VISITS TO THE UNDERWORLD IN MAORI MYTHOLOGY

Te Ao Hou, June 1965, Page 43

VISITS TO THE UNDERWORLD IN MAORI MYTHOLOGY by Adele Schafer In the last issue of ‘Te Ao Hou’ there appeared the texts of two ancient Maori stories telling of visits to the underworld: the story of Niwareka and Mataora, and the story of Pare and Hutu. This article attempts to discover something of the original significance of these two stories. In the first story, Mataora beats his wife Niwareka and she runs away to the under-world. He goes down to the underworld in search of her and there he meets the tohunga Uetonga, the father of Niwareka. Uetonga scoffs at the marks painted on Mataora's face, and he tattoos Mataora with his chisel. Niwareka, who has been occupied with the weaving of garments, finds Mataora and looks after him. When his wounds have healed they return to the upper world. But Mataora omits to pay Kuwatawata, the guardian of the door to the underworld, by giving her one of the garments which Niwareka had woven in the underworld. Because of this omission, Kuwatawata no longer allows anyone to return from the underworld.