Wednesday, 16. May 2007, 02:12:50
Mythology
The mythological origins of Maori society are laid out in three major myth cycles,
beginning with the creation myth of Ranginui, the sky father, and Papatunuku, the earth mother. The second sequence of myths deals with the adventures of the demi-god Maui,
who fished up the land and brought many benefits into the world for humankind. The third
series of myths deals with the life of Tawhaki, the model of an aristocratic and hreoic
figure. The stories of mythology are set in the remote past of the fabled Hawaiki
homeland somewhere in the trackless wastes of the vast Pacific Ocean. The central characters in the myths are gods, their progeny and their human descendants. The stories
are narrated in prose form, with the notion of an evolutionary sequence conveyed by the
storyteller linking the main characters through the traditional method of genealogical
recital. Inherent in the genealogy of the earth and sky, the gods and their human descendants is the notion of evolution and progression.
The Maori divided the phenomenological world into three states of existence which were designated Te Kore {the void}, Te Po {the dark}, and Te Aomarama {the world of light}. Although Te Kore signified space, it contained in its vastness the seeds of the universe and was therefore a state of potential. Te Po was the celestial realm and the
domain of the gods. This was the source of all mana and tapu. Te Aomarama is the world
of light and reality, the dwelling place of humans.
Ranginui and Papatuanuku
The creation myth starts with the sequential recital of the various names for the first state of existence. In the beginning,there was only Te Kore, the great void and emptiness of space. The different qualities of Te Kore were described by a series of adjectives. Thus, Te Kore became Te Kore te whiwhia {the world in which nothing could be obtained}, Te Kore te rawea {the void in which nothing can be felt}, Te Kore i ai {the void with nothing in union} and Te Kore te wiwia {the space without boundaries}. The number of descriptive names for Te Kore varied from tribe to tribe. Whatever the number and gradations of Kore, they signified the aeons of time during which the primeval matter of the universe came together and generated earth and sky.
Te Po, the second state of existence, also had qualifying adjectives and gradations.Beginning with Te Po, the recital proceeded to Te Po nui {the great night}, Te Po roa {the long night}, Te Po te kitea {the night in which nothing could be seen}, to Te Po uriuri {the dark night}, Te Po kerekere {the intense night} and Te Po tangotango {the intensely dark night}, to the tenth, the hundredth and the thousandth night. As in Te Kore, these periods of Te Po correspond to aeons of time when the earth came into being. Te Kore and Te Po also signify the emptiness and the darkness of the mind. Because there was no light, there was no knowledge. The reason for this state of affairs was the self-generation during Te Kore of the primeval pair Ranganui and Papatuanuku. They were the first cause preventing light from entering the world because of their close marital embrace. The procreative powers of Rangi and Papa brought into being their sons, Tanemahuta, Tangaroa, Tawhirimatea,Tumatauenga, Haumiatiketike and Rongomatane. The sons, living in a world of darkness between the bodies of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, plotted against their parents to let light into the world. They concluded that their plight of living in a world of darkness and ignorance could be alleviated only by seperating their parents, so that Ranginui would become a sky father above them and Papatuanuku would remain with them as their earth mother.
The task of seperating earth and sky was accomplished by Tanemahuta, who prised them apart with his shoulders to the ground and his legs thrusting upwards. Thereafter, one of his names became Tane-te-toko-o-te-rangi, Tane the prop of the heavens. The verity of his name is evident in the great forests of Tane, where the mighty trunks of the totara and kauri trees can be seen soaring upwards to the green canopy overhead and the sky above it.
The seperation of earth and sky brought into being Te Aomarama, the world of light. This is the third state of existence, the abode of humanbeings. The seperation was thought to be the first hara, or misdeed, in the story of creation. Letting light into the world brought with it knowledge of good and evil and was the analogue to the biblical tree of knowledge and its forbidden fruit. The binary opposition of good and evil is one of the central themes underlying Maori mythology. The gods played out their disagreement over the seperation of their parents.
In the war of gods which followed the seperation, Tawhirimatea, the god of winds,who opposed it, devastated the forests of Tane with winds of hurricane force. Having vanquished Tane, he lashed up mountainous seas over the domain of Tangaroa, driving the descendants of that deity to seek shelter from his wrath. The scattering of the children of Tangaroa brought about a seperation of the species, with Ikatere fleeing to the depths of the ocean to become progenitor of fishes, and Tu-te-wehiwehi going inland to establish the reptilian family. Tawhirimatea was unable to vent his wrath on Rongomatene and Haumiatiketike because their mother Papatuanuku hid them from him by thrusting them deep into her bosom. Being untestd in the crucible of war, these descendants were cast in passive roles. Haumiatiketike became the deity associated with edible fern roots and other wild and uncultivated plants. Rongomatane became the custodian of the kumara and the god of cultivation and peaceful arts.
Tawhirimatea's assertion of mana over his brothers was incomplete. When he turned his wrath on Tumatauenga, he was unable to vanquish him. Tumatauenga, who was left to stand alone against Tawhirimatea, was angry with his brothers for not supporting him. For this reason he is known by the names Tu-ka-riri {Tu of violent temper}, Tu-ka-nguhu {Tu of raging fury} and Tu-whakaheke-tangata-ki-te-po {Tu who consigns men to Hades}. Tu the god of war and ancestor of fierce man encompassed in his names the aggressive characteristics of the warlike nature of human beings.
Tumatauenga sought utu from his brothers for leaving him to face Tawhirimatea alone.
First, he attacked the children of Tane and asserted his mana by debasing them and converting them to common use. From trees and vines he fashioned spears and snares to kill and trap Tane's birds. He also made nets and canoes to catch the children of Tangaroa. By his actions of using the children of his brothers as food and common objects, Tumatauenga negated their tapu, thereby making them noa. In this way the basic dichotomy in Maori life between the sacred and the profane came into being. Tu's assertion of mana over his brothers was the rationale for the superior position of human beings in the natural order.
The personification of natural phenomena in the Maori pantheon is fundamental to the holistic world-view of the Maori. Papatuanuku was loved as a mother is loved, because the bounty that sprang from her breast nurtured and sustained her children. Humans were conceived of as belonging to the land; as tangata whenua, people of the land. This meant that they were not above nature but were a integral part of it. They were expected to relate to nature in a meaningful way. For instance, trees were not to be cut down wantonly. If a tree was needed for timber, then rituals seeking permission from Tane had to be performed first. Similarly, a fisherman had to return to the sea the first fish he caught as an offering to Tangaroa. The first fruits of the harvest season had to be offered to Rongo, the god of cultivation. It was believed that these practices ensured the bounty of nature would always be abundant.
Maori mythology also preserved a widespread ancient folk memory of a great flood. The genesis of the submergence of the world is found in the personification of other natural phenomena and the recital of their names in a genealogical tabulation similar to Te Kore and Te Po. First came Ua-nui {great rain}, Ua-roa {long rain}, Ua-whatu {fierce hailstorms}, Ua-Nganga {light rain}, and their many progeny, including mist, heavy dew and light dew. These forms of precipitation were the manifestation of Ranginui's sorrow at being parted from Papatuanuku, whose face far below was a constant reminder of the painful seperation. In order to alleviate the discomfort to those on earth, the gods decided to turn Papatuanuku over so that her face would be hidden from her husband. This event is known as Te Hurihanga a Mataaho, the overturning of Mataaho. The youngest of the brothers, Ruaumoko, was still a child at breast at the time, and as a god of volcanoes he was left there to warm and comfort his mother.
The First Human Being
Tane and his brothers, who were the epitome of ira atua, the divine principle, searched the natural world for ira tangata, the human principle. In his restless search, Tane the creator tried his procreative powers on various elements in nature, bringing forth trees, birds and insects. The gods concluded from these results, that ira tangata could not be derived from ira atua. A separate act of creation was needed for human beings. To this end, Tane fashioned Hineahuone, the earthformed maid, and breathed the life force of his mauri into her mouth and nostrils. Tane cohabited with Hineahuone and brought forth Hinetiitama, the dawn maid. He then cohabited with Hinetiitama, to produce other children.
In due course, Hinetiitama asked Tane about her father. His evasive answer telling her to ask the posts of his house drove her to the inevitable conclusion that her own husband was her father. This discovery appalled Hinetiitama, who fled from Tane in the direction of the underworld of Rarohenga. As she entered the portal to the underworld, she turned to Tane, who had followed her, and bade him farewell, saying, 'Tane, return to our family. I have severed connection with the world of light and now desire to dwell in the world of night.' Thereupon she descended into Rarohenga, where she became Hinenuitepo, the goddess of death. In a creation myth that begins with a single pair,
incest in the next generation is inevitable for the establishment of the human line. But that necessity did not absolve the act from moral judgement. Tane's evasive answer to
Hinetiitama, and her reaction to the discovery that their relationship was incestuous, suggests there was an innate antipathy to it. The story served to establish and promulgate the incest taboo among the adherents of the myth. {Alpers, however, goes too far by suggesting in his book "Maori Myths" that Tane's relationship with Hinetiitama was the first sin. The Arawa scribe Te Rangikaheke, who recorded the story "Nga Tama a Rangi", as published by Grey in "Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna", is quite specific. He states
categorically that the first sin was the separation of Rangi and Papa."
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Maui the Demi-god
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The descendants of Tane and Hineeahuone increased until the time of Maui, the most important culture hero in Maori mythology. The significance of Maui as a heroic figure derives as much from the circumstances of his birth as from his many accomplishments. He was a potiki, the last-born of five brothers. In a society where status and succession were based on order of birth, Maui, as last-born child, was low in family hierarchy.Furthermore, he had the additional disadvantage of being an aborted child, wraped up in the topknot of his mother Turanga, and disgarded into the sea. Fortunately for Maui, gentle breezes cast him ashore on a clump of seaweed which saved him from drowning. From this inauspicious start in life was derived his name Maui-tikitiki-a-Taranga. The potiki in Maori society was usually an indulged child and tended to be precocious. So it was with Maui. He was quick, intelligent, bold, resourceful, cunning and fearless, epitomising the basic personality structure idealised by Maoti society.He was also an arch-trickster who had penchant for deceiving his elders, from which practice is derived his second name Maui-nukurau-tangata. As a heroic figure, Maui served as a model to all teina {junior children} and is particular the last-born, that provided they had the determination and qualities displayed by Maui, they too could succeed in life.
When Maui was rescued from the sea by his ancestor Tama-nui-ki-te-Rangi, he was revived by being suspended over a smokey fire, which in the myth reflected the customary way of reviving drowned persons. In due course, after a sojourn in the celestial realm, Maui returned to earth to join his family. When he appeared in their midst and was challenged, Maui identified himself to his mother as Maui of the topknot of Taranga. With the revelation of Maui's survival, and the use of the name that exposed her secret abortion, Taranga welcomed her lost child back. She invited him to stand on the ridgepole
of his ancestor Hinenuitepo's house. The ridgepole was the metaphor for Maui's line of descent, where by his membership in the family was validated. Taranga gave him a favoured place in her affections by allowing him to sleep in her bed. But when he awoke in the morning, she was gone. The disappearance of his mother and her reappearance at night caused Maui to wonder about his parents. He decided to search for them. Maui's search for his parents established the parental tie as a fundamental one in Maori society. In a culture where it was customary for visiting chiefs to enter into temporary liaisons with local women, ex-nuptial births were common. The theme of a child such as Maui searching out his father is a recurring one in Maori myth and tradition.
In order to discover where Taranga went, Maui tricked his mother into oversleeping by darkening the room and hiding her clothes. He even spied on her to discover the portal to the passage that led to the nether world where his father lived. Maui's encounter with his parents illustrated an important social convention concerning polite introductions to strangers. Because she was not in her own country, Taranga was not certain that the person before her was Maui and it was impolite to ask him directly. So she approached him carefully and questioned him obliquely, asking whether he came from the north. When he said no, she then proceeded around the points of the compass, nominating east, south, and west and receiving negative answers to each. She finally drew the conclusion that he came from the direction of the breeze that touched her skin and, having identified the place where he lived, she concluded it was indeed Maui. She welcomed him and introduced him to his father.
With the formalities of introduction over, Maui's father Makeatutara performed the tohi ritual of purification over him. The tohi purified Maui of tapu of the unclean type surrounding his birth. It was also served as an act of public legitimation by his father.
Unfortunately for Maui, Makeatutara made an error in the ritual, which was a bad omen. He knew Maui would be the first person to die and lose immortality for humankind. But the incident is more than just a rationale for death. It is also a cultural statement in the myth for the correct performance or ritual. Errors in recitation of karakia were offensive to the gods and were punishable by misfortune or death.
In his encounters with his other ancestors when seeking knowledge from them, Maui dramatised the ambivalent relationship of tension and indulgence between young and old. His kuia, the female ancestors above him in the line of descent from the gods, were the repositories of knowledge. He had to win knowledge from them for the benefit of humankind, because humans had no knowledge of their own. All knowledge emanated from the gods and their most immediate descendants. But Maui's kuia had primeval forces at their command which could destroy him should he try their patience. Therefore, he had to tread carefully and use all his guile to get the information he wanted. Above all, he had to be patient and persistent to achieve his aims.
Maui began his mission to bring benefits to people on earth by deceiving his blind kuia Murirangawhenua. When he visited her abode, he tried her patience by hiding her food from her. Yet despite that teasing, which could have ended with Murirangawhenua devouring him, Maui was able to placate her. As soon as she recognised her mokopuna, she favoured him by giving into his keeping her enchanted jawbone. Maui used the jawbone as a fabulous weapon to beat the sun and slow its passage across the sky. That exploit gave humans sufficient daylight to go about their work and daily affairs. He also fashioned a fish hook from the jawbone, with which he fished up the land known as Te Ika a Maui. The great fish of Maui is the home of the Maori people in the North Island of New Zealand. Maui's exploits of slowing down the sun and fishing up the land are testament to the special properties of bone for the manufacture of artifacts such as weapons and fish hooks.
In a similar episode to his encounter with Murirangawhenua, Maui obtained the secret of fire from another of his kuia named Mahuika. Maui tricked her into giving up all her fire fingernails and toenails. When he wrested the last one from her and lodged its power to generate fire in selected trees of the forest, he almost lost his life for being too presumptuous. The conflagration of the world that resulted from Mahuika's anger would have destroyed Maui had not Tawhirimatea heard his prayer and doused the flames with torrential rain. It was a salutary lesson that tampering with primeval forces could destroy the world. Maui dared Mahuika's wrath, and survived to reveal the secret of fire to human beings. Maui is the source of knowledge for the method of
generating heat and fire by friction between two pieces of timber from the mahoe, taraire or kaikomako trees.
Maui also invented the strongest twine, cord and ropes which he used to snare the sun and fish up the land. When Maui's brothers went on a fishing expedition, he outwitted their attempt to leave him behind by rising early and concealing himself in the bilges of the canoe until they were well out to sea. When he asked for bait, they refused him.
Undeterred by their refusal, Maui demonstrated his resourcefulness by beating his nose and smearing blood on the hook. So big was the fish Maui caught that he had to chant a powerful incantation, a hiki, to bring it to the surface. Unfortunately, Te Ika a Maui
roused the greed of his brothers, who quarrelled over the fish and began hacking at it
while Maui was away conducting thanksgiving rituals. Maui's fish, which was in the form of a stingray, writhed in agony in its death throes. That is why the fish today is wrinkled and contorted, otherwise it would have been smooth and flat. The myth not only condemned the cutting of the fish as an offense against the gods, but also taught the
need to conduct appropriate rituals of thanksgiving for the gifts of nature. Failure to
respect nature brought its own evil consequences. The scribe Te Rangikaheke made the observation that the cutting up of the fish before the rituals were completed was the second evil to come into the world.
On another fishing expedition with his brother-in-law Irawaru,Maui was incensed that Irawaru caught fish and he caught none. When they got back to shore, Maui pursuaded Irawaru to get down on all fours to lift up the outrigger of the canoe on his back, while he pretended to push. While Irawaru was down, Maui leapt on the float and by the power of karakia turned him into a dog. This episode is more than just an origin myth of the dog, as suggested by Alpers in 'Maori Myths'. It is true the creation of the dog was a boon, because not only was it a companion, it was also useful for the making of fine cloaks, necklaces, bone instruments as well as for food. But underlying the myth is the caveat that the relationship between brothes-in-law is a capricious and dangerous one.
The mythological precedent set by Maui and Irawaru is repeated in subsequent myths and later in the era of traditions.
Maui's final encounter with goddess of death, Hinenuitepo, as presaged by the ill-omen of his tohi, ended in Maui's defeat. The task Maui hoped to accomplish was to enter
Hinenuitrpo through her vagina and pluck out her heart. Bye emerging from her mouth he would have effectively reversed the process of birth and won immortality for himself and
the rest of humankind. The task was the most dangerous one Maui had undertaken, since she was equipped with formidable weapons of vaginal teeth made of obsidian. When Maui was only halfway in the birth passage, the ludicrous sight of his legs threshing around outside made the fantail laugh out loud. This woke Hinenuitepo, who crushed Maui to death. The death of Maui, the greatest culture hero in Maori mythology, is the rationale
for the death of human beings. Since Maui was unable to defeat death, all humans must be reconciled to its inevitability.
Rupe
After Maui's death, the myth sequence was continued by his brother Rupe, who went in search of his sister Hinauri. Hinauri was so bereft when Maui turned her husband Irawaru into a dog that she tried to commit suicide by throwing herself into the sea,but she was cast up on to strange shore. Rupe's search for Hinauri, like Maui's search for his parents, indicated the primacy of the bond of affection for a female sibling. Rupe extended his search right up to the 10th heaven, the realm of Rehua. There he was welcomed by Rehua. With the formalities over, Rehua undid his topknot and shook out bellbirds and tui which fed on the lice in his hair. Rehua caught the birds and prepared a meal of them for his guest. Rupe was disgusted. The myth evoked revulsion because the head is the most tapu part of the body. The notion of eating food that had been in contact with the head is so repellent that in the customary usages of the Maori it hardly bears contemplation.
On Rupe's second visit to Rehua's courtyard, he found it soiled with children's excrement. His tidying of the marae with wooden scoops and the building of a heketua for the proper disposal of human waste served as a model for the provision of hygienic
arrangements in communal life.
Tinirau and his Pet Whale
With the origins of the world and the basic elements of human culture defined by myth, the next myth in the Maui series dealt with human behaviour. The high chief Tinirau, who found Hinauri, took her home and cohabited with her. Tinirau was renowned
for having a pet whale, Tutunui, on which sometimes he rode at sea.The tohunga Kae, who performed the tohi ritual for Hinauri and Tinirau's son Tuhuruhuru, was allowed to ride the whale back to his village. When he reached his own shore, Kae and his tribe killed
Tutunui and ate him. The killing and eating of the pet whale by the treacherous Kae introduced a basic theme of utu in human affairs. Revenge is correct if there is a just cause. By killing the whale loaned to transport him home, Kae betrayed his host's trust. In the myth Kae was cast in the role of a villain who exhibited the negative characteristics of greed and treachery. Villains deserve to die, and so Kae was marked down for death.
Instead of sending a war party after Kae, which would have alerted the enemy, Tinirau
sent a party of women, who put the garrison off its guard. Tinirau's stratergy of sending women to kidnap Kae is indicative of how war should be conducted. Cunning and subtlety are to be preferred ahead of direct attack. The women succceeded in their mission and took Kae back to Tinirau's village, where he was killed as utu for Tutunui. But,as in human affairs, the death of Kae did not close the account. Instead, it engendered a vendetta in subsequent generations. The Pophorokewa retaliated by killing Tinirau's son Tuhuruhuru.
Whakatau Potiki
The hero in the last of the Maui series of myths was Whakatau Potiki. It is significant that he, like Maui, was also a junior brother thus reinforcing the example set by Maui. His first task was to avenge the death of his brother Tuwhakararo, who had been killed by the people of Kae. The manner in which Whakatau went about defeating his enemies is a model of military strategy and the conduct of war. Whakatau reviewed his warriors, practiced the order of battle, and arranged for the disposition of assault columns, support columns and reserves. He also developed techniques for selecting a cadre of elite warriors to be the cutting edge of his forces. Reconnaissance of enemy territory, the lone exploit, and the capture and interrogation of prisoners to gain information were all part of Whakatau's military repertoire. Even theapparently arbitary act of cutting out a prisoner's tongue served the purpose of establishing the fundamental principle of denying intelligence to the enemy. Whakatau's lone exploit of spying in enemy territory and even entering their house was a heroic act necessary for their accomplishment of utu. To qualify as a hero one had to do heroic things; in this respect Whakatau served as a model by which subsequent generations could measure the performance of their heroes.
Whakatau's avenging of the death of Tuhuruhuru by defeating in single combat ten of the enemy champions is also instructive of the way in which war should be conducted. War is a dangerous business in which there is a high probability of being killed. Therefore the prudent hero leaves nothing to chance. Whakatau defeated 10 men, not because he had the strenght of ten but because he devised stratergies that ensured he lived and his enemies died. For instance, on a lone expedition to the enemy village he stood offshore in his canoe as local champions challenged him to single combat. Having ascertained that the first challenger was a skilled driver, Whakatau invited him to dive into the water to do battle. While his apponent was submerged, Whakatau poured a calabash of oil on the water to calm the ripples. Thsi enabled him to see his enemy as he approached the canoe from a great depth and dispatch him as he surfaced. The second challenger was an expert jumper, so Whakatau invited him to jump from the shore to the canoe to do battle. When his adversary landed in the canoe, Whakatau had a snare waiting for him. He simply pulled it tight,pinioned his apponent's arms, and finished him with his club. In this manner he defeated ten champions as utu for the murder of Tuhuruhuru.
Tawhaki
The Tawhaki sequence of myths begins by reinforcing the theme of the dangerous nature of the brother-in-law relationship. Tawhaki was subjected to a treacherous attack by his brothers-in-law after returning from a fishing expedition. They beat him and left him in a shallow grave, thinking he was dead. He would have died had he not been found by his wife Hinepiripiri, who revived Tawhaki by warming him beside a fire, she fuelled it with a long lenght of uncut wood. She was pregnant at the time, and when her child was born she named him Wahieroa, which means long length of wood.
This incident set the cultural precedent of naming a child after a significant event close to the time of its birth. In the case of Wahieroa, his name carried the moral imperative to avenge the misdeed of his uncles if his father failed to do it in his own lifetime. Tawhaki, being the heroic figure that he was, destroyed his enemies with mighty floods, which he induced by his power to command the elements.
Tawhaki's father Hema had been killed by the goblin-like Ponaturi, who lived under the water and came ashore to sleep at night in their house, Manawatane. These strange people held Tawhaki's mother captive as the doorkeeper of their house. It was her job to warn the Ponaturi of the onset of dawn so that they could return to their watery abode before sunrise, otherwise they would be killed by the suns rays. Tawhaki set out to avenge his father and recover his bones as a filial duty. In keeping with the rules of war laid down in the preceding myth, Tawhaki sought information about the Ponaturi from his captive mother. Having learned of the lethal effect of sunlight on this strange tribe, Tawhaki devised an appropriate strategy to defeat them. He simply blocked up the chinks in their house, inducing them to over sleep. Then, when the sun was high in the sky, he destroyed them by letting in the searing rays of sunlight.
Tawhaki's victories spread his fame far and wide, even to the sky, so that the celestial maiden Tangotango came down to earth and visited him nightly. In due course she became pregnant and stayed with Tawhaki. After the birth of their child, Tangotango felt insulted because Tawhaki said the child smelt when he went to perform the tohi ritual for it. Because of the insult, she abandoned Tawhaki and returned to the celestial realm with her child. Tawhaki missed his wife, so he searched for her. In previous myths, Maui had searched for his parents and Rupe for his sister. The searches for loved ones by heroic figures establish the bonds between parents, children, siblings and spouses as the most significant relationships in Maori culture.
On the journey to the hanging vines by which Tawhaki climbed to the celestial realm, his brother Karihi forbade their slaves to look at the sacred citadel of Tongameha. One of them was overcome by curiosity, looked and perished when his eyes were torn out. The myth served to transmit two fundamental tenets in Maori society. Firstly, that the injunctions of superiors must be obeyed, and secondly, that the all-pervading force of tapu carries the ultimate sanction of death.
Tawhaki's lone exploit of climbing up to the heavens on the hanging vines was the first of a series of tests of his love for his wife. He accomplished it, as one would expect of an heroic figure, without too much difficulty. Even more testing for a person of Tawhaki's rank were the humbling experiences he had to endure at the hands of his wife's people. He entered the celestial realm disguised as an old man and came upon his
brothers-in-law making a canoe. At the end of the day his brothers-in-law treated him as a slave and made him carry their adze home. On the way he was accosted by women collecting firewood and they made him carry the wood home as well. These trials were Tawhaki's expiation of his insult to his wife and child. The myth concluded with Tawhaki's reunion with his wife and his performance of the purification rite for their child Arahuta. Thereafter, Tawhaki remained in the celestial realm, where he was semi-deified.
The hero in the last myth of the Tawhaki series was Rata, whose task was to avenge the death of his father Wahieroa at the hands of the demon-like Matukutakotako. Following the canons of military procedure laid down in preceeding myths, Rata went to the entrance to Matukutakotako's lair and sought information about the habits of his enemy from the keeper of the portal. Forearmed with the knowledge that Matukutakotako
would detect his presence while dressing his hair at the pool he used as a mirror, Rata decided to attack him while he was in the bathing pool, where the muddy water would not betray him. Rata's defeat of the man-eating Matukutakotako reinforced the precedents set by Whakatau Potiki and Tawhaki that the defeat of powerful enemies is accomplished by devising strategies to attack them at their most vulnerable point.
The myth sequence ends with the story of Rata's canoe. Rata needed a canoe to go on a campaign of war. When he felled a forest giant to make his canoe, he neglected the propitiatory rights to Tane. On his return to the site the next day, the canoe had vanished but the tree was back in its place. After felling the tree again and shaping the canoe, Rata hid himself and waited. In due course the hakuturi, denizens of the forest, the birds, insects and fairies, gathered before the canoe. They reassembled every chip,branch, leaf and twig. When the tree was back in place, Rata leapt out of hiding and remonstrated with them for interfering with his canoe, but in turn he was mortified when they turned on him and upbraided him for his failure to perform the propitiatory rites to Tane before taking the tree for his own use. Rata acknowledged his guilt and was told to come back the next day. When he returned, he was astonished to behold the finest canoe he had ever seen. In essence, the myth of Rata's canoe codified the relationship between human beings and nature. Before natural resources can be
appropriated for human use, rituals to the deity presiding over the relevant department
of nature must be conducted. Observance of ritual ensured that nature was not to be treated in a wanton manner.
Kiaora koutou, nau mai haere mai.
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. As Ruru watched from the hilltop, the waves lifted the grey body and rolled it onto the sand.
