THE DEITIES OF ANCIENT MAORILAND. 



By R. W. REID, 

 New Zealand. 



The perusal of books of travel, and of missionary 

 registers dealing with New Zealand about a hundred 

 years ago, provides the principal information the 

 world possesses concerning the old-time Maoris, 

 their habits and customs, and their religious beliefs. 

 No worthy effort seems to have been made to collate 

 the invaluable accounts of ancient Maoriland 

 scattered through the kind of works mentioned. 

 Here and there, in some old and faded missionary 

 register, scientific facts of the greatest interest and 

 importance are met with ; nor are they of less 

 moment because the writers did not always realise 

 their importance, or foresee the avidity with which 

 their somewhat artless contributions would be read 

 by succeeding generations. One has to skim 

 numerous heavy tomes — heavy in more senses than 

 one — to arrive at anything approaching clear con- 

 ceptions with respect to the religious beliefs— the 

 superstitions, some may designate them — of the 

 Maoris when they were first discovered by 

 Europeans. 



The Maoris, like the Greeks, Romans, and other 

 races, had a great variety of gods. Atua was, how- 

 ever, their principal deity. Crozet, in his " Nouveau 

 Voyage a la Mer du Sud," mentions that the Maoris 

 with whom he came in contact had a number of 

 subordinate divinities to whom they were wont to 

 pray for victory over their enemies. A writer 

 (unnamed) in the Missionary Register for 1822 gives 

 a description of the Maoris' daily adoration of the 

 sun, moon, and stars. Of the heavenly host the 

 moon, he says, was their favourite. This statement 

 seems to be not fully borne out by the writer ; for he 

 observed that when addressing the moon the 

 Maoris employed a mournful song and appeared to 

 be as full of apprehension as of devotion. They 

 presented a totally different demeanour when 

 engaged in their adoration of the sun. Then their 

 arms were extended and partly uplifted, and though 

 their heads were bowed " there was an appearance 

 of much joy in their countenances." The songs 

 sung in their worship, or adoration, of the sun were 

 never solemn, as they were when the moon was 

 addressed, but bright and cheerful. The old Maoris, 

 in addition, held many strange ideas with regard to 

 some of the more conspicuous constellations. Not 

 only were the issues of human affairs influenced, but 

 also the future was indicated by the movements of 

 the stars. The Pleiads, shining in the deep blue of 

 the New Zealand sky, touched the imaginations of 

 the Maoris. Tennyson said the Pleiads 



Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid. 



But the Maoris discerned there the presence of their 

 kinsmen. The Pleiads, according to Nicholas's 

 " Voyage to New Zealand," they believed to be 

 seven of their departed countrymen fixed in the 

 firmament. One eye only of each of those trans- 

 ported Maoris was visible, and in the form of a star. 

 But it was a common superstition among them — and 

 this fact is frequently mentioned in century-old 

 records — that after death the left eyes of chiefs 

 became stars. 



The belief that the stars are the departed heroes 

 of the earth, as readers are aware, is old and wide- 

 spread. Traces of it can be found in the primitive 

 faiths of nearly every land. A shooting star was 

 regarded as an omen of ill, as generally a warning 

 of the approaching death of a chief ; and the 

 Maoris, like the rest of us, have their own man in 

 the moon. He, however, seems to be a kind of 

 deity. He is immortal, and possesses the power of 

 conferring immortality. He loved Rona, a Maori 

 maiden, and, as she loved him in return, she 

 accompanied him to the moon. Different versions 

 of Rona's life after her translation to the night 

 luminary are met with. One is that Rona remained 

 in the moon, and another that she returned to earth 

 to rejoin her Maori lover. 



Atua, as stated, was the most powerful god in 

 ancient Maoriland. The word Atua is found in 

 several forms in most of the South Sea dialects, and 

 is thought by some to be allied with the Sanscrit 

 Dewa, the Greek Zeus, and the Latin Deus. This 

 god was deemed by the Maoris to be immortal, 

 omnipresent, invisible, and supreme. Yet, in spite 

 of those mighty attributes, he was believed to be, in 

 disposition, merely a vindictive and malignant demon. 

 The Missionary Register for 1823 mentions that 

 when a white clergyman spoke to the Maoris about 

 the infinite goodness of God they bluntly responded 

 with the query : " Are you joking with us ? " They 

 believed when anyone became sick, the illness 

 was caused by Atua, in the form of a lizard, having 

 gained admittance into the interior of the ailing 

 person, preying upon his, or her, entrails. Then 

 the tohungas, or priests, set to work. The Proceed- 

 ings of the Church Missionary Society for 1819 

 describes the old Maori mode of frightening, or 

 attempting to frighten, the demon god. The 

 tohungas, willingly assisted by the common people, 

 " addressed the most horrid imprecations and curses 

 to the invisible cannibal, in the hope of thereby 

 frightening him away." They imagined that, at 

 other times, Atua amused himself by entangling 



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