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The Maori Canoe

Launching

Launching

The launching of a first-class canoe was an important function in Maoriland; it called for certain ritual observances, and was followed by a ceremonial feast. Like many other native functions, it was also an important social meeting, whereat would assemble many scattered page 165social units and tribal divisions. Such meetings were much enjoyed by Maori folk, and were the occasion of much feasting and indulgence in many forms of amusement, dancing, singing, and the playing of games. Many of the latter come under the heading of exercises. At such meeting also were discussed all matters pertaining to the welfare and activities of the tribe and its various divisions.

A priestly adept (tohunga) chanted certain ritual over the new vessel, and this appears to have been a placing of the craft under the care of the gods. In some cases a human sacrifice seems to have been made, though it does not appear to have been a common practice. The killing of a slave or enemy as food for the feast is a different thing from a sacrifice for ritual purposes. Williams's Maori Dictionary gives "Taitai—to remove tapu from a new canoe, a ceremony accompanied with the slaughter of a slave." The term koangaumu waka has a similar meaning.

The following welcome to the new canoe was chanted by the people in some cases: "Naumai, e Tone I Ka kau taua i te awa o Pikopiko-i-whiti; kia matakitakihia koe e te tini o te tangata. Naku koe i tiki atu ki te wao nui a Tane." ("Come hither, O Tane! Let us go forth on the waters of Pikopiko-i-whiti that you may be observed by all persons. 'Twas I who went and brought you hither from the great forest of Tane.") Here we see that the canoe is addressed as Tane: it represents the forest of which Tane was the origin. Pikopiko-i-whiti is said to be the name of an expanse of water surrounding the island of Hawaiki, from which the ancestors of the Maori came to New Zealand, and outside which sheet of water was a line or reef of rocks separating it from the ocean.

The expression whakainu waka was applied to the launching of a new canoe, and certain ritual repeated at the time is said to have been known as whakainu. This ritual was distinct from the kawa, which was recited prior to the launching.

The following notes on the kawa and kindred subjects were supplied by Tuta Nihoniho:—

The kawa rite was performed over a new canoe of importance, such as a war-canoe, but not over an ordinary fishing-canoe. This curious ceremony took place prior to the launching of the completed vessel, and if correctly rendered, without any mistake or mishap, then such a fact was accepted as a good omen for the future of the canoe—it would be a lucky, safe, and successful vessel. Should, however, any error be committed during such per-formance, then assuredly the craft would be an unlucky one, and some mishap to it, or in connection with it, would certainly come to pass.

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On the day previous to the kawanga the tohunga (priestly adept) would enter the forest and seek therein a small shrub of karangu (Coprosma), about 3 ft. in height. Having found such a plant, he laid his hands upon its leaves, and repeated the following words in order to render the shrub tapu for the purpose it was to serve:—

Tohungia te tohu o te mate
Tohungia te tohu o te ora

thus endowing it with the power whereby to foreshadow the welfare or otherwise of the new vessel. He then returned home.

On the following morning he again proceeded to the shrub, and, grasping the stem thereof, repeated the following:—

Tohungia te tohu o te mate
Tohungia te tohu o te ora
He unuhanga a nuku, he unuhanga a rangi
Ka unu to peke mua, ka unu to peke roto
Ka unu to peke taha, ka unu to peke marie.

He then pulled the shrub up by the roots, and, should the roots thereof be drawn out of the earth in their entirety, without breakage, he remarked "Turuki ki tahito o te rangi." If the roots, or some of them, snapped off as he pulled the shrub up he cried "E taukuri E! He atua, he taitahae." This latter expression is equal to "Alas! There's the devil to pay." For the omen drawn from the broken roots was a bad one, presaging misfortune for the canoe and its owners. Hence the operator would at once go and consult other priestly or shamanistic experts, and obtain their assistance in order to kaupare, or avert, the evil omen, or to hurt (overthrow) it—that is to say, to remove or abolish the ill omen by means of invocations or charms.

Now, this curious act of divination in pulling up the shrub obtained its mana (power, effectiveness) from the fact that it had been made tapu for the purpose, as explained above. To pull up any other, non-sanctified shrub for such a purpose would be idle and useless, from the Maori point of view.

During the performance of the kawa rite the karangu shrub was dipped in the water by the officiating tohunga, and struck on the tauihu, or figurehead, of the canoe. This is done at a certain stage in the repetition of the invocation of the kawa; at another stage the name of the canoe is repeated. In this curious ceremony the tapu is lifted from the vessel. It was constructed under tapu so that the task might be brought to a satisfactory conclusion; it now being so finished, the tapu is taken off. The essential object of the kawa rite is to abolish the power and influence of the previous sacred ritual page 167performed over the canoe, so that it is no longer dangerous, that it may be approached and handled by non-tapu persons—in short, that it may be used. During the hurihanga takapau, or tapu-lifting ceremony, the officiating ruahine, or priestess assistant, gets into the canoe. The inferior female element, with its polluting qualities, has now come into contact with the tapu vessel: the tapu is destroyed; the canoe is noa. After this it would be permissible for a woman to stand in the canoe and act as a kaea, or fugleman, in the rendering of a hauling-song.

After the canoe was launched, and had been paddled by a crew on a trial trip, a great feast was held, for which the materials had been long preparing—crops grown and preserved foods stored. To this ceremonial feast other clans were invited, and perhaps a human sacrifice made. A man of some other tribe would be slain for this purpose, his heart offered to the gods to induce them to rest or light upon the canoe—i.e., to protect it and its occupants— and the rest of the body was cooked and eaten as a special dish at the feast. The offering of the human heart was to the tribal gods. The act of dipping a shrub or green branch in water, and then touching the tapu canoe, house, or child with it, was to ensure the protection and assistance of the gods.

The quaint old ritual chanted at the ceremony known as the kawa, or kawanga, as contributed by Tuta, has already been published in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, (vol. 171, pp. 96-98). It is of interest only to Maori linguists, and translations of such old matter are always doubtful.

A person slain at the kawanga of a canoe was a sacrifice to the gods, and the idea behind it was to secure the protection and assistance of such gods, which meant general good luck for the vessel, and the assistance of sea taniwha (monsters) in any crisis.

Te Whatahoro, of Wai-rarapa, contributes the following: Occasionally a human sacrifice was made at the completion of a high-class canoe, such as a war-canoe. In such cases, when the canoe was finished and launched, a leading person, probably the chief owner of the vessel, would ask "Ko wai he tangata mo to tatou waka?" ("Who shall be a person for our canoe?"). Then it is not improbable that some person, perhaps an old relative of the chief, would say "Ko au" ("Myself"), whereupon he would be slain, his heart taken out and offered to the gods at the tuahu, or sacred place, after which it would be taken to the latrine and there left. It being deposited at that place would do away with any possibility of it being eaten by any person. The body, being that of a relative, was not eaten, but was placed in a steam-oven in the earth and left page 168there for all time. If the slaying of the voluntary sacrifice was not approved of by the leading men, then a karearea (sparrow-hawk) was obtained and its heart so offered to the gods. It would be deemed a most unlucky act to slay as a sacrifice for such a function any person who had not consented to be so served—that is, who had not so volunteered for the purpose.

This singular custom is said to have been introduced from Hawaiki, the former home of the Maori people. Human sacrifice at the launching of a new canoe was not a custom on the east coast, and nothing is known there of any new canoe having been launched over the bodies of slaves used as skids.

A sacrifice of six birds was made when the "Takitumu" canoe was launched. The object of such sacrifice was to induce the gods to cherish and protect the vessel.

Tuta contributed the following additional notes: The term taitai waka, or koangaumu waka, was an expression applied to some special food obtained for the ceremonial feast held on the comple-tion of a high-class canoe. Such food might be human flesh, dog's flesh, rats, or birds.

Any such items used as offerings, or in a sacerdotal manner, as for a ceremonial feast, were termed marere. The expressions pure and whaiwhainga kai might also be applied to them. The modern term for such is patunga tapu, but this phrase was so applied by missionaries.

When a new canoe was first used for fishing, one fish of the first haul was set aside as an offering to the gods. Also, when a new canoe was first used on a war expedition, the first man slain was utilized as a sacred offering to the gods.

On a war expedition no cooked food could be carried in a canoe, nor could a fire be kindled on board.