The Mysteries of "Tapu"

Feilding Star, Volume VIII, Issue 25, 10 August 1886, Page 4

The Mysteries of "Tapu"

The "New Zealand Herald" gives an interesting account of Tuhoto, the Maori pnest who was dug out alive at Wairoa after being buried fer 104 hours, but who subsequently died in the Kotoma Hospital. Frem t:-.e fact that Tuhoto survived aa imprisonment of this length of time, without food or water, benealh a inasi of cold mud, his case is a remark•tto ©BO enough, but he has ether claims to celebrity and fame. He wm said to be orer 100 years of age,, and certainly he could not be much younger, because Natives'who are old say that he wai an old man 'while they were young Bui Tuhoto's greatest claim to renown has &ot jet, been put forward, although there lias been a good deal said about him rmce he* waV dug' out. He was the last of the ancio&Maori prietts or tohungas. wio, before the advent of Christian uiMsionurias; and change of all the religious^oneerns of the Maori race. These men have'pawed'away/and have left no successors. . Since the death of Te Ao Katoa, s in Wiitirto, about a jear ago, Tuhoto hai been «loo». In ancient times, the tohijujM Was. the most important man amonfitHhe jiionpebple. These priests were specially ieducated from an early age. Several-young men of .the : tribes would b« selected, of good birth and of intelligence, and-they attended a kind of college under care of «ome venerable priest; who acted a* jMpieMor; Those young men who displayed ' abUily, and who took a deep interest in their studies, were carried oa from the lower to the higher grades, while others *wK«i did net give so much premise wVri dropped «ut and were never entrust^fwlth^heprofoundest secrets or the most awful incantations. What might be-oaHedrto adopt Masonic phrase* ology, f*e^itaf r* lodges of' instruction" were halducThe toliunga had' enormous power, aad had life and death in his hand. -He it was wh* cast the omens 'when a^war- party went out, and read whether, .the warrior* would be successful •r not< '.'He.it was who imposed the my«terious. power of tapu, and he alone could remove it. ife performed the ceremonies when ■/newhousV vra^ opened; he pronounced the^ecessarj incantations when the knmara or taro were planted. The Maoris, while sfill beatheaß, had baptismal ceremonies when a child was a few day» or" weeks old, and these were di» rectedf bvilie tohunga. Tne introduction of Christianity' 'made a considerable change in the power and influence of the tehungia. r But still, after the lapse of fifty y<iars, the ;i Maoris have not got rid of their" 'Old Weas. The tohunjja was a man having "uncanny" powers, and he alone could do certain things. The Na-ive.B believed in tapu, and when, only a year* or two ago, the Qhinimutu Native! decided to giye a piece of land at Botorna on which te build St. Faith's Church ~ they sent -for Tuheto to the Wairoa and he, <oj certain ceremonials, removed ...the.' iapu. It might have been interesting to ..have got from Tuhoto his early "recollections. He has lived through mighty changes. He knew the days 'before prevailed, he could -repeat the ancient incantations to the gods, juidhad m neb.' knowledge which in a philological point of view, would have been greatly valued by European savants. 'He remembered the old Maori wars, -and < r - the' time when Tuhourangi, their land then unvisited by tourists, was a great «nd powerful tribe. And he lived to seethe event of a million years— the great explosion of Tarawera and Rotomahaaa. uu event «uoh as those of which geologists l tell us- One wonders what Tuhoto thought of it all! That the belief mja Tapu and the dread of its power are still strong amongst the Natives was *howi' when Tuhoto was dug out. 1 The nati veir would not- tovek him, or give any assistance, not -because ef any hatred towards^ him,, but because they dreaded they Wjpuld do something which would bring n^n them the anger of the unseen powe^4 v 'SoTahoto had to be 1 brought in to th£ Hospital at Eptorua entirely by Europeans,' the^ Nafives even would not feed Mas'.: while : he^was there. He ap» peared to be wenderfally hale and healthy when .in- tho hospital at £otorua, and geod fo^> sojnel yjarf to come. ; Possibly thit, and the en; ire change of surround* ings, fr«te ,t«o much for the old man. The I^alives jwiil ,'say that when he got amongst 4lie piak'eiias, and ate the food prepared by thum, ted administered by them,i aH Jiis pewers of tapu and magic passed away,.ands© he died. : ; .