The remarkable Rongomai — god and man

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 18

The remarkable Rongomai — god and man

When the Great Comet of 1882 appeared, like “a white feather attached to the crown of Taranaki,” the people of Parihaka knew their imprisoned leaders would return in triumph from Christchurch. BRIAN MACKRELL reports on

In pre-European New Zealand the night skies were scanned by men of learning for omens and messages from the gods. To many tribes the appearance of a bright meteor or comet was a manifestation of the shining god Rongomai, who is credited with some quite remarkable performances in oldtime legends. As with most legends these colourful tales have some basis in fact. For example, a Tuwharetoa tradition claims that a priest of that tribe once summoned Rongomai and sent him forth to reconnoitre an enemy force advancing under cover of darkness. The obedient fireball not only located the enemy but burst directly overhead and revealed their position. What probably happened was that a bright fireball meteor did illuminate the landscape surrounding a Tuwharetoa fort, revealing the approach of enemies to sentries who alerted their sleeping kindred. A quick-witted priest could claim credit for Rongomai’s timely appearance and few would doubt him: those who did would diplomatically keep their mouths shut. Another remarkable Rongomai story was related to the Rev. Richard Taylor by a Chief who took part in the seige of Pakakutu (near Otaki) in the 1840 s. “At noon, when encamped opposite the beleaguered place, Puta, the Priest of Taupo, stood and prayed to Rongomai ... a great noise was heard in the heavens, and they saw Rongomai rushing through the air, his form was of fire, with a great head; he flew straight into the pa ... knocking up the dust which arose in a cloud with a crash like thunder. The Priest said in two days the place would be taken, which accordingly came to pass.” That great modern Author of Absurdities, Erich von Daniken, once suggested this story indicated the intervention of an ancient astronaut “god” who “flew along and made the ground explode under him, killing the enemy, and bringing victory for the first Maori tribe.”

If a large meteorite or a laser-gun-toting ancient astronaut had landed inside Pakakutu its Te Ati Awa defenders would have swiftly quit the site rather than hold out for another two days. They were forced to withdraw, to a stronger position, after two days repulsing attacks by a numerically superior force of Tuwharetoa and allied tribes.

But Rongomai probably did manifest himself at Pakakutu as the Rev. Taylor summised, in the

form of “a meteor, and a very bright one, to have been thus apparent at noon. It is remarkable that it should have been seen at the very moment the Priest was praying for his god to appear, and further that it should have fallen into the very pa they were attacking.”

The priest probably began praying the instant he sighted the incoming meteor which appeared to fall into Pakakutu as viewed from the attacker’s position. As Waaka Tamaira told James Cowan in the 1900 s: “When a fortified pa was Oeing besieged by our people and a comet, or a meteor, appeared,' we watched its course anxiously, and if it seemed to descend upon or threaten the fort,

our seige would be successful and the pa would fall.” Elsdon Best recorded that in the region of today’s Owhiro and Island Bays at Wellington there was “a place named Te Hapua o Rongomai where that atua (god) is said to have descended to Earth in past times.” An obvious reference to the fall of a meteorite — perhaps the same one witnessed at the seige of Pakakutu. The most remarkable Rongomai performance took place in the 1880 s in Taranaki. It had its beginnings some time in the 1830 s with the birth of a Te Ati Awa boy who was named Te Whiti o Rongomai — “The flight of the shining god Rongomai” — presumably because a bright meteor or comet was then

visible in the sky. This could have been Halley’s Comet at its 1835-36 apparition. As a youth Te Whiti became a convert to Christianity and later gained fame as the “Prophet of Parihaka.” He preached and practised passive resistance and civil disobedience long before the world ever heard of Gandhi. When government surveyors and European settlers moved on to confiscated Taranaki land, Te Whiti o Rongomai’s followers pulled out the survey pegs as fast as they were put in and ploughed furrows through roads, paddocks, and fences. Threats and arrests had not the slightest effect. As one band of Maori “ploughmen” peaceably marched off to prison, another band took its place. Men, women, and children from tribes throughout the North Island flocked-to Parihaka and to Te Whiti’s symbol of passive resistance, the Raukura — the white feather.

With European colonists literally frothing at the mouth with impotent rage the Government was forced to act — Te Whiti had to go. John Bryce, Native Minister at the time, moved on Parihaka in November, 1881, at the head of 1600 Armed Constabulary and militia who had enthusiastically enlisted from all over New Zealand. They were met by singing women and children holding nothing deadlier than white feathers. Te Whiti, his fellow chief, Tohu, and Hiroki, who had killed a surveyor three years before, were arrested. Bryce was mocked in newspapers throughout the colony and Canterbury’s Jessie Mackay did a parody of “The charge of the Light Brigade” — “Children to right of them,

Children to left of them, Women in front of them

Never was trumpet blown. O’er such a deed of arms Back with their captives three, Taken so gallantly,

Rode the Twelve Hundred." But the Government was confident that with Te Whiti imprisoned in the South Island his mana was destroyed and the Parihaka community would disintegrate. It might have — had not that ancient deity Rongomai put in another appearance. Nine months passed in which Te

Whiti and Tohu resisted bribes of “a handsome yearly income,” a free trip to England, positions as Legislative Councillors, and other goodies, if they would but keep the peace.

After a tour of Christchurch, Te Whiti was asked what had impressed him most about the city. “The river,” came the reply, it was free while he was not.

Nine months went by and the residents of Parihaka were beginning to wonder if their leaders would ever return; if their struggles had all been in vain. Then two things happened: the Governor, Sir Arthur Gordon, began making noises about Maoris being illegally held without trial, much to the embarrassment of the Government. But the other event had far greater significance to the people of Parihaka. The “New Zealand Times” of September 26, 1882, reported: “It rose from behind a bank of dark clouds, out of which apparently the tail shot, a luminous, broad brush, six or seven degrees long. As the comet attained altitude it cleared the bank, and both tail and nucleus appeared in all their gorgeousness ... The brilliancy of the nucleus exceeded that of a star of the first magnitude.” Rongomai — or The Great Comet of 1882 as it was known to Europeans — had arrived. It crossed the night sky of Taranaki and, after rounding the sun, attained such brilliance that for several days it was visible to the naked eye in daylight. It moved majestically across the sky, day by day, until it hung over the sacred mountain and “gave the impression of a white feather attached to the crown of Taranaki,” according to a European observer. There was no mistaking its omen to the people of Parihaka and they addressed a chant to it—-

“Raised on high is the message of Te Whiti. Lifted high over Parihaka.

Here the white feather is in its place— Let winds from without come to break it

At the darkest hour his presence remained.”

Superstitious poppycock to the non-Maori of course, though they had to admit it seemed a remarkable coincidence. But of such stuff are legends made. In early 1883, the Government gave up and returned Te Whiti and Tohu to a joyous reunion with their Parihaka kin. Rather than destroy his mana his sojourn in the south, and the

comet’s timely appearance, had increased Te Whiti’s prestige — fresh recruits flocked to join him.

Te Whiti also had the distinction of being one of few men to get the better of bombastic Premier “King Dick” Seddon, as a Taranaki paper reported: “The Premier has paid his promised visit to Parihaka ... displayed a total want of know-

ledge of Maori character and customs ... floundered from one pithole into another until he made himself look extremely ridiculous ... Te Whiti, on the other hand, was self-possessed, and carried off the honours of the day.” A fresh outbreak of civil disobedience in 1886 led to a second term of imprisonment but failed to di-

minish Te Whiti’s prestige, though thereafter he did keep the peace. Te Whiti o Rongomai died in 1907 and a monument stands over his tomb at Parihaka: “He was a great man who did great deeds ... His emblem, the white feather, which signifies glory to God on high, peace on earth and goodwill to all mankind ...”