Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Maori Race

Burial, Etc

Burial, Etc.

If a Maori was so unfortunate as to die in peace and not to meet his fate “fighting, like a shark” he generally faced the inevitable fearlessly and well. It was more trying than for the ordinary European who may be upborne by the belief in brighter realms beyond, for there were only grey shadows in the land of the future for the native soul, and that he should die at all was a sign that he had displeased the gods. Often a sick man was removed to some shed when death drew near, lest his decease should spoil a comfortable dwelling by making it tapu. In the case of a chief, however, his dwelling was tapu even while he lived, and when he died his house was shut up and painted with red ochre, so that a village that had been long inhabited sometimes contained more houses of the dead than of the living. In some tribes indeed a chief might be buried in a corner of the verandah of his page 387 own house, and his wife would spread her mat over his grave every night to assure him of her fidelity.

When it was known that a great man was about to die hundreds of relatives and connections gathered to his village and waited in solemn silence for the “last words” (poroaki or ohaki) he should utter to his tribe. This was equivalent to a man making his will, and was awaited with great attention. Any request made by a dying chief was solemnly recognised. Often it was a reminder of revenge for some unpaid-for wrong, and his children and tribe were requested to pay the debt of vengeance. Sometimes the person who should devote his life to this purpose was named. Just at the moment of death a man's children and near relatives arranged themselves in two lines, the girls on one side, men on the other, each person with a little line of flax fastened to a tag of the dead man's mat. The moribund chief was laid north and south, the head towards Hawaiki (north) and the feet south. At a certain stage in the ceremonial proceedings all would give a tug northwards as a sign that the spirit should start off in that direction. The thin lines of flax were pulled till they broke, as if they remained entire the same sickness or other cause of death would overtake the mourner.

If the spirit did not start off it became unclean (poke), and this would probably arise in case the deceased had no legitimate offspring to offer the funeral sacrifices for him. The spirit would remain unclean until the proper rites had been performed.

page 388

When the death was announced there was much wild lamentation indulged in; the by-standers crying aloud and gashing their faces, or more generally their bodies, with flint knives; this was especially the case with the women, as the men did not wish to spoil their tattooing. Sometimes a woman would become a mass of congealed blood from her wounds. The sharp page 389 stone was held with the finger-nails regulating the depth to which the cutting was allowed to pass. The holder would draw the razor-edged fragment of obsidian up her left arm from waist to shoulder, and then from the left shoulder to the ribs on the right side. The flint was shifted across to the other hand and the process repeated till a cross of blood appeared on the breast, the blood spirting after the passage of the knife. It was a hideous spectacle. The wailing (tangi) was uttered with a peculiar vibrating sound, far-reaching and mournful; this was kept up sometimes for many days, till exhaustion set in and cases in which even death resulted have been recorded. Parties of friends would arrive from afar, some not till long after the death, but weeping was renewed with each arrival, the new-comers lacerating themselves and crying with their faces turned towards the corpse or the grave and wailing, “Go thou, depart, depart, we also will follow.” The badge of mourning was a wreath of green leaves or of lycopodium, or of the kidney fern (Trichomanes reniforme) twisted in the hair. Sometimes one of the women acting as chief mourner wore a circlet of dog's hair, or of a kind of black dried seaweed. Deeds of valour or generosity performed by the dead man were recited and proclaimed to the world.

At a death-scene the wife, as soon as her husband's last breath was drawn, slew the most distinguished of her slaves, generally a prisoner of war. He, of course, though a man of high descent, only ranked at that moment as a slave, and the burial of a chief demanded at least one page 390 human sacrifice, but there were generally more than one. This was done in order that the spirit might as an attendant accompany that of his master to the Under World. Men of rank were never sacrificed at obsequies, thus making it plain that the victims were to be attendants. Female slaves were killed when a chief's favourite wife died. The principal wives of a great lord (ariki) strangled themselves. In our own days the two wives of the old chief Patuone strangled themselves at his death, and were laid out by the side of their dead husband. They did this from affection, so as to prepare his food while his spirit was on its journey to Te Reinga. Sometimes even before death, when a chief was lying very ill, any of his relatives travelling from a distance to be present would kill some person on the road, not because he was an enemy but as a propitiatory victim. The slayer had to pass between the legs of the person killed, so as to avert the anger of the gods.

The corpse was wrapped in a large plain mat covering the whole body and tucked in at the sides. A small mat of Apteryx (Kiwi) feathers was laid on the breast, with a half dog-skin mat slightly underlapping the lower-edge of the Kiwi mat. There was folded round the legs a full dog-skin mat with a border of dogs' tails. All the weapons of the deceased laid beside him were placed in “reverse” position, that is, with their heads or points towards the feet of the corpse. Visiting mourners from other tribes brought mats and other offerings which were placed at the feet of the dead chief. page 391 After the body was buried these mats were displayed in the pa, and traditions connected with them expounded by the elders.

When relatives had closed the eyes of a corpse, the mourning women advanced, the mourning men followed them, all holding green branches. Then commenced the solo and chorus of the death chant (keka) followed by the lament. Over the corpse of a warrior, especially if he had been killed in battle, the war-dirge or scalp-dance (pihi) was chanted and executed. The manner thereof was as follows. An old chief rushed from the house of the deceased, clad only in a waist-girdle of leaves, and drove his spear into the ground alongside the corpse, with the shout, “That is one for Tu (the war-god)!” The old men, at the cry, formed a solid square, each man holding in his hand a fern-stalk on which was fastened a lock of hair taken from the (preserved) head of an enemy. Advancing with even and solid tread towards the body, each held up the hair-decorated fern-stalk in the air, repeating the pihe chant, commencing,

“Tu is enraged and Rongomai descends”
(Tu ka riri, Rongomai ka heke.)

The points of the chorus were marked by the simultaneous lowering and uplifting of the fern stalks, and in the middle of the chant the square of men divided into two parties, forming a north and south line on each side of the body. Again, to the accompaniment of the rising and falling hands the pihe was sung to its conclusion, after which the old men stepped back and crouched down in their places.
page 392

The bent staff (hara) which signified a chief's death was set up as a sign by the roadside. The final ceremony consisted in a priest thrusting into the ground the Wand of Death by the side of a running stream, reciting an incantation, thrusting in the Wand of Life, and then repeating another charm. Returning to the corpse the priest placed the end of his staff (he holding the other end) on the breast of the deceased, while the “Tawhaki” incantation was recited. Guests and friends at the burial feast brought valuable presents of mats, ornaments, etc., which were spread out around the corpse; these were called coverings (kopaki) for the dead. When the tapu had afterwards been removed from these articles they were distributed among the relatives of the deceased. Sometimes the body was beaten on the day after death with fresh flax leaves, in order to drive away any evil spirits that might be lingering about. The legs of the corpse were then bent into a sitting position and drawn up till the knees touched the neck, being fastened in that position with a plaited girdle. This was a war-girdle if the deceased had died in war, and in such case a spear was also placed in the dead hand. This crouching position given to the corpse was almost universally adopted if of a man, but women were often “laid out” at full length, as if asleep. In some cases immediately the breathing ceased the body was bound in a sitting posture to a stake, so as to keep it firm, the face turned eastward. After the wives had strangled themselves their bodies were placed alongside the page 393 corpse of the husband. Often the dead body was rolled up in a mass of the climbing-fern (mange-mange) after being lashed to a pole. Men carried a dead man, feet first, and women bore a dead woman, head first, to a place prepared among the branches of a tree (thus made sacred), and there the corpse was left to its aerial sepulture. Generally the corpse, after lying in state, was placed with its weapons upon a stage or small canoe set up in the forest, or in the sacred place (wahitapu) and was there left to decompose, or was set in a highly ornamented tomb prepared for it.3 Incantations were being continually repeated; one when the corpse was bound up, one when it was being carried to the burial stage, another when it was deposited on the stage. When the bearers had bathed they came and stood naked in a row, bearing green branches, while the charms (Karakia auriuri) to free them from tapu were being said. A chest of carved wood ornamented with feathers was made to hold the garments of deceased, these were preserved by his family. The canoe-coffin or tomb was painted red, and the corpse seated on a grating to allow the putridity to escape.

Slaves or common people were put into a hole and buried quietly. A new spade was made for digging the grave, and this was consecrated with much ceremony and a special long incantation. If there was any other rite it consisted in the cooking of taro, etc., as an offering, to take the place of the human victim offered at a chief's obsequies. Cooked food placed upon the mats or property left by the page 394 deceased inferior person made such property “common” (noa) and removed the tapu. As a sign of mourning the men usually cut their hair off on one side and let the other locks hang long.

After a man had buried his father or a near relative his hair was cut as part of the purification (pure) ceremony, and the hair tied to a stone representing (i.e. named for) an ancestor, and deposited in the sacred place (wahitapu). On the morning following incantations were chanted while a sacred oven was opened and the cooked food brought forth; the sweet-potatoes were held in the hand of the person to be cleansed, while the priest recited the heavenly and earthly pedigree. The food was then offered to stones named for gods, then both priest and laymen ate the food from the sacred oven. This ceremony was again repeated at evening, and then 20 days had to be passed still in a tapu state, for every person and thing that had anything to do with the dead were sacred. At the end of this period two ovens were prepared, the priests and their disciples attended. The priests, standing on the right hand, fed each other by hand; the learners ate their food as they pleased. After this all tapu was removed.

After a man of rank died his sons and near relations often dwelt in the House of Mourning (Whare potae or Whare taua). This place could not be emerged from for a while, and food could only be cooked therein at night. For these dwellers the tapu was lifted by a human sacrifice. The women and children of deceased page 395 remained in the House of Mourning for a longer time, and when the required period was completed the tapu was taken off their “head-dress of sorrow” by a priest beside a running stream. Sometimes when a favourite child died his father would cut off the hair on one side of his head and never allow the long tresses on the other side to be cut or touched. Very often, too, everything that had belonged to the departed would be either buried or destroyed, except some little thing to be kept to be wept over in secret. At times extreme grief would make a man or woman forsake home, and set out wandering like a demented creature.

In the South Island there was an exhumation (rukutanga tupapaku) about a month after burial (nehunga) and a feast provided. The ceremony consisted in preparing two ovens, one for the priests and one for the guests. The priests extracted two teeth from the skull of the corpse, and tying these to a fern-stalk with them touched the food and repeated a charm. This set free from tapu the weapons and ornaments which had been buried with deceased: the teeth were bored and worn as ear-pendants by the nearest relatives of the dead man. The corpse was then re-buried, till, two years afterwards, it was again exhumed for the “bone scraping.”

Generally, especially in the North Island, there were only the two occasions of ceremonies at burial, namely the inhumation at death and the exhumation (hahunga) for “bone scraping” and complete burial. The ceremony of scraping the bones usually occurred a year or so after page 396 death. A gathering of relatives, even of very distant relatives, took places, and therefore large supplies of food had to be prepared. When the chiefs arrived at the stage where the corpse rested, they touched the stage or canoe with a small rod or wand, and then the remains were carried to an appointed place on the back of a highly-decorated bearer. Placed on a pile of leaves, any remaining putrid flesh was scraped from the bones and buried. The skull was set in the lap of a priestess while the funeral song (pihe) was being sung if the deceased had died in war, if not, an incantation (karakia) was chanted.4 All who participated would be so tapu that they could only be fed with long fern-stalks or drink with the hand below the mouth, water being poured from above. The hahunga of several persons might be held at one time, then each bundle of bones was carefully tied up by itself and hidden in caves or chasms. Charms were repeated at every stage of the exhumation, one whilst walking to the place, another when the bones were placed in a basket. The bearers bathed and other bearers took the bones while more recitations were chanted. The basket was opened (incantation), the bundle of bones untied (incantation), the bones were then anointed with red ochre and oil, the skull was decorated with precious feathers and exposed for some time to public gaze. Food was cooked in sacred ovens and offered to the gods. A portion was also offered to the deceased person. Of course the dead man could not eat the substance of the food but its soul (aria) or the spirit of the food was page 397 supposed to be devoured. Then the bones were bound with mats, and by a single bearer taken to some ancient burial place, generally a secret cave, lest the bones might be stolen by an enemy and desecrated by being used as fish-hooks, etc. Wailing and cutting with flints were indulged in by the assembled crowd, all of whom were painted and adorned in their most glaring toilettes. After this, feasting began and lasted several days, the guests finally departing loads with presents of food.

The above description applies only to one and the most common mode of burial. There were several other methods.

Sometimes the dead remained bound in their sitting positions in the canoe or cave. Instances may be found of a carved coffin being provided for the corpse, and a legend relates how a chieftainess directed her son to put her body in a carved coffin on the stage and to have a little house erected over the stage. In the South a curious upright coffin (atamiro), with a door at the back, was erected on a pole or post. This form of coffin was really more like a mummy-case, for the body was first dried or embalmed—sometimes only the head was dried and put in the queer box. Similar embalmed bodies arranged in a sitting posture have been found in caves in the North but generally the resident Maoris disclaim any knowledge of them and state that they are the remains of strangers. Probably this was an ancient mode of sepulture. An enquirer who once visited a mortuary cave described that it page 398 was on the shore of an inland lake, only to be reached by a canal, and the entrance to the cave was so inconspicuous as to escape ordinary notice. Piles of bones were carefully packed together, each parcel with the skull resting on the top of the bones, which were painted red. In the North, the mountains in whose caves the sacred dead were deposited were known as the “Mountains of Prayer” (Maunga Hirihiri), and these hills were invoked to send strength and succour from the spirits of the dead to warriors of the tribe going out to battle. Ramaroa is the name of a celebrated burial-cave in the perpendicular cliffs on the south side of Hokianga Heads, and this cave was invoked (hirihiri) by name when war-parties set out. It is now “common” (noa), because the bones were removed at the time when part of the place was sold as a pilot-station. (See under “War.”)

There is one instance on record of men who had fallen in battle (at Kihikihi, in Waikato) being buried in a circle, feet towards the centre. This is very interesting, as it has been lately found that the tribes which in prehistoric times inhabited Egypt buried their dead in this remarkable manner.

Like the Moriori of the Chatham Islands, the Maori sometimes buried their dead in trees, or more probably deposited the bones in the hollow tree if no caves were to be found in the locality. A few years ago a very large pukatea tree, named Te Ahoroa, growing near Opotiki, fell to the ground, rotten with age, and bursting, disclosed some 500 skeletons. page 399 An old woman of the tribe living near explained that her people had been in the habit of depositing their dead there for a long time, pushing their bones through a hole in the trunk 50 feet from the ground. Capt. Mair counted 397 skulls some time afterwards, but many were broken up.

A person made tapu for the purpose was sometimes to be seen carrying a piece of stick (rakau) on a spear, a ceremony known as “The Stick of the Dead” (Te rakau o te mate). It was carried for a year or so after the death of any chief of consideration. The bearer would, on occasion, be sent to the village of a hated neighbour, if he met anyone of an alien tribe that person was killed and then war ensued, but if when he arrived the pa was empty the stick would be left there and the messenger would return to his own village to fetch a war-party to occupy the pa.

The Maoris generally had a great dislike to allow fire to touch the body of one of their own relatives—probably from the idea of “cooking” attached thereto and reserved for the foe. They did not scruple, however, when on a war party and in desperate circumstances, from disposing of the corpses of their friends by fire lest they should fall into the enemy's hands. Some tribes, moreover, were in the regular habit of cremating their dead. This especially in the north part of the South Island (Marlborough province) and to a less extent at Whanganui, Rangitikei, and Waimate Plains, Taranaki. A quantity of fuel was collected in some solitary place and after the body had page 400 been laid on it the pyre was lighted by the nearest relative; if no near relative was present then by the priest. Generally this was done after nightfall. The fire was anointed with fat, if possible with porpoise fat. A calm night was usually selected, for it was regarded as a deadly omen to some one present related to the deceased if instead of the smoke going straight up it was scattered or hung low. If the smoke ascended straight up the relatives would cry, “Gentle Smoke! Placid Smoke!” (Mahaki paoa! Mahaki Paoa!) and piled on fuel. It was regarded as important that every portion of the deceased, even the smallest fragment of bone or of the wood of the pyre should be consumed. It is probable that the fish-fat was not put on to increase the heat of the fire but as votive offerings, for it is believed that such oily substances were not applied till the fire was nearly extinguished. The ashes were carefully collected by the priests and buried in a pit which was filled up level with the ground and another fire made thereon, the embers and remains of this fire, however, were left in their natural position, so as to deceive anyone who wished to desecrate the ashes.

It is probable that cremation in natural volcanic fires was an ancient custom of the Maori, especially in regard to the bodies of important leaders. It is said that the natives intended to dispose of the bones of the great chief of Taupo, Te Heuheu, by throwing them down the active crater of Ngauruhoe (Tongariro) but were frightened by subterranean page 401 rumblings, and fled, leaving the body on the mountain. This idea may account for even extinct volcanoes being favourite places of sepulture; Putahi, an old crater between Ohaeawai and Kawakawa near Bay of Islands is a notable example.