall I, who will shortly die, withhold aught thereof. To-morrow, it may be, I shall suddenly die, and so end. Or, what prospect of war is there? that I should withhold them (as a means of self-defence). Indeed, neither Hone Te Mahu nor Wiremu Tamihana essayed to use them against the Pakeha during the Waikato War. For instance, by using the ritual and by plucking out the heart of a Pakeha foe, and offering - 115 up the one portion to Uenuku-kai-tangata, the other portion to be eaten by the highest born females. As it happened, it was their own (Maori) hearts which were torn from them by Christian doctrine and (European) law. Why then, need I withhold these sacred rituals? I would not do so in any case; I will disclose them in their numbers and their fragments. (As to fuller text thereof) a council of Tohungas might successfully weave such together. Meanwhile, it were well to seek out a skilled Maori, well informed in the three rituals under notice, namely: that of the child-implanting, the darkness-dispelling, and the cosmology. Here endeth that.] Thus, then, were the primeval waters separated, each unto itself, as we now see their masses. Thus, also, the heaven suspended, apparently (in the first instance) but at a little distance above the moving-earth; thus too, the moving-earth lay outstretched. And now Io caused other reproductions of himself. (Ask me not, my many brethren, “Ha, whom then did Io take to wife?” Enough, it is the Maori who speaketh. The Maori who hath no committee of investigation, who, therefore, speaketh thus spasmodically. Who hath no recording ink, therefore relieth upon memory.) As witness the following recital:— “Tis lo The A-io-nuku of Motion The A-io-rangi of Space The A-io-papa of Earth The A-io-matua, the Parent The Primeval darkness The Continuous darkness The Groping darkness Sleep-impelling-Hine The great Firmament (sky-roof) The Night The Day Rangi and Papa, Space and Matter, Sky-father and Earth-mother. Who begat—No. 1. Tama-rangi-tau-ke, sons of different worlds. No. 2. Aitua, fate, destiny No. 3. Rongo and Tane No. 4. Tane-mahuta No. 5. Tawhiri-matea No. 6. Rua-ai-moko No. 7. Ngana No. 8. Haumia-tiketike No. 9. Tu-mata-uenga No. 10. Tangaroa When the heaven was poled aloft by Tane-mahuta, he took the - 116 sleep-impelling-maid to wife, and begat Makoi-rangi and Pu-whaka-rere-i-waho. As to No. 1, Tama-a-rangi-tau-ke, his offspring is primarily the spirit of man. When that spirit leaveth the body, it is known as Tama-rangi-tau-ke. The ordure and urine which issues from a dead body, are also referred to as his offspring. These are also known as the Whatu-taka-i-raro, upon which references occur in the rituals concerning the spirit of man. As to No. 2, Aitua (fate, destiny), its offspring is such as the dead body just noticed. None the less, do the genealogical records of the generations pass through such unto Tiki (the first man) and them. Man, the individual, must inevitably die, he cannot live for ever, owing to the action of Pu-whakarere-i-waho. Formerly the days were very short, darkness quickly succeeded dawn, and dawn as quickly succeeding darkness. So it continued down to the generation of Maui-tiki-tiki, when the head of the Sun was beaten, which caused the day to lengthen to what it is at present. At that time although man died he did not utterly perish. He died, as the moon dieth, to be restored to life again by the wonder-working Maui. At length, Maui himself was jammed-to-death, to the laughter of the tiny Fan-tail birds, by his ancestress the 11 Dame-of-darkness-perpetual. He being be-winked and indrawn by the capillaries of Hine-nui-te-po, as a hero died. So man, since then, dieth even unto the great night of 12 Rehua. Maui had essayed to penetrate, by way of the capillaries of Hine-nui-te-po, and to emerge through her mouth, and so subdue her. She proved too powerful, being the elder-sister of 13 Whiro-te-tupua and Tuhi-kai-tangata, sons of Rehua and Rangi-tai-apo, descendants of Pu-whakarere-i-waho. Had Maui conquered her, man would neither die as the moon dieth, nor would he utterly perish in the darkness primeval of Rehua, and the gloomy abyss of Rangi-tai-apo; man would have continued to live for ever. He would die neither as the moon or the earth; but, as Maui himself died, so dieth man. Thence it is that we now commiserate each other as to our ultimate end, it is owing to this god-man having died unavenged by the act of his junior, Pu-whakarere-i-waho. As to No. 3, 14 Rongo and Tane, the offspring are the kumara plants, and such like foods. The various creeping plants which grow, being termed Rongo-mata-aka-wau, the climbing pikiarero, the bindweed tendrils and vines, such as the Taroa, Tamau and Tahua. As to No. 4, 15 Tane-mahuta, his offspring are the trees and the birds. As to No. 5, Tawhiri-matea, his offspring are the winds and the rains. The south wind, the east wind, the north and the west. Those are the progeny of Tawhiri, who give evidence of their affection for their sky-father who was poled aloft. It is as protesting against this, - 117 that Makoirangi and others wage continual warfare, and work evil upon the peculiar children of earth. They, who engage in these evil works, are the progeny of Tawhiri, Makoirangi and Pu-whaka-rere-i-waho. They continued hostile, the seniors to the juniors, and properly so, for the forcible removal of their sky-father. But, when man uses the rituals for appeasing the anger of the winds, their wrath for the time being is allayed. As to No. 6, Rua-ai-moko, his progeny are the earthquake and volcanic discharge. This son (of the sky-father and earth-mother) is an immature son. Not being fully born, he remains invisible to mortal eye, nor has he any children. It is enough that we are sufficiently acquainted with him as being an earth-shaker. (By other recitals, earthquakes are explained as caused by his struggles to free himself from his mothers womb. It is said that he can only succeed by destroying his mother, i.e., earth.) As to No. 7, 16 Ngana, his progeny are the Sun, Moon and Stars. He is the second son of Papa and those who followed Rangi aloft. He, in common with Tama-nui-ki-te-ra (sun-god) and other juniors, sheds his beneficial influence upon earth, and dissipates the hostile energy of Tawhiri-matea (wind-god). Thence, are the warning signs (given to man) of the advent of the year (June), an admonition to the descendants of the eighth (Haumia) on earth here. As to No. 8, 17 Haumia-tiketike, his offspring is the edible fern root, of which it is said:—“The upstanding ordure of Haumia.” As to No. 9, Tu-mata-uenga, his offspring are living men, such as we ourselves (warlike). Thence are the sayings:—Narrow-visaged-Tu: Wrathful-Tu: Raging-Tu: Tu, eater of War parties: and Tu of Shaking-front. Those things which are desired by Tu (the warrior-god) are granted in the potency of the rituals unto god Io. As to No. 10, Tangaroa, his progeny are Punga and Ikatere (of the Sea). There is Tu-te-ihiihi and Tu-te-wanawana, in short, all the fish of the ocean, all reptiles of the land. As to Pu-whakarere-i-waho, his offspring is whatever is unjust, death; more particularly calamitous death, which causes extinction of mankind, foods, goods, histories, rituals, and all such like, which concerneth man. These he delighteth to destroy. His dreaded name occurs, as instigator of evil, in propitiatory rituals of the dim past. Rehua and Rangi-taiapo are descendants of Pu-whakarere-i-waho and Makoi-rangi. Thence come the Dame-of-darkness-perpetual, Whiro-te-tupua and Tuhi-kai-tangata.
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 07:11:46 +0000
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