Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Maori Race

Chapter IV. Birth, Etc

page 38

Chapter IV. Birth, Etc.

In coming to the details of the different events which marked the progress of a Maori's life, we naturally turn first to the circumstances surrounding his birth and his mother's condition.

Girls reached the age of puberty when about eleven or twelve years old, but continued growing until nearly twenty. At puberty a ceremony common to both sexes took place, namely the solemn rite of “hair cutting.” In the case of a chief's child this necessitated a general fast, and the ceremony took place in the morning so as not to keep the people too long without food. If anyone secretly tasted food in the prohibited interval the fact would be known by the child's head being wouuded during the proceedings. A priest cut the child's hair, and performed the ceremony of “waving” (poipoi) similar to that shortly to be described in the observances attending birth. This was followed by an incantation for the purpose of setting free both priest and youngster from tapu.1 Tattooing generally began at the age of puberty, and in the page 39 case of men sometimes took years to accomplish; for a woman it had to be finished so far as her lips were concerned before she could expect to marry.

Women sometimes became mothers soon after puberty, but such cases were rare. Large families were not uncommon; twelve or fourteen children have been borne by a mother, but it was seldom that such a large family was safely reared. Twins were sometimes born, but triplets almost unheard of. At times, however, the number of children in a Maori family would be quite phenomenal. Ruapani had by his wife Wairau four children, by another wife named Uenukukoihu seventeen children, including a triplet and five sets of twins, by yet another wife a son (Tumaroro), besides others whose names are unrecorded. Pregnant women sometimes had fancies for particular kinds of food, such as birds, eels, etc.2 There was no belief that these pre-natal longings had power to mark the child. A boy was not always wished for in preference to a girl; often for the sake of tribal alliances girls were welcomed. A woman sometimes, if barren, nursed a small household god (whakapakoko-whare) formed of wood and made of the same size and shape as a baby; it was dressed in infant's clothes. Perhaps these images should more properly be called dolls than gods or teraphim, but they had a religious value derived from the spells (karakia) which were chanted over them while they were being dandled, and they were supposed to promote page 40 conception. Some tribes uttered the charms without having the dolls. There was a famous tree to which barren women used to resort to induce pregnancy. It was called “the navel string of Kataka” (Te Iho a Kataka) and the legend is as follows: Centuries ago the god Tane had a daughter named Kataka, and her umbilical cord was placed in this hinau tree. The god was travelling in after days and seated himself to rest in the shade of a tree. He stretched out his hand to gather fruit, when he heard a voice say “Eat me not, for I am the iho of your child Kataka.” Then Tane made the tree sacred, and hung thereon the iho of another of his children, which uttered the words “I am suspended here to cause the conception of children.” After that time if any woman embraced the tree she became pregnant. If she embraced the tree on its eastern side the child would become a boy, if on the side to the setting sun, a girl. At Kawhia there was a stone in which a spirit was supposed to reside and before this stone women repeated prayers, etc., to make them bear children.

If a newly married man dreamt that he saw skulls decorated with feathers lying on the ground it was a sign that his wife had conceived. If the feathers seen in the dream were those of the white crane (kotuku) the child would be a boy; if the feathers were those of the huia, it would be a girl. When the wife of a chief knew herself to be pregnant the ceremony (turakanga) of “strengthening” the child took place. A feast was made, and, page 40a Cultivating Soil with the Ko, or Digging Stick.All moved together in time to a chanted song.[See page 321.]A. Hamilton, Photo page 41 while the food was being cooked in the ovens, the woman went and bathed in the river. A priest built up by the side of a stream two mounds of earth, one supposed to represent a male child and the other a female. A stick was thrust into the ground between the mounds and the stick was named “the path of death.” The priest threw down “the path of death” and set up another stick named “the path of life” while the woman trampled down the mound of the male child with one foot and of the female child with the other, so that either might be made safe. This was done to represent the act of Tiki, the Creator, when the first woman was made. Then, running to the river the woman plunged in and swam ashore, put on her garment and went back to the house, while the ovens were uncovered and the assembly began to devour the feast of the “strengthening” ceremony. The food thus eaten was supposed to nourish the unborn child, so pains were taken that choice and appetising viands were forthcoming.

Delivery generally took place in the open air if the patient was of inferior degree, so that no building should thereby be rendered tapu and useless, but the delivery of well-born women took place in the “birth house,” a dwelling sacred from the intrusion of slaves and common people, and built at a distance from the other houses. Posts were set in the ground on which the woman in labour could strain to assist delivery, which took place in a squatting position, helped by the efforts of a woman who sat behind the mother, with page 42 arms enclasping the abdomen of the latter. As a general rule parturition was easy, but in difficult cases the celestial powers were invoked. The husband came first to the help of the sufferer whose pain was supposed to be through some fault or sin (generally unchastity) committed by her. When the husband had repeated all the charms and spells he could remember, and had recited the potent genealogy of his ancestors from the gods downwards, if the child was still unborn he would urge his wife to confess, which, sad to say, she sometimes did.3 If the woman did not confess nor the babe appear then the services of the Seer (Matakite) would be called in. He would repeat incantations to Hinete-iwaiwa, the goddess presiding over child-birth, while the father went and plunged in the river. If this was not effectual the names of the elder male line of ancestors was repeated, then that of the ancestral line next in succession and then came the order from the priest to the child “Come forth.” Then followed an invocation to Tiki, as the first man, and if this was disregarded it was concluded that the child could not be a boy so the priest would recite the mother's genealogy. Beyond this there was no recourse possible but the art of the surgeon, and to save the woman's life by the aid of the flint knife.

As soon as the babe was born intricate ceremonies began. The navel-string was cut by a priest, he repeating a charm (tangaengae) in which were enumerated to a boy-infant the many manly virtues, such as courage, energy, page 43 etc., he ought to possess, and to a girl-child the qualities expected of her, such as industry, skill in weaving, etc. The new-born babe and its mother were both very sacred at this time and not to be touched by outsiders till they had been made “common” (noa). It was particularly to be dreaded if anyone engaged in the planting or harvesting of sweet-potatoes (kumara) should touch or be touched by a woman before her purification. If the tangaengae charm had not been properly recited while the umbilical cord was cut and pushed back towards the child's belly, the infant would grow up ignorant and slow to learn. The scraped flax used for securing the end of the umbilical cord was not a perfect material for ligature; its slipping sometimes caused protrusion of the umbilicus and sometimes infantile hernia, which, however, disappeared with advancing years. After delivery of the child the placenta was taken from the mother and offered to Mua. The navel-string was buried in a sacred place (urupa), and over this a young tree was sometimes planted; this tree was supposed to have some brotherhood with the child. A certain Maori chief asserted that he had a familiar spirit inhabiting a white-pine tree, and this tree which had sprung from his umbilical cord (iho) grew with his growth, and fell to decay as he became aged. Sometimes the cord (iho) of a chief's son was hung on a tree or placed under a stone at a tribal boundary; the same place often being used for several generations of chief's children. At one place in the Tuhoe country there was a page 44 tree in which in a hole the iho of a priest's son was placed, and the hole stopped with a piece of greenstone.

The ceremonies that attended the naming of the infant and the purification of the mother differed in various localities and according to the rank of the babe, but generally they were as follows. For ordinary children the “naming” and “cleansing” were done by its father who lit a new fire by friction and roasted fern-root thereon. Then he took the baby in his arms and with the cooked fern-root touched the child's head, back, and other parts, finishing by eating the fern-root himself. He then recited his genealogy and named the child; if the child gave any marked movement while a particular name was being uttered it received that name. The father had done his part in going through this ceremony (tamatane) but the child was not yet free from tapu. The next day the eldest female relative (in the direct line) of the infant lit a fire as the father had done, touched the child's body, etc., with cooked fern-root and then ate the food. This rite (ruahine) made the child “common,” so that it could be handled by friends and relatives.

With the wife of a chief greater formalities were observed. There was a festival, especially if the child was the heir of an aristocratic family. The principal director of the birth proceedings was the mother or sister of the parturient woman; if no such relative were present the mother of the husband assumed rule. The day after the babe was born, the page 45 woman and the child were removed from the birth-house (whare kahu) to the “nest-house” (whare-kohanga), a dwelling built especially for the purpose.

The purifying ceremonies (pure or tua or whaka-noa) were performed when the child was taken from the “nest-house,” generally about a month after its birth. The priests took the infant and mother to the side of a stream, made a set of clay balls and each of these balls was named after an ancestor of the child. These balls being set in a row some little mounds of heaped-up soil were made near them and each mound named for a god. A priest then divided in half a branch of some sacred shrub (generally karamu) and tied a portion round the child's waist, while another priest repeated an invocation (tuapana) for purification of mother and child.4 The charms differed for boys and girls, the boys being commended to the protection of Tu the war-god, and the ancestral spirits, the girls to the guardianship of Hine-te-iwaiwa the goddess who presided over the lives of women. The officiating priest stuck a twig of a shrub (raurekau) in the middle of the stream and one on each side, then the mother and child were sprinkled with water from the branch in the priest's hand. The other half of the branch was planted and was supposed to become a sort of vegetable portion of the child, who flourished or sickened as the tree grew or decayed. (A similar idea to that above mentioned of the tree planted with the umbilical cord.) Fires were kindled, and food cooked thereon in sacred ovens; the food was page 46 offered to certain pieces of pumice-stone set in a row, each named after an ancestor of the child, while a prayer was made asking the gods to accept the sacrifice of food. This generally ended the purification ceremony, the mother and the child both being “common” and free to general intercourse. In some places the food was only treated by the ceremony of “waving,” (poipoi), cooked fern-root being lifted up as a “wave-offering” to the gods by the priest, and then laid in a sacred place till a high priestess (tapairu) could touch with the food the parts of the infant's body. Having done so, and wetted the food with her mouth, she re-deposited it in the sacred place.

Afterwards came the baptism (tohinga), or rather “dedication” and naming of the child. A name was sometimes decided on before birth, the father saying “If it is a boy his name shall be so and so; if a girl, so and so,” but at other times it was left to be settled during the ceremony. At the baptism no persons of inferior rank were allowed to be present; only the mother, father, and notable persons of the tribe being permitted to attend. All removed their clothes and tying a girdle of leaves round the waist, accompanied the priest into the river or running stream. The priest took the child in his arms and repeated an incantation to the war-god Tu (in the case of a boy) asking that deity to give the child strength, courage, and ability to do all the various work necessary for an accomplished warrior. While the prayer5 was being uttered the priest sprinkled the page 47 infant with water by means of a branch of karamu shrub held in the hand. This was the “baptism of Tu.” The incantation for a girl differed, as it stated the desire that the god should give her strength to make clothing, welcome strangers, gather shell fish, etc.6 A small wooden god had its mouth placed to the child's ear that the sanctity of the god might descend upon the infant, and a “naming” invocation was recited. At its conclusion the genealogies of the male line were chanted and if the child made any sign, such as sneezing or moving a limb, it received the name then being repeated, if no other name had been decided on. The priest uttered the name aloud, sprinkling the child with water from the sacred branch. It was considered a bad omen if the child should yield to a necessity of nature at this part of the ceremony. Ovens that had been previously prepared were then opened and the contents eaten, one having been set apart for the priests and the others for the guests. The priest who performed the baptismal ceremony was tapu for a lunar month afterwards.

Sometimes after the child was born the mother had no milk to give it, so the priest's aid was again invoked. The priest and the mother with the child went to the side of a running stream and the priest sprinkled the mother with water by means of a handful of weeds dipped in the brook, at the same time repeating the “milk-invocation."7 The mother went to her house alone, giving the child to the care of another woman, and the priest sat outside repeating charms. He had told the page 48 woman previously “If your breasts itch, lay open your clothes and sit naked.” Soon she called out, feeling her bosom getting painful as it filled with milk, and the priest would fetch the baby and give it to her to suckle. The liver of the kahawai fish was sometimes given to the sucking child to prevent flatulence.

The poor infants had a good deal to put up with at times. Flat noses were considered a beauty, and although no mechanical means were used to produce flatness, the constant pressing and rubbing of the native salute (hongi), used instead of a kiss, tended in this direction. Slightly bowed knees too were much admired, not as to any bend in the leg bones, but for the impression conveyed by the outer sides of the limbs being larger than the inner; so the grandmother or some other old crone would begin on the baby soon after birth to make it beautiful. The infant was placed face downwards on the woman's lap, and she would massage away at the little knees and legs, rubbing the flesh outwards and downwards with squeezing of the inner knee. This was sometimes continued for weeks. The baby's ears were early bored with a sharp piece of flint or obsidian; they were kept distended and sore for months that the orifice might be enlarged enough to hold afterwards the huge ornament (a bird's skin for instance) that was sometimes thrust through the ear of the adult. A baby girl had the first joint of the thumb bent outwards or half-disjointed, as a supposed help to her in after years in operations connected with weaving and preparing flax.

page 49

A miscarriage was a serious thing, not so much on account of the health of the woman, but because of the fearful mischief the spirit of the fœtus might do; these spirits (kahukahu) were looked on as the most malignant of demons. In case of such a misfortune happening a priest would at once make a sacred oven, and while offering the food cooked in this oven to the gods he would recite charms to make the demon of the untimely birth innocuous. Burying the fœtus without any ceremony was highly dangerous; even a tame parrot fastened near such a spot would be likely to become “possessed” and would cause great trouble.

Apparently the sense of discrimination between lawfully or unlawfully begotten children was very intense. It was not only that the word “bastard” (poriro) could be applied to the child with stinging effect if it was the offspring of an unmarried woman or a wife who had eloped with some one not her husband, but there were shades of rank even within the family. While a legitimate son by an aristocratic wife would receive every consideration, such as having his hair combed and dressed by his father, a son by a slave-woman or an inferior wife could expect only some savage taunt if presuming to share such honours. A high-born chief alluding to his son being properly begotten would mean that everything relating to the betrothal, marriage, and subsequent events, had been performed with rigid observance. Thus, that the betrothal and consent of parents had been complete, that the page 50 celestial signs and omens had been propitious (for such portents were always supposed to accompany important events in the life of a noble who traced his pedigree from the gods Heaven and Earth), that the ceremonies of freeing the mother and child from tapu, of naming the child, etc, had all been performed without failure or mishap.

Infanticide was not common in old days, although there have been many cases during the last century. The death of the infant usually took place by strangulation. The crime was generally incited by some fit of violent passion, or through jealousy, or through grief for the loss of a husband. Maoris loved children too well and valued the increase of the tribe too highly, to regard infanticide with leniency; often the unfortunate mother would have given her own life directly afterwards to bring back her baby to the world of men.

Some old legends mention the Cæsarian operation and the death of the mother thereby in order to save the child's life, but it was unknown in any authentic story of life in New Zealand, and is probably an incident of ancient tradition brought from other lands, as it is also related in Rarotonga and in New Guinea.8