MAORI MEMORIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 31 August 1940, Page 3

MAORI MEMORIES

STRANGE CUSTOMS,

(Recorded by o£ Palmerston North

for the “Times-Age.”)

• When a common person (tangata noa), a slave (pononga). a prisoner (herehere), or a woman of high or low rank came near any place which had been made sacred, the men. had to bow low to earth and the women veiled their faces with their hands or a flax mat. The same rule applied as a token of respect from one of lowly descent to a priest or an aristocrat (Rangatira). A nod of the head or a silent response to any question meant denial or dissent. To raise the eyebrows and wrinkle the forehead was their sign of assent and the equivalent of our nod of the head.

To avenge a wrong, the friends of an injured person would organise a taua (gang of raiders) to quickly remove goods the value of the wrong inflicted on the victim. This was common law, and no resentment was incurred against the raiders. If a married woman eloped with a man of another tribe, their tribe would muru (rob) the husband’s home, because he should have protected his fellow tribesmen against the loss of potential warriors to defend their future rights. If however. the woman had already borne sons, the- offence might bo condoned. If a boy was killed or permanently injured by accident the parents would be liable to muru for the loss of a future defender. Our habit of whistling (whio) was greatly resented by the Maoris because to them it. was the voice of an evil spirit, (wairua kino). To this day the Maori has an instinctive dislike for it and few of them ever whistle.