THE CREATION OF WOMAN

This is one version of an old karakia (chant) recorded by John White in his much plundered, but little acknowledged “Ancient History of the Maori” (Vol. 1 Puoko XI, p. 144). Other tribal versions appear in “Maori Religion and Mythology”, Best, p. 79; “Nga Moteatea”, Grey, p. 177; “Lore of the Whare Whananga”, Smith, vol. 1, p. 38.

Tane, after he begat Hine-mana-hiri from the earth-mother, took Hine as his wife. When Hine discovered that Tane, her husband, was also her father, she fled away in shame to the underworld and there remained as Hine-nui-te-po. Now all her children go down to live with her in the place of death and darkness.

In Maori mythology, it is always the woman who brings death into the world. Besides this particular story of the creation of women, there are other songs and stories, more symbolic of the sexual act, in which man dies in woman (“Lore of the Whare Wananga”, vol. 1, p. 37; “Maori Religion and Mythology”, p. 76).

Except for certain circumstances (e.g. menstruation, birth) and certain types of woman (puhi, ruahine), woman was considered by the Maori to be noa (common). Man was tapu; his very name, Tane, represents the life-principle; his sacred life could not be tainted with the aroma of cooking or the thousand and one menial tasks of women and slaves.

Yet to be “noa” had certain peculiar advantages. It gave women and girls greater spontaneity and freedom in all their actions. They could— and generally did—take the initiative in love-affairs. In some ways the Maori division of man and woman, with some exceptions, as tapu and noa was simply a reflection of the complementary roles of the male and female in all societies.