MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1939, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES

POLJRI (Sorrow). Because of an appearance of inconsistency in his outward procedure in regard to sorrow, the Maori has been regarded as a hypocrite by those who do not understand him. Among the emotional Irish people the “wake” closely resembles the Maori tangi (a cry a sound, a salute). Both end abruptly and none but the mourners see or hear anything of their hidden grief. /This is as it should be. The depth of one's sorrow or the height of our joy is not in display. In each tribe there is subtle difference in the tone of their sorrow or salute for the dead —“Ka tangi ke te reo o tenei iwi” (the speech of this tribe has a different sound). After the tangi, sorrow, like their worship, is silent, but no less sincere. That their keenest emotions are ever hidden is a clear indication that they are genuine. This with the Maori applies equally to Mana hara (hatred). Without expressing it in words, he realises that it is more blessed to forget than to forgive. Apparently to revive this memory he exhumes the bones of his beloved ones, thoroughly cleans them and puts them in the Ana (sacred cave) to await the day of his own similar treatment when they will together enter the Maori heaven (Te Reinga) below the surface of land and sea. We men hide our tears in shame but the Maori sheds his openly as his symbol of affection and sympathy for the one and only occasion.