MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 July 1939, Page 2

MAORI MEMORIES

FINAL PROOFS.

(Recorded by J.H.S. for “Times-Age.”)

i In ancient Maori legend, our familiar I “Man in the Moon” becomes a Maori maid of beauty in form and feature named Rona, who went out naked to gather sticks in the moonlight. Marama (the moon) modestly retired behind a cloud, causing Rona to trip. She uttered the shocking Maori curse against the moon, “Upoka kohua,” which expressed a fervent hope that Whiro (the spirit of evil) would boil the moon’s head in a pot and eat it! She was instantly caught up into space and thrown across the face of the insulted Marama with her legs “in the air,” where she may still be seen grasping the bundle of sticks in her arms.

In the original Hindoo legend, the lady in the moon is Rohini, the chief wife of the God of the Moon, once Roini, now Rona.

The Maori Tapu known in Sanscrit as Tapas has long been familiar in India as “the Divinity which doth hedge” a chief and all his belongings. The unclean spirit of evil, “Tapu paru,” which made those who broke the sacred law of Tapu unspeakably vile, is clearly traced to the ancient Greek word and curse of “Tapeinos.” Kai tangata (cannibalism), eating vital organs of enemies for revenge (utu), or to absorb their virtues, may be traced to the mythical legend of the Indian god of fire, “Agni,” sharpening his iron tooth as he is about to devour the foes of the Aryans, the Nagas. The “Mana” of the Maori is certainly the Manas of Sanscrit, the subtle spirit and the instinct of mystery, knowledge and power, the gift of the gods.