QUAINT MAORI RITUAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20426, 30 November 1929, Page 14

QUAINT MAORI RITUAL.

THE TAPU OF HOTUNUI

UNIQUE SCENE IN MUSEUM

A PICTURESQUE CEREMONY,

THEIR EXCELLENCIES TAKE PART

The Maori court at the War Memorial Museum was the scene of a unique native ceremony yesterday. It was the performance of the ancient and rarely seen whaikawa rite, whereby the tapu attaching to the beautiful carved meeting house of Hotunui, recently removed from Parawai, Thames, and reassembled in the museum, was removed by tho intervention of a tohunga. The most picturesque portion of the long ceremony was the crossing of tho threshold by a high-born woman—a rolo filled with befitting dignity by Lady Alice Fergusson. Maori custom decrees that when a house of some size and importance is built no woman must take part in its construction or entej' its door until tho evil spirits inhabiting its walls are exorcised. Tane, tho god of the forests, puts them there to vent his displeasure at the destruction of his beloved trees, and the makutu (witchcraft) must bo rendered innocuous before the house can be occupied with safety. This process entails an, elaborate ceremonial. i

In the presence of tho Governor-Gen-eral, Sir Charles Fergusson, chieftains from praelically every tribe iu tlie Auckland Province performed this quaint and historic ritual yesterday. The Vice* Regal party was met at the museum steps with the customary Maori welcome, and ten chiefs, attired in feathered mats and carrying sprigs of mahoe in their hands as 'emblems of friendliness, invited Their Excellencies inside to the accompaniment of chants and savage gestures. The Maori Medicine Man. It must be many years since Auckland has seen a real tohunga in its midst. In his straw mat and comical head-dress of kiwi feathers, Tutanekai Taua, tho,high priest of the Ngati Tunohopu tribe at Ohinemutu, was in outward appearance a terrifying specimen of the old medicine man. He claims descent from the original. Tutanekai, the youth who figures in one of the most beautiful of the Maori legends; and acted the part of master of ceremonies during the ritual. A flood of oratory was let loose when the chiefs were gathered on the verandah of the meeting house. For tho best part of .an hour Their Excellencies listened to tho harangue, which largely took the form of a valedictory tribute in their honour. "Your late father was Governor of New Zealand before you and wo wish your offspring to be Governors of New Zealand after you. ■ Long life and prosperity to Your Excellency and to Her Excellency and also to His Majesty tho King." These were tho words of Mita Taupopoki, the* veteran Arawa chief of Rotorua, and the Hauraki and other tribal cliiefs followed in similar strain. Preserving Maori Treasures.

" May this great, memorial wipe away the blood shed by our brothers iu the war," prayed a chief of the Ngatimarn. " The Maoris are a small people and the pakehas are great. They come from tho ends of tho earth and tako away the treasures of tho Maori peopla for mementoes. Therefore, I think it good that we should send our treasures to this great storehouse, whero they will be kept for our children and our children's children to see."

The old chief's suggestion was warmly welcomed by Mr. H. E. Vaile, president of the Institute and Museum, who reminded the Maoris present that one of the objects of the museum was to preserve Maori history and art. " The history of the Maori people must be preserved very largely through ancient dwellings and ancient works of art; w6 wish it to become a sacred depository for those articles," he said- "In the past Maori people have not given us all the assistance we should havo liked in this respect. You must all agree that your treasures would be safer here than buried."

Governor-General's Message. Sir' Charles ' Fdrgusson told the assembled chiefs of his deep interest in the Maori people, their history and their future. The Maori race, which at one time had been at war with the pakeha, was now bound closely tfb' the pakclia by common ties and common interests, and personally lie was keenly desirous of cementing those tics: still more closely, while at the same time seeing that the separate identities of the two race were retained. He would convoy renewed assurances to.the King of the love and loyalty of the Maori people. After His Excellency had been presented by the chiefs ,with a carved whalebone mere, Princess Te Puea Herangi, of Ngaruawahia, invited Lady Alice Fergussou to cross the threshold of the wliare runanga. .First the tohunga proceeded to exorcise tho evil spirits. Chanting his magic incantation, lie beat with his kotiato," or ceremonial mere, upon the right-hand-side carved upright, then upon the grotesque carved figure at the base of tho central pillar, and finally upon the left-hand-side upright. In that fierce karakia, with whicli he invoked the gods, ho put forth his most.potent maim with tho result that the tapu was magically dispelled and the house made ready for man's habitation.

Grossing the Threshold. A Maori mat was thrown ovgr Lady Alice Fergusson's shoulder as .she stepped through, the. doorway, and entered the gloomy inferior. She'was the ! first woman to cross the threshold of runangi since its assembly under, the museum roof,, and the act was tho outward and .visible sign that the' 'tapii had been finally baijished. A carved tiiiaha was presented during tho ceremony- to -Sir ...Edwin -Mitchelson, who, the Auckland Racing Club, is hbstsji W flio -visiting' Maoris it Ellerslie,/and a pleasing incident at the jclose was tho presentation to Their Excellencies* of donor, Hotunui,4 Mr. pEruinf Taipan, of Parawai," and Mrs. Taiparif All the chiefs were then presented in,- turn. The- Mr.. G. Baildon, closed the harangue ,by inviting tho.vip .tors to luncheon. '

Tho proceedings ended with a serics ( of hakas, in which itho boys of St. Stephen's jCpllogo took tho, leading part.