MAORI KITE-FLYING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 74, Issue 133, 8 June 1931, Page 6

MAORI KITE-FLYING

AN OLD-AGE CUSTOM J USED IN PEACE AND IN WAR J With so many kites being flown about the city, it is interesting ti recall that the kite was used by the Maori, both in peace and in war. The New Zea land Natives went further than to uso kites merely for passing enjoyment. The fluttering forms assumed certain divinistic significance referred to in ritual and in songs, the method of transmitting messages up to the kite-head by means of the holding cord being regarded with superstitious concern. (So expert did the Maori people become that they were able to employ kites for the purposes of warfare. Using the wind, they would fly a kite, to which a fire slumbering torch would be attached, to land on a pa that was to be attacked. (Several communal villages were captured in this manner, warriors launching an attack when the missive from the air had set fire to the homes of enemies Evidence of ancient Maori skill in the making of kites is to be seen as lhe Auckland War Memorial Museum. One of the most, elaborate, and probably the best specimen extant, belongs to the Sir George Grey collection. It is about, five feet across. There were several kinds of kites flown by the Maori at social gatherings. Many would bring kites, each flying his own. But only a few unt of a number would fly quite steady and upright. In a paper read before the Wanganui Philosophical (Society in 1912. Mr T. W. Downes had some interesting remarks to make about the Maori using the kite in warfare. Nuku, a chief of Ngati Kahu-nugunu. had his first experience of actual warfare at the Maunga-raki pa, on the Wainuioru River, Wairarapa, which place ho took, although considered by all to bo impregnable. There was no road down the cliff to the pa. Nuku, with IUO men was above, looking down. The people slept with their usual thoughts of security, but Nuku built a huge raupo kite, something in the shape of a bird. During the darkness of night he fastened a man to lhe kite and floated him down over the cliff into the pa below. The man opened the gates and Nuku let his men down the cliff by means of a vine. Before morning the pa was taken. < olenso has stated that kites were held in great esteem by the Maori at one time and were made of the :nanufactored bark of the paper mulberry, ? which was formerly manufactured by the Maoris for its bark. Inferior ones were made of the prepared leaves of some of the larger sedges. They were prettily made, requiring time and skill in their construction, and much resembled a bird flying than the English kites. The old chiefs would sometimes quietly spend hours amusing themselves in flying them and singing the kite’s song, using a very long string. Kites being flown at any fort or vil lage were a sure sign of peace. Mr Eidson Best, stated that some kites were said to have measured as much as 15 or more feet across lhe wings. Two men manipulated the cord, and two others started the kite. In “The History of Ngati-kahu-ngu nu,” Mr T. W. Downes mentions a case of kites being employed by priests io li-ml the bodies of two missing boys. One chief, Tupurupuru, became famous and some of his relatives, becoming jealous, decided that they would divide the honours of chieftainship- between twin boys. Feeling became strong between the rival factions. A man was sent to To Whenuanui pa (up the Waipawa River, in the Gisborne District) and he killed both the lads. The mother searched for them and could not v find them. She called on the priests for their aid and they made two kites ami the kites, while incantations were recited, travelled to high over the pa of the man at the bottom responsible for the boys’ death. The mother went, to the pa and wanted to Know where the boys were aud was told by the chief, “Go home at once or I will make meat of you also.’’ A war party was arranged, and the responsible chief’s people defeated, he having to flee from the district.