The idea in which this law originated appears to have been that a portion of the sacred essence of an Atua, or of a sacred person, was directly communicable to objects which they touched, and also that the sacredness so communicated to any object could afterwards be more or less retransmitted to anything else brought into contact with it. It was therefore necessary that anything containing the sacred essence of an Atua should be made tapu to protect it from being polluted by the [pg 26] contact of food designed to be eaten; for the act of eating food which had touched anything tapu, involved the necessity of eating the sacredness of the Atua, from whom it derived its sacredness.
It seems that the practice of cannibalism must have had a close connexion with such a system of belief. To eat an enemy was the greatest degradation to which he could be subjected, and so it must have been regarded as akin to blasphemy to eat anything containing a particle of divine essence.
Everything not included under the class tapu was called noa, meaning free or common. Things and persons tapu could, however, be made noa by means of certain ceremonies, the object of which was to extract the tapu essence, and restore it to the source whence it originally came. It has been already stated that every tribe and every family has its own especial Atua. The Ariki, or head of a family, in both male and female lines, are regarded by their own family with a veneration almost equal to that of their Atua.[17] They form, as [pg 27] it were, the connecting links between the living and the spirits of the dead; and the ceremonies required for releasing anything from the tapu state cannot be perfected without their intervention.
On arriving one evening at a Maori settlement, I found that a ceremony, in which everyone appeared to take deep interest, was to take place in the morning. The inhabitants were mostly professing Christians, and the old sacred place of the settlement was, from the increase of their numbers, inconveniently near their houses; a part of it was, therefore, required to be added to the Pa. I was curious to see in what way the land required would be made noa. In the morning when I went to the place I found a numerous assembly, while in the centre of the space was a large native oven, from which women were removing the earth and mat-coverings. When opened it was seen to contain only kumara, or sweet potato. One of these was offered to each person present, which was held in the hand while the usual morning service was read, concluding with a short prayer that God’s blessing might rest on the place. After this each person ate his kumara, and the place was declared to be noa. I could not but think that the native teacher had done wisely in thus adopting so much of old ceremonial as to satisfy the scruples of those of little faith. In this case, every one present, by eating food cooked on the tapu ground, equally incurred the risk of offending the Atua of the family, which risk was believed to be removed by the Christian karakia.
By neglecting the laws of tapu, Ariki, chiefs, and [pg 28] other sacred persons are especially liable to the displeasure of their Atua, and are therefore afraid to do a great many ordinary acts necessary in private life. For this reason a person of the sacred class was obliged to eat his meals in the open air, at a little distance from his sacred dwelling, and from the place which he and his friends usually occupied; and if he could not eat all that had been placed before him he kept the remainder for his own sole use, in a sacred place appropriated for that purpose: for no one dared to eat what so sacred a person had touched.
The term karakia is applicable to all forms of prayer to the Atua: but there are a variety of names or titles to denote karakia having special objects. The translations of those now presented to the reader will, it is believed, speak for themselves as to the nature of Maori worship, and carry with them a more clear and full conviction as to what it really was than any mere statements however faithful. It will be seen that a karakia is in some cases very like a prayer,—in other cases for the most part an invocation of spirits of ancestors in genealogical order,—in other cases a combination of prayer and invocation.
The Karakia of Hineteiwaiwa.
Said to have been used at the birth of her son Tuhuruhuru. It is of great antiquity, dating from a time long anterior to the migration to New Zealand.
Weave, weave the mat,
Couch for my unborn child,
Qui lectus aquâ inundabitur:
Rupe, et Manumea inundabuntur:
Lectus meus, et mei fetûs inundabitur:
[pg 29]
Inundabor aquâ, inundabor;
Maritus meus inundabitur.[18]
Now I step upon (the mat).
The Matitikura[19] to Rupe above,
* * * Toroa *
* * * Takapu *
* * * to cause to be born,
My child now one with myself.
Stand firm turuturu[20] of Hine-rauwharangi,
* * * * Hine-teiwaiwa,
Stand by your tia,[21] Ihuwareware,
Stand by your kona,[21] Ihuatamai,
Chide me not in my trouble,
Me Hine-teiwaiwa, O Rupe.[22]
Release from above your hair,[23]
Your head, your shoulders,
Your breast, your liver,
Your knees, your feet,
Let them come forth.
The old lady[24] with night-dark visage,
She will make you stretch,
She will make you rise up.
[pg 30] This karakia is still in use with the Arawa tribe in cases of difficult parturition. When such cases occur, it is concluded that the woman has committed some fault—some breach of the tapu, which is to be discovered by the matakite (=seer). The father of the child then plunges in the river, while the karakia is being repeated, and the child will generally be born ere ever he returns.