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MAORI MYTHS and LEGENDS 5 |
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Origin of woodcarving
The art of carving, according to one tradition, is derived from the
people of Tangaroa. Tangaroa is the God of the sea, lakes and rivers. He
created all creatures that live in water and has dominion over them. The
fish are seen as people and live a parallel existence to that of humans
on land (the offspring of Tane and Hine ahu one). The latter do not have
carved images in their meeting house yet, they are only painted. (see
page 2) So the fish people have a meeting house (whose name is Hui te
ananui) and their chief is Tangaroa. |
| Rua te pupuke had
a daugther named Te Manu Hauturuki. She was killed by Tangoroa and his
people and the body taken with them back to their meeting house and tied
to the top of the gable apex to serve as a figure head, what is
now called tekoteko. (see grey figure in diagram) |
First tekoteko |
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The mask underneath is called
koruru. This is in reference to the owl like eyes. (ruru means owl)
Rua set off in search for his daughter and found her body tied to a
stake on the apex of Tangaroa’s meeting house.
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| After greeting her
he looked around for any people. But the place was deserted except for
an old caretaker, Hine matiko tai. From her he learned that all the
people were away seeking food and they would not be back till nightfall.
Now Rua wanted revenge and the means was supplied by the caretaker. The
secret he learned was that Tangaroa’s people could not abide daylight,
over exposure lead to death. |
| Rua
therefore set to work closing all the apertures and crevices through
which light might enter. This is when he became aware of the extra
ordinary fine carvings of the poupou and pou. They were very realistic
and captured the essence of the people represented. The whole house
enacted the story of Rangi and Papa being separated by their children,
the gods and other spiritual beings.
When the fish people came out of the sea at nightfall, they came into
the meeting house and entertained themselves in the same manner as
humans: singing and dancing and telling stories. Then the people went to
sleep. When some awoke at the accustomed time they were puzzled because
it was still very dark. When they asked Hine if daybreak was near she
assured them they were assured that the night was still long. When her
deceit was found out, many succumbed to the light, not making it back to
the sea.
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Modern tekoteko |
