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[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 18th May, 1920; received by Editor, 18th May, 1920; issued separately, 27th June, 1921.]
Of the singular mythopoetic concepts of the Maori folk, and their inner meaning, but little has been recorded. Such information on native myths as is contained in published works is in most cases a bare and hard translation, a soulless rendering of the original that ignores the vivifying spirit of the myth and the teachings that it contains. The spirit that prompted the evolution of such concepts is ignored, or perhaps not understood. The cause of this neglect lies in our ignorance of the mentality of uncultured man, and of his endeavours, in times long past, to seek and explain the origin of man, of natural phenomena, and many other things. In the peculiar plane of mental culture pertaining to such folk as the Maori, such matters are taught in the form of allegorical myths, and the most remarkable feature of such myths is that of personification. At some remote period the Maori strove to envisage primal causes, to grasp the origin of life, of manifestations, and of tangible objects. In these endeavours he trod the path followed by other folk of a similar culture stage, and his mental concepts, his myths, teem with personified forms and with illustrations of animatism. Personifications hinge upon animatism; for given the belief that all natural objects and phenomena possess an indwelling and vivifying spirit, then such a spirit is always apt to develop into a personified form. These primitive beliefs, coupled with that which looks upon all things as having come from a common source, contain the kernel of Maori mythology.
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Though the primal being of Maori myth was Io, the supreme god, yet it was not taught that he begat any other being, but, in some unexplained manner, he caused earth and sky to exist. These are personified in Rangi, the Sky Parent, and Papa, the Earth Mother, and these were the primal parents. Their progeny amounted to seventy, all of whom were atua, or supernatural beings, and among them was Tane, or Tane the Fertilizer, he who fertilized the Earth Mother, and who was the origin of man, of birds, fish, vegetation, minerals, &c.
All things that exist, saith the Maori, are a part of Rangi and Papa, the primal parents—that is to say, they originated with them. Nothing belongs to the earth alone, or to the heavens alone; all sprang from that twain, even unto the heavenly bodies that gleam on high, and the heavenly bodies of all the other skies above the one we see: and all those bodies are worlds.
It was taught in the tapu school of learning that water is one of the chief constituents or necessities of life. It is moisture that causes growth in all things, other necessary agents being the sun, the moon, and the stars. Lacking moisture, all things would fail on earth, in the heavens, in the suns, the moons, and the stars of all realms. Clouds are mist-like emanations originating in the warmth of the body of the Earth Mother. All things possess warmth and cold, all things contain the elements of life and of death, each after the manner of its kind. It was Tane (personified form of the sun) and Tawhirimatea (personified form of winds) who sent back the mists to earth in the form of rain, as a means of cherishing and benefiting all things, for all things absorb moisture, each after the manner of its kind. Air, moisture, warmth, with various forms of sustenance, were the origin of the different forms around us, of the differences in such forms, as in trees, in herbage, in insects, birds, fish, stones, and soils; these things control such forms, and their growth. Hence death assails all things on earth, in the waters, in the sun, the moon, and the stars, in the clouds, mists, rain, and winds; all things contain the elements of decay, each after the manner of its kind.
Again, there is no universal mode of life and growth among all things; each lives, moves, or grows after the manner of its kind. All things possess a home, or receptacle, or haven of some kind, even as the earth is the home of many things. Even the wairua (spirit) has its abode in all things; there is no one thing that does not possess a spirit or soul, each after the manner of its kind. And inasmuch as each and every thing possesses an indwelling spirit or soul, then assuredly everything possesses the elements of warmth, each after the manner of its kind.
Now, as all things in all the realms of the numberless worlds are so constituted, it follows that the female element pertains to all things. Everything has its male and female element. Lacking the female element, nothing could survive, for by such, combined with moisture, do all things acquire form, vitality, and growth. Warmth is another element by means of which things are nurtured, and earth supports all. Even stone is formed of earth, moisture, and heat, and so endowed with life and growth after the manner of its kind.
Now, as such was the intention of Io (the supreme being)—that is, to arrange the functions of all things—even so the denizens of the heavens were appointed as guardians and directors of all things in all the heavens, on earth, and in the heavenly bodies. The twelve heavens are connected with the moons, but the sun is above all—it is the controller of all things.
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Because all things are influenced by good and evil, by anger, jealousy, ambition, and because all follow some form of leadership, even so was it that guardians were appointed to watch each realm and report their condition to Io. And because of the differences that exist in all things, thus it is that all possess strength and weakness, goodness and evil, justness and lack of justice, each after the manner of its kind. Hence the guardians appointed as lords of the eleven heavens, of the earth, and of the spirit world. As these beings appointed as guardians are the salvation of all things by promoting their welfare, and are the emissaries of Io, thus it is that all eyes and all ears are directed to Io-matua, Io the Parent, for he is over all. He is the very acme of all welfare, of life, the head and summit of all things.
Since Io is the head of all things, all things become tapu through him, for without a lord nothing can become tapu, and so he is termed Io the Parent. Since he is termed Io the Parent, and represents the physical and spiritual welfare of all things, we see that the origin of such welfare is with the parent—that the parent holds and controls the welfare of everything. And since all things are centred in him, there is nothing left to be controlled or directed by any other god or being. All things in the twelve heavens, and in all realms, are thus gathered together before him. It is now clear that there exists nothing that does not come under his sway; all comes under Io the Parent.
All things possess a wairua (spirit, or soul), each after the manner of its kind. There is but one parent of all things, one god of all things, one master of all things, one soul of all things. Hence all things are one, and all emanated from Io the Eternal….
It may be thought that the foregoing remarks, which are translated passages from a speech made nearly sixty years ago by a teacher of the tapu school of learning, do not embody much information as to personifications, but they do illustrate Maori mentality. They show clearly how the superior minds of a comparatively uncultured folk broke free from shamanism and a belief in malignant deities, and strove to conceive a supreme being of nobler attributes; how the ancestors of the Maori, wrenching asunder the bonds of gross superstitions, and seeking light from the darkness of ages, pressed forward on the difficult path toward monothesim.