THE MAORI IMPACT ON WORLD HISTORY

Tu Tangata, Issue 20, 1 October 1984, Page 45

THE MAORI IMPACT ON WORLD HISTORY

For too long the maori influence on history and civilisation has gone unrecorded. Conventional theory places the beginnings of civilisation in the Middle East and its flowering in Europe. From Europe, we are led to understand, the benefits of civilisation were exported to the benighted savages in other parts of the world such as New Zealand. But as world-famous historian Professor Titonui explains in this new series of articles written especially for Tu Tangata readers, the Maori people have had a much larger part to play on the world stage than has formerly been realised. In these scholarly papers Prof. Titonui examines some of the great events, characters and discoveries of world history, and relates how the maori element has been forgotten or suppressed.

1. The Four Wise Men The story of the wise men is one of the favourite tales of the Christian tradition. As related by St Matthew, the story is correct as far as it goes. But in popular belief there were only three wise men, or Magi. In fact there were four. Of the three who sought out Jesus with their gifts of myrrh, gold and frankincense, nothing more needs to be said. But in this article we shall concentrate on the fourth, whose experience has not been immortalised in the Bible. Ngapuhi traditions tell us that he was a tohunga from Northland, though precisely where he came from is not known now. What we do know is that he too saw the star in the east and followed it. He brought with him a patu pounamu for the infant Jesus, a symbol of beauty, strength and permanance. It is likely that this unsung tohunga travelled around the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea, from where he disembarked and travelled overland to Bethlehem. It is from this point onwards that his story becomes one of misunderstanding, culture shock and tragedy. As is well known, there are no camels or asses in New Zealand. Or if

there are, there certainly weren’t in the first century A.D. Imagine, then, the bewilderment of our tohunga, thousands of miles from home, as he climbed upon his camel or ass, bound for a small town in a province of the Roman Empire on the eastern shores of a strange sea, the Mediterranean. Though a hardy sailor, the endless trek overland on the swaying back of an unfamiliar beast must have had its effect on the sage from Aotearoa. We may picture him climbing down from the back of his beast in Bethlehem, seasick and saddlesore after many days and nights of travel across the inhospitable terrain of desert and rocks. More suffering and indignity was in store for him, for as we know, all the inns and hotels in Bethlehem, normally a fairly sleepy sort of place, were full because it was census time. St Luke tells is in Ch.2 of his gospel that Caesar Augustus had decreed that all the world should be taxed, “and all went to be taxed, every one into his own city”. The implications for our Ngapuhi hero were to be momentous. Not only was he adrift in a unfamiliar territory, without friends or knowledge of local custom, not only was he feeling ill and disoriented, but he also suffered the problem of homelessness.

Thus it was that he was arrested by a Roman patrol in the early hours of the morning, wandering the streets and mumbling to himself in a strange tongue. The Roman empire was a cosmopolitan kind of institution, holding sway from Britain in the north to Africa in the south. There was nothing in the known world which held any terrors for your average Roman legionary. But our wise man was not from the known world. Here was a vagrant, possibly drunk, fearsomely tattooed and, it was discovered when they took him back to the lock-up, he was carrying an offensive weapon. He was booked and thrown into a cell to await a court appearance in the morning.

Meanwhile, as the world knows, the other three wise men had discovered Joseph, Mary and Jesus, presented their gifts and shot through. They might have remained to discover what had happened to the fourth of their number, but they were warned in a dream (Matthew 1:12) to go home.

Neither the Bible nor Ngapuhi tradition can tell us much about what happened from here. Did the tohunga escape and make his way home too? Did he finally get to meet Jesus? Or was he tried and convicted, to end his days as a gladiator in Rome, a galley slave in the Mediterranean or even crucified? It is unlikely that we shall ever know.

While the Ngapuhi account has the undeniable ring of truth to it, it must be admitted that historians would like some tangible evidence of the whole affair. As yet no archaeologist working in the Middle East has unearthed a patu pounamu. No students of the scriptures has come across scrolls or parchments which tell the story of the fourth wise man, and nothing exists in Roman court reports detailing the arrest of the Maori Magus. But we do not need such confirmation to convince us that the whole episode took place, and to learn certain lessons from it. For example, it is likely that this Maori familiarity with Judaea and the Jewish world is at the root of the popular 19th-century theory that the Maoris were in some way related to the Jews. It explains too why the Christian religion after a shaky start, took root among the Maori people. And it is a safe assumption that the Romans, who at this time were eager to expand their empire to the very ends of the earth, took fright at the one Maori they met and wisely decided to leave Aotearoa alone.

Next issue: Custer's second-to-last stand.