Nga mahi a te rehia

Tu Tangata, Issue 19, 1 August 1984, Page 19

Nga mahi a te rehia

What were the games the maori played in pre-pakeha days? Tu Tangata takes a look into its archives and reprints the following article and photographs, from Te Ao Hou No.l, 1952.

Ka kawea tatou e te rehia ‘(We are allured by the arts of pleasure.’) Such a term was not uncommon in maori speech when the pakeha first came to New Zealand, and began to study and record the maori, their attainments and their industry, in the arts of war and peace. Raukatauri and Raukatamea, mythical personages belonging to the traditional dawn of maori legend were, according to Elsdon Best, widely considered to be the founders of all amusements and arts of pleasure, but some tribes had other personages to whom they attributed the origin of amusements. Thus among the Tuhoe tribe Takatakaputea and Marere-o-tonga are said to be the authors of nga mahi a te rehia, the arts of pleasure. Ngati Porou allude to all amusements as nga mahi a Ruhanui (the arts of Ruhanui). The period in which the arts of pleasure were mostly indulged in was just after the crops were gathered and stored and Ropata Wahawaha, when he addressed assembled members of Ngati Porou at the opening of a new house at Waiapu in 1872, remarked: ‘ln former times when Whanui rose, the crops were gathered and stored after which the arts of Ruhanui were practiced.’* In pre-pakeha days, the maori people indulged in amusements and pastimes, many of which are very much akin to those indulged in the pakeha world:

The advent of europeans and their customs had a startling and permanent effect on maori life, one effect of this contact being the abandonment of many old maori ways of life, which included indulgence in sports and pastimes. From 1840 to the turn of the present century, maori interest in sport was confined to participation among themselves in some of the old games and in some of those sports of the pakeha that appealed to them, football, running, tug-o-war, and chopping. Since 1900 there has been an increased interest among maoris in all kinds of sports, and during the last five years it can clearly be seen that not only are maoris participating in sport in close competition with pakehas to a greater extent, but the inter-tribal, inter-canoe and inter-district competitions are increasing to such a proportion that they have become a dominant feature of maori life today. *The heliacal rising of Whanui, the star Vega, was the sign generally accepted as denoting the time for the lifting of the main crop of kumara. The first person of a village community to observe this star in the early morn, at once roused the pa with the old and well-known cry ‘Ko Whanui... E Ko Whanui’, and so the community set to gathering the crops after which came ‘nga mahi a Ruanui’. These details are taken from Elsdon Best, Games and Pastimes of the Maori.

GAMES Maui Cats cradle Ruru Jackstones (knuckle-bones) Tumi (tarere) Swinging (on trees) Pakaukau Kites Haka Posture dancing accompanied by chants Poi As above Whakahoro taratahi Kite flying Potaka Spinning tops Poteteke Acrobatics standing on head, somersaults Taupiupiu Footrace in couples Mu terere A g a m e resembling draughts Moari Giant strides Whatotoa Wrestling Whawhai mekemeke Boxing Takaro omaoma Running Takaro tupeke Jumping Para whawhai School of arms Kau whakataetae Swimming Whakaheke-ngaru Surfing Moari Waterside swing Waka hoehoe Canoe racing Pou toti Stilt walking Piu Skipping Pirori Hoops