MAORI GATHERING AT ROTORUA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXI, Issue 73, 27 March 1900, Page 4

MAORI GATHERING AT ROTORUA.

OPENING OF THE CARVED HOUSE,

A UNIQUE CEREMONY.

(By Telegraph.—Special Reporter.)

ROTORUA, this day. | The Maori consecration (or kawan- I ga) in connection with Mr C. E. Nel- i son's carved house was. concluded this.■:;. B morning-. It was a most interesting ceremony, which will never be witnessed again in New Zealand. The I house opening- was carried out in strict I accordance with ancient Maori religioii, two of the most noted old priests 'in the island conducting- the ceremonials. A large body of Ngatiawa. I Maoris from .Teteko arrived yesterday I afternoon, bringing with them a large | quantity of food. They were wel- | coined in old-fashioned style by the Arawa people. The Ngatiawa priest, I old Tumutara Pio, entered the enclo- I sure. After greetings had been ex- ": changed the "front of the house was '] unveiled, and the priest went through j the inaugural rites for his people. A 1 detachment of Ngapnhi chiefs from | the North then entered the house. 'k The honour of being the first was ac- I corded to them on account of their I relationship to Mr Nelson's first wife. 1 This morning at eight o'clock .the ; | real ceremony of freeing the house | trom tapu was performed by old ■ ! Rangitahau, a wioted /priest .'ijrpmg 1 Taiipo, formerly known as Te Kooti's | chief executioner. Before the natives | had taken any food they marched I in procession, dressed in their finest , | mats, from the settlement to the h carved house, headed by the Maori !j brass band. The procession consisted ■■'• of Rotorua and Taupo natives, includ- ■ 1 ing many chiefs. Tahau, an imposing; | looking old warrior, hedged in with ' I tapu, led his people into the enclosure ? round the house. The first operation | was that of kindling the sacred five, [| known as "the oven of Tane," in front : | of the' carved house, by the' three / | carvers who built the house, under : 1 supervision of a priest. This fire is I the last lingering relic of fire-worship • | amongst the Maoris. It- was kept | burning1 throughout the whole of the | invocations by the priest. A single 1 potato was roasted in it by the carvers. I The old priest, bearing a taiaha (native I weapon), then climbed to the roof of : I the - house and took -tip a position 1 above the frontal carvings, where l| he recited in loud voice a number of I ancient incantations appropriate tb ;] such occasions. One of these was the | well-known prayer used by the priest ■= of the ■ Arawa canoe, centuries "back .' when that craft was crossing the Paci- | fie Ocean. "All the assemblage joined in | the chorus. Descending.from the t ridge pole Tahau took the cooked f potato, and accompanied by the three, I carvers and the wife of Tene, the chief ffi carver, entered the house, where "the 1 woman performed the act of crossing ; I the threshold. The party of tohungas J then each ate a small portion of potato is in the whare, thus destroying the tapu, ■ and making the house free to all by taking the cooked food therein. They marched round the house, the priest ' - reciting an ancient heathen karakia 1 at the pillars and slabs inside. Then. ] he emerged. ; '*■ ;

The ceremony was one of the most impressive of the ritual of past days. It was followed by photographing the priest and other principal actors for the New Zealand "Graphic." Feasting, dancing of hakas. poi, etc., :/-. are now the programme as a wind-up to tlie unique ceremony of the kawanga. . ' ' ' - -;i

The visiting natives consider Nel- ;, son's house the best they have, ever' seen, although not so large as some ' houses. It has been named • Reimi, -•; after the originator of the wood earv- -'.if ing art in New Zealand, who lired on ;- the East Coast twenty generations ago. ■ . . . i •;:.