Blessing the House.

There is much that is very poetical and beautiful in Maori ritual for the opening of newly-built carved houses and for the removal of the tapu incidental to the carving work. The pakeha puts the tapu on a new church or other important building, as we may observe at any ceremonial opening of such places. But the Maori takes the tapu off a new house, and at the same time he invokes the protection of the gods for the house and the comfort of its inmates. This ritual is not yet forgotten by any means; it is frequently observed, especially in the opening of tribal houses in the Rotorua and East Coast districts.

One of the finest house-opening prayers I have gathered from my old tohunga friends I heard in the Arawa country. Haerehuka was the priest of the ceremonies on this occasion, and this is the translation of one of the karakia he recited page 38 page 39 at the carved front door of the new village hall and guest-house. The house is considered as Tane-Mahuta, the Tree personified:

“Bind, bind together that all may be firm and steadfast, so that into thee, O Tane, may enter not the cold and stormy elements, the Frost-wind, the Great-Rain, the Long-Rain, the Cold Sleety Rain, the Hailstones; that thou mayst stand against the assault of the Mighty Wind, the Long Prevailing Wind, the tempests of the wind-god Tawhiri-matea! May all be warm and safe within thy walls! These shall dwell therein—Warmth, Heaped-up Warmth, and Glowing Heat, Joy and Gladness—these are the people who shall dwell within Tane standing here before me! Now, 'tis done! Bring hither the axe, and bind it on. Our work is o'er!”

And as Haerehuka ended, all the people cried the Maori Amen:

Haumi-e!
Hui-e
Taiki-e!

One may fittingly set beside this the following verse from an old English blessing song chanted at a house-warming:

Blesse ye foure corners of thys house,
And be ye Lintel Blest:
And Blesse ye hearthe and blesse ye bord,
And Bless eche place of Rest.