Untitled

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 145, 20 June 1924, Page 6

Ancient, Maori customs, which are still practised, were .discussed in interesting fashion by Mr. George Graham in a lecture given at the. Auckland Museum Library. Among the customs existing in modern society, said, tlie lecturer, was tho law-of tapu, although its branch nowadays was merely frowned upon, whereas it formerly meant death. A Maori would not take his. pipe and tobacco into sa burial ground, nor would he eat in, a cemetery. In the old days the heads of chiefs were very tapu. and to this day there were instances where old men -kept their own scissors, which they Hook to the barber, who carefully collected and handed over all the hair clips, which were buried in a place known only to the Maori concerned. Hair was considered a certain means whereby ill-will could be exerted against a person. There were -still instances where dyin* chiefs desired to drink of the waters of an ancestral spring. After death food was formerly deposited in the village sacred place, but the practice was now to place it in the coffin. The tanqi was, of course, the counterpart of "the Scottish death-watch, or the Irish'wake. It was probably the most important of Maori customs still observed, but there were certain modifications. 'Widows still-fol-lowed the old custom of cutting hair and occasionally they cut their faces as a mark of grief.. The peculiar custom in connection with death of altering tlk* name of tho family was still in full'force in some districts. Mr. Graham pointed out,that grace-was now usually said before meals in most Maori households. They instinctively accepted the Christian formality of saying grace as a means of avoiding witchcraft. It was said not so much by way of thanks as to prevent illness. . The remnants of food were never used again in the manner practised by our thrifty' housewives after friends have been entertained. These remains were thrown away '