Māori mythology

Māori mythology and Maori traditions are the terms with which the myths, legends and stories of the Māori of New Zealand may be reasonably described. The rituals of the faith and beliefs of the culture of Māori based on a highly differentiated mythology that has been inherited from the Polynesian origin and was further developed in the new environment in New Zealand.

In the mythology of the Māori divine parents Rangi and Papa ( Heaven and Earth ) plays an essential role, of which more gods and descendants descended, in turn, brought forth all living beings and are responsible for forests, the sea, birds, fish, etc..

The " records report, as opposed to the myths of events that they would mostly have happened. Genealogy places them not farther back than a millennium in a period of time. All played out geographically in New Zealand itself from, and the general knowledge is limited to this country. "

Very important point in the traditions of the origin of the Māori of Hawaiki and the canoes in which they have migrated centuries ago to Aotearoa ( New Zealand).

• 2.1 ancestral songs
• 2.2 The poem
• 2.3 stories / prose

• 3.1 Rangi and Papa
• 3.2 The essential Māori Myths

• 4.1 The most important Māori traditions 4.1.1 1st and 2nd traditions to the discovery of New Zealand
• 4.1.2 3 traditions to immigration and colonization of New Zealand
• 4.1.3 Regional differences

Sources of the 19th century

Missionaries

In the first period after arrival of European settlers but little of the very extensive Māori mythology was recorded. Missionaries had still the best ways to gather information, but missed this, certainly because their Māori language skills were not sufficient. In addition, the faith of the missionaries Māori was not right, they regarded him as childish or even the devil's work. Exceptions set JF Wohlers of the South Island, Richard Taylor, who worked in Taranaki and along the Whanganui River, and William Colenso, who lived at the Bay of Islands and in the Hawke 's Bay. " The records of these men are among the best sources of the legends from the areas where they worked ."

Not Missionaries

In the 1840s began Edward Shortland, Sir George Grey, and others who were not missionaries, record the myths and traditions of the Māori. At that time could already read and write many Māori, and the material was written in the same style as it had been handed down orally or described by the Māori. The new medium of the written word at first seemed little influence over the style and content to have. Traditions, songs, stories have been documented in full, as if they had been just reported or sung. Many of these early manuscripts were published, and today many scientists can draw on this material, which is more extensive than comparable other regions of the Pacific, where there is (in addition to new zealand specific ) many myths and traditions in style versions. The best collections today represent two books represent: Nga Mahi a nga Tupuna (documents of the ancestors ), collected by Sir George Grey and translated as Polynesian Mythology; and Ancient History of the Māori ( six volumes), edited by John White

Presentation forms

The three outstanding ( verbal ) expressions of Maori and Polynesians are the narrative poems and songs about the ancestors.

Ancestry songs

The recitation of family trees and genealogy ( whakapapa ) was very well developed in the oral literature of the Maori. This served to report to a kind of timetable along all the myths, traditions and history of the Māori, from the distant past to the present. It united the people of today with the gods and heroes. By citing certain pedigree lines, the narrator emphasized his own connection with the characters of this line, and his right to talk about these gods and heroes. "In the cosmogonic genealogy telling the tribal lines initially only acts as an enumeration of names and turns out on closer inspection to be a true form of literature out that describes an outline of the evolution of the universe. "

The poem

Māori poetry was always sung or recited in rhythmic chant. Rhymes or half- rhymes were no stylistic device only when a text was sung or recited choralisch, the rhythm a bit. The language was different in style from that of the narratives. Typical features of the poems are the frequent use of synonyms or contrasting opposites and the frequent repeating certain keywords. " Original words are common, including the words lost their original meaning and have become religious and mystical significance. Abbreviated, cryptic expressions and the use of certain grammatical constructions, as they do not occur in narrative form, are common. "

Stories / prose

Narratives make up the greatest proportion of the material of Māori legends. Some act holy or mysterious, but most legends are stories for entertainment on long winter evenings. "However, they should not be viewed as a simple fairy tales and stories. The legend of Maui, for example, was important not only for entertainment, but embodied the faith of the people about the origin of fire, death, and the country in which they lived. The ritual chants about lighting fires, fishing, death, etc. related to Maui and got this power in this respect. "

Myths

Myths are very far distant past and act of superhuman. They show the ideas of Māori about the origins of the universe and the origin of gods and men. The mythology explains natural phenomena such as the weather, moon and stars, fish of the sea, the birds of the forest and the forests themselves culturally established practices can be explained by these models and the limits as they are shown in the myths. " Perhaps the most outstanding feature of the myths in addition to its old tradition to its universality. Each of the major myths is in one way or another variant known not only in New Zealand, but in almost all of Polynesia. "

Understanding the Māori for the development of the universe was expressed in genealogical form described above. These genealogies may exist in many versions, but the main points can be found constant again. "Evolution may be compared with a series of sections of darkness (po) or emptiness ( kore ), individually counted or separated from one another by additional details. Sometimes a period of darkness followed by a phase of light ( ao ). In other versions, the evolution of the universe is compared to a tree, with its roots, trunk, branches and twigs. Then again evolution as a child's development is compared in the womb, with the steps " searching, exploring, fertilization, growth, feel the thoughts, the soul, the desire, the knowledge, the phenomenon that development. "Some or all of these topics can be found in the same. "

Rangi and Papa

The cosmological origin story usually begins with Rangi and Papa ( Father Sky and Mother Earth ). The association of this heavenly pair produced the gods and all living things on the earth.

The earliest documented report of the origin of the gods and the first man is detained ( The Sons of Heaven ) in a manuscript called Nga Tama a Rangi, written in 1849 by WI Maihi Te Rangikāheke, of the tribe ( iwi ) of Ngāti Rangiwewehi from Rotorua. The manuscript " presents a clear and systematic review of the religion of Māori and their beliefs about the origin of many natural phenomena, the creation of woman, the origin of death and Landnehmung. " No other version of this myth is so coherent and systematic. But all the early reports, from which area or what tribe Anyway, confirm the general validity of Rangikāheke version. It begins as follows: "My friends, listen to me. The people of the Māori has a common origin named ' Big Sky of - alone - is - the - ground and below - is. ' For Europeans, God created heaven and earth and all things created in it. For the Māori heaven and earth were themselves the origin. "

The essential Māori Myths

The Māori mythology is divided into three cycles:

• The cosmological ancestral history of the origin of gods and men Rangi and Papa
• Hine -nui - te-po

• Maui
• Irawaru
• Tinirau and Kae

• Tawhaki
• Wahieroa
• Rata
• Matuku - tango tango
• Tūwhakararo
• Whakatau

Traditions

" Each group has its own components Māori traditional faith, from which territorial claims can be derived or superiors give their authority or define the boundaries to other groups or tribes. Māori were assuming that their traditions are real origin, and acted accordingly. Alliances were formed when it was believed that you have common ancestors. Respect for tribal leaders based at least in part on the belief in divine or semi-divine ancestors of the higher-ups. "

" Records report, as opposed to the myths of events that mainly so had to have happened. Genealogy places them not farther back than a millennium in a period of time. All played out geographically in New Zealand itself from, and the general knowledge is limited to this country. "

The most important Māori traditions

There are three very important traditions:

1st and 2nd traditions to the discovery of New Zealand

There are two traditions to the discovery of New Zealand. One of these traditions is called Kupe as the discoverer. The second group refers to Toi as the first important ancestors. " Both parallel traditions exist but in different regions of the North Island. Attempts to bring both in a chronological order, fail; there is no reliable evidence that would make it possible to bring these traditions in connection with the same story. "

• Kupe: According to the tribes north of Auckland and the West Coast of the North Island Kupe sailed from Hawaiki to New Zealand, after he had murdered a man named Hoturapa and was with his wife, Kuramarotini fled. The surviving songs describe his journey along the coast of New Zealand. Kupe sailed back later and never returned to the land he discovered. Others, however, set out on the journey according to his direction information.
• Toi ( Toi - kai- Rakau, or Toi - the - wood -eaters) is in the traditions of the east coast of the North Island is the ancestor of the tribes there. Their traditions do not mention anything about his arrival in New Zealand, and the inference is that he had to be born in New Zealand. The Tuhoe tribe in the hinterland of the Bay of Plenty says Tois ancestor was Tiwakawaka, who had inhabited the land as the first, "but he is only his name in remembrance ." Tiwakawaka is the name of a bird, the gray fan tail.

3 traditions of immigration and settlement of New Zealand

There are numerous traditions to the migrations of Māori with waka, canoes, and each area or each tribe refers to a particular canoe. Māori provide, amongst other characteristics before including the mention of her tribe, iwi, and their canoes, waka. " Certain strains emphasize their origin from the crews of canoes more, others less. This is especially emphasized by the tribes of Hauraki, Waikato, and King Country strains ( Tainui canoe ) and the tribes of Rotorua and Taupo (Te Arawa canoe). "

Regional differences

Each group, whether regular or part of a strain developed in details standalone traditional traditions and customs, but generally always " great battles and great men " acted. The stories are connected by the common genealogy and set according to the Māori tradition represents a work of art