| p. | [pg 8]_ | for | “Pendora” | read | “[Pandora].” |
| p. | [pg 21]_ | „ | “Herekeke” | „ | “[Harakeke].” |
| p. | [pg 11]_ | „ | “Whananga” | „ | “[Wananga].” |
| p. | [pg 24]_ | „ | „ | „ | [„] |
| p. | [pg 28]_ | „ | “manumea” | „ | “[Manumea].” |
| p. | [pg 90]_ | „ | “and” | „ | “[land].” |
| p. | [pg 96]_ | „ | “conquerers” | „ | “[conquerors].” |
[pg 1]
PRIMITIVE RELIGION AND MYTHOLOGY.
CHAPTER I.
ARYANS AND POLYNESIANS.
Νόμιζε σαυτῷ τοὺς γονεῖς εἶναι Θεούς.
The religious feeling may be traced to the natural veneration of the child for the parent, joined to an innate belief in the immortality of the soul. What we know of the primitive religion of Aryans and Polynesians points to this source. They both venerated the spirits of deceased ancestors, believing that these spirits took an interest in their living descendants: moreover, they feared them, and were careful to observe the precepts handed down by tradition, as having been delivered by them while alive.
The souls of men deified by death were by the Latins called “Lares” or “Mânes,” by the Greeks “Demons” or “Heroes.” Their tombs were the temples of these divinities, and bore the inscription “Dîs manibus,” “Θεοῖς χθονίοις;” and before the tomb was an altar for sacrifice. The term used by the Greeks and Romans to signify the worship of the dead is significant. The former used the word [pg 2] “πατριάζειν,” the latter “parentare,” showing that the prayers were addressed to forefathers. “I prevail over my enemies,” says the Brahmin, “by the incantations which my ancestors and my father have handed down to me.”[1]
Similar to this was the common belief of the Maori of Polynesia, and still exists. A Maori of New Zealand writes thus: “The origin of knowledge of our native customs was from Tiki (the progenitor of the human race). Tiki taught laws to regulate work, slaying, man-eating: from him men first learnt to observe laws for this thing, and for that thing, the rites to be used for the dead, the invocation for the new-born child, for battle in the field, for the assault of fortified places, and other invocations very numerous. Tiki was the first instructor, and from him descended his instructions to our forefathers, and have abided to the present time. For this reason they have power. Thus says the song:—