MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Daily Times, 22 July 1935, Page 4

MAORI MEMORIES

(By J.H.S. for “The Daily Times.”) TU AND KONGO. Apparently by independent observation several writers have drawn attention to the similarity of Milton’s Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained-, with the ancient Maori traditions. Both refer definitely to the War of the Spirits in Heaven and- on Earth, and the contest between Good and Evil. Tu and Rongo, who subsequently were recognised as the only God of War and the Prince of Peace'respectively, were the’ leaders of the rebellion in the unner air. Tane, the Father of all on Earth, and God of the Forests, deeply grieved with their strife, droVe them from the World of Light above, to the Mace of Darkness (Pouri) on Earth far below. Rangi, the. Father of the Skies, invested Tane with this power, and in future the lower world became their dwelling place. Tane asked that the wicked should be destroyed, but Rangi held that without conflict, evil, and death, there could be no virtue in peace. Striving against them was man’s only lione to attain perfection. In their own crude way, their. theology in. regard to the Battle of Life was that our modern poet whose philosophy is told in a- single sentence — “We build the ladder by which we rise From lowly Earth to .the vaulted Skies,' And mount to its summit round • by round.”

In these conflicts between the Gods of Good and Evil, even as with their followers, the spirit of cannibalism and warfare were held to be necessary, apparently as the only recognised check to the over-present threat of over population, for “the'gods devoured each other.” Modern science knows other methods, so now wo may hope for peace and good will. The Maori is frequently said to be a worshippger of idols; but this is not so. Any such effigy was, like the Cross, simply an emblem of memory. The Maori “god sticks” presented to the Duke of Gloucester were not worshipped as gods, but were supposed to have held virtue, as having been touched by the spirit of “Good .Will” for the departing Royal guest, a simple, natural, and modern emblem.