THE HAUHAU CULT

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 67, 27 September 1939, Page 3

THE HAUHAU CULT

INTRODUCTION TO THE BAY

WILD BUSH CEREMONIES It was not till 1865 that the Hauhau cult or craze spread to the Bay of Plenty from Taranaki Avhcn it was introduced by the notorious Iveieopa and once I'atara, a Taranaki man. Kereopa, who took part in the murder of the Rev C. Vlckner in O'potiki, and obtained the pleasing nickname of Kal-Avhatu (eye eatei) fiom his devouring of the eyes of bis a ictims, Avas an Arawa man. With the Taranaki "missionary'' he met Tnhoe and other tribes near Galatea in April, 1865, and there a meeting was held for the purpose explaining the new "religion" and obtaining converts. The "missionaries" brought Avith them the head of Captain Lloyd, who had been killed in Taranaki a year earlier, and also two European prisoners, whose situation cannot have been, exactly com foi table. They must have shuddered as Lloyd's head was exposed to the wild bush men who. it is sa ! d, behaved something like raging maniacs, dancing round the head, biting at it, and uttering ferocious yells. The women were 'the worst, says Eisdon Host, who adds that accounts given to him of the proceedings by persons who took part in them were qf # most revolting nature. The Niu.

Hauhau meetings, lie acids, were often held during the war against the pakeha. especially just before a fight' or a raiding expedition. The functions were often conducted round a pole, like a flagstaff, set up in the ground. Tli's pole was called a niu. The two atua (gods or demons) of the cult were Riki and Rura. Riki was thp Hauhau war god, and lie is depicted on one Hauhau flag, seen bv Best at Ruatahuna, as a semi-hu-mP.n black figure on a red ground. The flag was pennant shaped, not rectangular. The flags do not always seem to have been of the same colour Riki was the "sword wielder'' and attended to the military branch o? the cult's affairs. Rura was the god of peace. He seems to have occupied a secondary position to Riki, in fact his acquaintance was not, cultivated by Tuhoe until they were thoroughly beaten and cowed. Tn the niu function the performers marched in a ring round the pole, repeating a so-called karak'a (charm) of meaningless rubbish containing many English words. performers acted meanwhile ns though they were demented, as they probably were temporarily, A Prophecy. I'n one e." chose idotic effusions occur the following words "Piki hira, rons?o hira, teMiana'' which savs Best is simnlv the native pronunciation of the English words "Bisf hill, long hill station..'' Tuhoe explained to him thot thev did not afc firstunderstand what these Avords meant until, in after vears, the surveyors came to erect the trig stations upon the biggest ranges and highest hi!H Then they saw what a marvellously clever man must the originator of that cryptic sentence have been.

The following description of the niu function was .given by Paitjni of Tiiiioc whoso story of the Puiht at Orakau was given in an earlier article. Paitini was a true follower of To Koot\ and followed that gentleman during his East Coast rn ! ds ; and in his A'arious changes of residence until 188!). "The Hag o" the war gol Riki was hoisted on the niu then the people would walk in procession round that stall, repeating Karakia and acting in a crazy-like manner. These incantations were for the purpose of implanting courage in the performers. An elderly man woul-l recite a preliminary incantation, then a person known as the her! (head?) often a young person, mall or female, would act as a leader m the reciting of the next karakia, a port:on o' which is given: "Porini hoia tiewhera teihana. Ta te imin' tana niu inik' tiehana. kopere a karae oi'o te waia tick.ana hai karawhiu hamu te taovo te man rauna tc niu teihana-ete." "All joined in the repeating of this ( walking around the pole from left to right, as they did so, and swinging their right arms all the time. The ring of performers was outside the hcti, who walked round the pole & continued to reneat thcharm given ahovo ( which is given as an example of the rtbsird g bberish u.sed. Those who choose m >v en.deavor.r to render it in. to l'-n<-;li 1 1 ..

Lloyd's Head. "The head of Captain Lloyd" said Paitini, "was looked upon as an atua. It would be stuck on a stake inserted in the ground, then the people, would collect and dance round it weapon in hand. The natives who brought the head to the Tuhoe tribe were Patara Horomona, Tc Wai, Tc Wiwini and Pu-totara. They had also with them two European prisoners brought from Taranaki. "Tuhoe took one of these Europeans to Tauranga (Gisborne). The Taranaki people took the other to the same place but by way of the coast.. These two prisoners also the head of Captain, Lloyd were handed over to Hirini tc Kani at Turanga. He returned the two prisoners to us, but they afterwards escaped. One ran away at Ohincmutu." The first notable event in the Bay of Plenty aiflter the acceptance of Hauhauism was the murder of the Rev C. Volckner at Opotiki on March 2 1860. Tt was an illustration of the "savage ferocitv of the Maori people when excited by a socalled religion, ifbr of all the Europeans who have settled in New Zealand not one was n better fr'end to the Maori than the goo:l, earnest, simple hearted twain or Volckner and WOII lers (fortunately the last named escaped). Many of the ruffians who had taken part in the 1 murder of Volckner escaped punishment, but Kereopa, the ringleader 1 , Avas captured in 1871 and hanged at Napier. Kereopa cannot haA'e been a very pleasant person. A photograph taken in Napier some time before his execution shows him heavily bearded dressed in a rough mat. He did net have a great deal of tattoo; just four or five lines on the forehead and a few scrollings on his checks. The features are fairly clean-cut and not repugnant but even in the old Haded print the mad eyes glare out.