THE MYTHOLOGY OF CREATION

Otago Witness, Issue 2649, 21 December 1904, Page 7 (Supplement)

THE MYTHOLOGY OF CREATION

Conceiving of the lapse of countless ages before the dawn of light upon the earth, the Maori characterised this period as "Te Kore" — literally "nothingness," and assigned to its brooding silence countless asres. Gradually this empty silence drew towards the dawn of life and consciousness, wmch, descending to earth, passed through numerous stages, each occupying myriads of years "before the concentration "which expressed itself in the •desire for existence, freedom. .A very ancient mythological chant embodies this as the primal impetus of "Seeking a,nd Searching"

"Darkness, darkness ! Light, light' The seekmg, the searching, In chaos."

greatest to the least, are the "Children of Tane." Curiously enough, it is not until a later period that any mention is made of other female deities. Papa, the great brown fruitful mother, represents, so far, the female principle. Tho details, major as well as minor, of the story of creation, vary so illimitably that in adopting one tribal version one does not throw discredit on another, since, despite the bewildering difference of detail, the essential spirit remains the same. This period of the Maori genesis abounds in the mythological exploits of the gods who, remaining with their Earth Mother, performed marvellous feats. The sons of Rangi, who had accompanied him into his heavenly exile, were equally active, as we shall presently

of light and fragrance of perfume which visited the wife of Toi, and became, through her, an ancestor of the Maui Maori people. The exploits of the demigods Rehua, Tane, Maui, and Tawhaki irresistibly recall the calm majesty of Zeus, the might of Hercules, the cunning of Prometheus, and the brilliance of Apollo. Nor does the vain Narcissus, in love with his own beauty, lack his counterpart in Maori mythology ; as witness the legend of Tini-rau, of whom the Ngati-hau legend relates that Tini-rau was a chief of the Islands of the North, celebrated for the beauty of his form and face. To gratify his vanity several pools of clear water were "tapu" to his use, so that he might admire himself in. their still depths.

Then is recorded the culminating throb of consciousness in the mythical marriage •of "Rangi" (the Heavens) and "'Papa" (the Earth). From their union, by long, slow processes, sprang the wonders -of creation. For an unmeasured period the gods who were the offspring of thtse supreme powers, lived in utter darkness, since to separate the Heaven from the Earth was impossible. Finally, weary of the age-long darkness, five -of the principal sons of Rangi and Papa conspired to separate their parents. After many and repeated failures Tane, the mighty and powerful Tane, succeeded, aided not only by his brothers, but by a wonderful Karakia or charm. It was long ere the piteous lamentations of tLe primal parents ceased. Farewell after farewell did Papa, the mighty mother, breathe forth, to be anfwered with passionate tenderness by Rangi, her faithful lord and lover. Nor may this nrst parting of the primal parents ever fall into oblivion, since through all the centuries does the round of the year recall it.

The night dews of autumn, which lie heavy on the Earth's breast, are the -tears of Rangi, still mourning his beloved ; and again, when winter's icicles gleam -cold and bright, men are reminded of Rangi's last farewell : "Oh, Papa, remain where you are, but know that in winter I will sigh (long) for you" ; and of Papa's sad answer: "Depart, oh Rangi, in summer, I also will grieve for you." Therefore to this day do the mists rise from the warm bosom of the earth and float upward to be drawn in by the breath of Rangi. Now, at this parting of Earth and Heaven some of the gods, their offspring, remained with their mother Earth, and of these Tane was the chief. Rehua, God of Beneficence, accompanied his father Rangi to heaven, and remained there, dwelling m the tenth, or highest heaven. Rehua, who, in many of hisattributes, closely resembles the Greek Zerus, was also known as the "Aged One." A kingly personage, with flowing locks and majestic bearing. Despite the somewhat disquieting impression that thunder and lightning radiated from his person, Rehua was essentially a beneficent god, opposed to strife and bloodshed, and by his genial influence on the

hearts of men, dispersing sorrow and sadness. Touching is the next episode in this creative myth, for now, Tane, filled with filial regret at the nakedness of his exiled father, roamed to the uttermost limits in search of coverings for him. So he brought back the various clouds of day and of sunset; and again, disappointed because at night his great Father still gloomed cold and dark, journeyed and brought back the stars of night, so that now, by day and night, Rangi was appropriately adorned. At this time only small vines and creepers grew on the earth, and Tane, desiring to beautify his mother Papa, obtained from Rehua trees and seeds of trees, all of which he planted. Tane therefore is the God of Forests, and the trees, from tli2

see. Many points of curious analog} 7 with Biblical history present themselves — as in the loves of TaAvhaki, the earthly god, and the celestial maiden Tango-Tango, which embodies the same idea as is expressed in Genesis vi, 2. , Again tradition repeats itself in the rebellion of the heavenly hosts against the supreme decrees of Rangi, and : yet again in the Maori version of the great flood. Most interesting of all, perhaps, is that little-known tradition of the aboriginal or Maui Maori, which has been handed down to us by his conqueror the Maori, in which we may trace a savage rendering of an immaculate conception shedding its divine lustre on the human race. It is embodied in the tradition of a mysterious heavenly essence, diffusing at once a radiance

Rangi, and remained there. It is from the tragedy of Tane's own unhappy union that we learn now of the existence of the underground world, the Po, or Hades, of Maori belief. For Tane had taken to wife a beautiful creation of his own, named Hine-ata-uira, and while he was absent on one of his frequent consultations with the beneficent Rehua Hine-ata-uira questioned those about here concerning her parentage. "Oh, 3'ou people !" she cried, "Where is my father, by whom 1 am?" Again and again was the question repeated ere those about her answered slowly and reluctantly, "That is he with whom you live." Then did Hine-ata-uira die of the grief and shame of her own story, and, talcing her children with her, fled down the broad highway of Death to the dark

To return, however, from this digression to the main thread of the primal myths of the Maori, we shall see that it is in the achievements of the restless and virile Tane that the central thread of the mythology of creation is woven. His creative force was expended impartially on small as on great things. Having adorned his father with the sacred red clouds and the glittering stars, and wrapped hi 9 mother in the gracious foliage of creeper, tree, and fern, he caught the winds and prisoned them to silence their sad sighing — but two escaped; he created the ocean, great sea of Kiwa, from whose depths presently Maui should fish up Aotearoa (New Zealand) ; created also the little weka, referred to in an ancient proverb as "The hidden bird of Tane." A greater ambition now filled his breast — he turned his thoughts to the creation of man. With the red soil of Hawaiki — moistened, as some of the legends declare, with his own blood — Tane modelled a form resembling his own ("In his own image created He him"), and, raising it in his arms, breathed unto the God Tv a mighty Karakia (prayer) : called upon heat and light to warm the clay, saw it breathe and move, and in an ecstacy of delight at his own handiwork called the first man Tiki.

The Ngai-tahu tribe preserved a chant embodying the story of man's creation, of which the last lines, as given in "White's Ancient Maori History," are very beautiful, and rich in subtle suggestion :

"The shadows screen The faintest gleam of light; The creative power, The ecstacy of life just known, And joy of issuing forth From silence into sound. The chorus of life Rose and swelled Into ecstacy, Then rested in Bliss of calm and quiet." But the labours of Tane on earth were not yet rounded to the perfect whole. The latest triumph of his creative power was lonely — he had no companion. No god, but only a mortal, Tiki lacked the power to surround himself with the embodiments of his faney — people his own world Amid the heroic strife and gigantic labours of the gods he shivered, puny, pitiful, alone. Therefore Tane resolved to create a companion for Tiki, and once more took counsel with the superior gods. In the warm red earth, the earth of Hawaiki, he modelled the figure of a woman, himself endued her with life, named her 10-Wahine, and gave her to Tiki as companion and wife. The children of Tiki and 10-Wahine, with their descendants, peopled the world, and Tane, his labours being complete, ascended to his father

cnder-world. Thither Tane followed her. Lacking the magic lute of Orpheus, which rendered his search for Eurydic© comparatively easy, it was with difficulty that Tane passed one after another the dread guardians of the under-world, until he reached that gloomy shade in which Hine-ata-uira had hidden herself with their children. Long and tenderly he besought his wife to return with him to Earth. She was inflexible in her refusal, and desired Tane to "return to the light and nourish thy children (or creations) on Earth, leaving me here to draw to myself some of our offspring." Songs and chants expressing the love and grief of Tane and Hine are among the tenderest poems of the Maoris. Tane, having returned to Earth, found it peopled by the descendants of Tiki and 10-Wahine, and determined to leave tasks, now completed, and join his father Rangi in Heaven. Here his virile strength and strategy found ample scope in driving out, under Rangi s directions, the discontented and rebellious spirits who had already introduced strife and discord to those calm regions. Battle after battle was fought. Some of the rebel spirits, hurled from the heavens they had desecrated, fell, broken and defeated, to carth — fell lower still to the very Hades beneath, the Po of endless night. From here, to avenge themselves on Tane, they incited his earthly children, both men and brutes, to strife, cruelty, and bloodshed, so that birds, fish, and animals preyed on one another, and man also slew man without pity or remorse. And still in those distant heavens the vast strife continued, battle followed battle, until, at length, the hosts of Tane had driven out the last of that rebellious multitude.

Doomed to eternally exist in doubt and discontent in this world, and in the under-worlds of darkness, all the evils that afflict men spring from the influence of these fallen spirits.

Traditions of a deluge form part of the mythological history of a later period. Some versions of these flood traditions, as given to me by members of the Ngati-toa and Ngati-raukawa tribes, were so curiously like Biblical history that I could not help suspecting that that fine intuitive imitation which so characterises the Maori had led him to appropriate certain dramatic details of Bible history as taught by the early missionaries, and graft them upon his own tradition. However that may be, the deluge of Maori, like that of Biblical lore, was caused by the persistent wrong-doing of men, and their disregard of the command^ and precepts left by Tane when he formulated the great law of Tapu before leaving the Earth, and finally taking up his abode in the heavens. Seven moons (months) was the time fixed by some traditions as the period during which the great raft — borne by the flood-fed waters over the submerged land and out to the ocean itself — floated on the waters. When at last the subsidence of the flood permitted the occupants of the raft to land solemn thank-offerings and sacrifices!, accompanied by prayers, were made before the grateful crew permitted themselves ihe long-desired luxury of cooked food.

Such was the mythology of creation which the Maori brought with him from ancient fatherlands. Having thus piloted as clear a course as may be — sacrificing as little as possible to the exigencies of time and space — and preserving the integral elements, while necessarily discarding the redundant details, of a most elaborate and interesting system of myths, we must, in order to appreciate the moral and intellectual basis of the Maori character, briefly glance at their religious beliefs. This religion, or religious belief, we have every reason to conclude, is that which the Maori preserved intact through all his restless ocean wanderings, eacred through all the struggles and strifes of his troubled land migrations; inviolable through all his intercourse with the aboriginal inhabitants of this, his final home. Of thp tremendous power and weird mystery which surrounded the practice of the rites, and rehearsing the formula of Mauri religion, it is almost impossible for us, with our habits of thought, to conceive.

A few words of quotation from such a well-accepted authority on Maori life and history as the late Mr White ( Ancient Maori History") will serve to illustrate my meaning :—: — He had for ages held tenaciously to the mode of

life imposed upon him by the laws and customs of his mythology, and he held his sacred knowledge in such awe that to divulge it to those not of his own race, or even to the junior branches of his own people, was to incur the penalty of death. So thoroughly was he imbued with the principles of his early leaching, that, even after he had been taught and had adopted the tenets of the Christian faith, his priests would not dare to disclose one of thensecrets." . . . When the young chief who wrote the

history of Tai-nui from the dictation of an old priest asked that the whole of it should be iclaUd to him. he was thus answered: "Since tho Wharc-kura in which our learned priests taught our history have been neglected, no house is sacred enough for the whole of our hiVtory to be recited, therein, and I am not able to defend myself from the consequences which would most certainly follow if I were to teach you the whole of our sacred history " With this attempt to realise something at least of the supernatural powers which, surrounded with all their dread unspoken penalties the faintest tendency to sacrilege, we may turn to the sapient features of