Maori Magic I

Maori magic is rooted in the nature of island existence, surrounded by mighty oceans, skies with clear stars and beautiful sunsets.

Because of their long isolation and rich mythology, Maoris developed a strong artistic, social and economic tradition of their own, while keeping links with the cosmology of the East Polynesian world. Because New Zealand is surrounded by huge tracts of ocean and the Maoris depended so much on ‘the fruits of the ocean’ one of principal deities is Tangaroa the God of the Oceans, fish, sea fairies, mermen and maidens. He breathed only twice a day giving rise to the tides and sometimes appears as a huge fish.

The Maori gods are those of the natural world and reflect the constant fluctuations of climate and rich ecology. There are three realms to existence according to the Maori ...

The first Realm was Te Kore, the nothingness, from which came the wai ora, the waters of life. Te Kore was the life force in undeveloped form. In this realm, the primal parents, Rangi the Sky Father and Papa the Earth Mother, were locked in perpetual embrace. With the birth of their first child, Tangaroa, it is said that Papa’s body became so filled with the waters of life that they burst forth to make the oceans.

Te Po, the Night, now came into being. However, Rangi and Papi were so close to each other, that their six children were unable to move or see the light. Tane-Mahuta, God of the Forests, trees, birds and insects, became a tree and forced the sky upwards. He clothed his father with Kohu the god of Mist, Ika-Roa, the Milky Way and the shining stars. Tane-Mahuta then clad his mother with forests, ferns and plants. The sorrow of the parted Rani and Papa can still be seen the in morning mists ascending from the earth and rain descending from the sky. Tawhiri-matea, God of the Winds and Elements, was so angry at the sorrow of his parents, that the war broke out among the gods that still causes storms and tempests. As a result of the separation, the universe had two spheres: Te Rangi was the sphere of sky, heaven and day, Te Po the sphere of night, dark and the underworld.

The third realm in which humankind lives is Te Ao Marama, the world of Light, which lies between Earth and Sky. The waters of life flow into this world and are part of everything, even the rocks of the Earth, the plants and the insects.

One story of the origins of man and his mortality is that Tane asked his mother Papa to give him a mate. She offered him pine trees, exotic plants, flax and pools of water. But Tane wanted a woman. Papa told him to make a female body from the Earth and to lie on the Earth embracing it. So Tane formed a female being, Hine-ahu-one. Their daughter was given the name Hine-a-taura. Tane took her also as his wife but when Hine-a-taura discovered her origins, she fled into the darkness below where she became known as Hine-nui-te-po, Great Woman of the Night. A dying man was said to creep to sleep in the womb of the Sleeping Mother Death.

When man dies, he can enter the realm of the gods, either by the entrance under Cape Reinga in the far north to Rarohenga, the Underworld, or, if he is a high chief, he is taken by spirit canoe to the heavens where his eyes become stars.

When Maui-Tinihanga, Maui of the Many Devices, a demi-god hero, realised his own death was drawing near, he pursued Hine-nui-te-po. He knew if he could crawl through her body and come out the other end without waking her he could overcome not only his own death but undo the curse of mortality for his descendants. However, just as he was inside a fantail bird called out and woke the Goddess of Death and Decay. So men must die.

Maui is the hero credited with bringing fire to the Maoris by obtaining it from its guardian Mahuika, the ogress clan mother. He also created the land of the Maoris, fishing up Te Ika a Maui, the fish of Maui, which became the North Island of New Zealand. His canoe remains on a mountain Hikurangi on which the first Light fell when Sky and Earth were separated. The city of Wellington stands on Whanga-Nui-a-Tara, the great Bay of the Sea Goddess Tara that was formed from one of the eyes of the great fish.

Maui’s greatest achievement was when he caught the sun. He decided that the days were too short for work and the nights too long. With his brothers he went to catch the sun, Tama Nui-Te-Ra to make it travel more slowly across the sky. Maui used the strong hair of his sister, Hina-Ika, lady of the fish, to make a net to pull the sun into the world. Then he released it, letting it flew across the sky. In the West, the land of Avaiki, Maui used the net to lower the sun gently into the seas. This progress can be seen every day.

The Maoris claim their ancestry from Rangi and Papa through the lineage of the deities and hero ancestors. Those who claimed descent in a line of first-born males from an original ancestor were accorded the highest rank in Maori society. For example, a chiefly family in the Cook islands, traces 65 generations back to Atea, another name for Rangi and Papa.

The high-born Maoris inherited mana (power or prestige) from these original god ancestors. Mana links the world of man with the world of spirit and was the gods’ favour, a spiritual energy that assured the warrior safety in battle and the farmer rich crops. A woman has mana when she bears a chief many healthy sons to carry on the line and the tohunga or priest has mana when his incantations and karakia (charms) bring success to the tribe, whether ensuring safety in childbirth, rain or causing the animals and birds to be plentiful for hunting.

Mana was regulated with a system of tapu or taku. Tapu, which means sacred and therefore implied separateness from ordinary ways of living, took the place of law as well as of religion. So seriously was this taken that a tohunga or priest who had carried out a magical ceremony was so tapu he might eat only food served on the end of a stalk to avoid any physical contact with others.

Communication between the ancestors and their descendants was central to Maori existence. The ancestors guarded their descendants by intervening or even appearing personally. When any two groups met, the ancestors of both parties would be present as well as the newly-departed dead and had to be welcomed. Ancestors may offer warnings, often by causing the strange movements of ancestral treasures, such as images of the gods and symbols of the chieftainship that had been handed down through the generations and which contained the mana or power of the ancestors. The eldest born of a tribal chief, as a direct descendant of the gods, was seen as having a special relationship with the ancestors and gods and could interpret such omens and signs.

The Maori year had 13 months, fixed by one or more risings of stars. Hakari or feasts were said to have originated in offerings made to the gods at times of tribal as well as seasonal significance, such as a birth-naming ceremony, a marriage or the ritual interring of bones. They were also often dedicated to the Sun using large poles with pennants representing the rays and a fire at the centre.

The New Year Festival in June was held at the rising of constellation of the Pleiades on the east coast and at the rising of Rigel in the north. The rising and disappearance of the constellation of the Pleiades marked significant phases of the seasonal cycle. The New Year coming of the Pleiades was celebrated by festivals that marked the time of sowing. Cleaning ceremonies were also carried out, as in many other cultures, at the time of the New Year. The Hahunga or harvest festival, in the 10th month (March), acknowledged the gathering and storing of the crops.

The gods of nature and local deities, whether tribal or family gods, allowed the harvest to ripen and made land and sea fruitful, in return for correct observation of the natural rites of worship and by man’s own diligent efforts in bringing the natural processes to fruition. For example Rongo ma-Tane, god of agriculture, fruits and cultivated plants, is worshipped and his abundance considered sacred, for all foods that are grown are regarded as his children. The kumara (sweet potato), a staple Maori food, was considered so magical that if one was buried in the path of an approaching enemy, he would be driven away.

These Gods communicated pleasure or displeasure through celestial or natural phenomena. Lightning, thunder, winds and rain are all personified as children of the Sky Father and Earth Mother. Gods could also send their aria or semblance as lizards, dogs, birds, insects (particularly the green mantis), trees, rocks, rainbows, comets and stars. For this reason, the natural world formed the basis for divination and the study of omens.