09 Spiritual Beliefs and Social Control
Social control in Maori society was maintained by an interlocking system of rank, mana, utu and spiritual beliefs pertaining to tapu, mauri and makutu (sorcery)
Tapu is the sacred force emanating from the gods. The sanction behind the power of tapu was death as outlined in the Tawhaki myth when one of his slaves was forbidden to look at the sacred pa of Tongameha. The slave like Lot's wife looked and he perished.
There are three kinds of tapu, they are sacred, prohibited and unclean (as in the biblical sense)
The meeting house was tapu in the sacred sense and the consumption of food which is noa, the antithesis of tapu, was prohibited there. Valuable artifacts were imbued with tapu to prohibit children from touching them.
Tapu in the unclean sense applied to menstrual blood, sickness death and toilet facilities.
Personal tapu in the sacred sense served to enhance the rank of an individual. The higher rank the greater the personal tapu. The most sacred part of the person was the head. Articles of toilet which came in contact with the head (combs, brushes, hats, towels) were tapu by contagion. It was a breach of tapu to put these on a table or in a place where food was prepared.
Tapu restrictions were all-pervading. Urupa (cemeteries) and death were tapu in the unclean sense as exemplified by the custom of washing hands to purify oneself before resuming noraml activities.
In the construction of meeting houses the tapu while the work proceeded kept women and children away so that the workers concentrated on their task.
Firth mentions variations in the intensity of tapu on artifacts. A war canoe had a greater amount of tapu than a river canoe. This ensured that greater care was taken of the former.
Tapu also applied to a number of places that might be termed sacred precincts. These included wai tapu (sacred waters where people bathed to remove illness) urupa (cemeteries) sacred mountains, caves and tuahu (places of worship). The heketua (privy) was a sacred precinct which ensured that human waste was disposed of in such a way that it could not be used for makutu (sorcery).
Tapu was also served to protect and conserve natural resources by a rahui (prohibition) or a closed season. When a rahui was in force on shellfish beds no one dared take shellfish under penalty of death. A rahui was also imposed in the event of drowning out of respect for the dead. Infringement of a rahui meant that the gods withdrew their protection and the mauri (life-force of an individual) was exposed to the influence of evil spirits.
At the completion of a meeting house whakanoa rites were performed to remove the tapu and open the building for general use.
Maori believed humans consisted of three parts : tinana (body), mauri (life-force) and wairua (spirit). While the spirit could leave the body, the mauri could not.
Associated with the mauri and personal tapu of an individual was the concept of mana (power, force, charisma). The higher the rank of a person the greater the mana. While high mana could be inherited from illustrious ancestors, an individual could increase his mana by hard work, wise rule or prowess in war. Tapu and mana helped to reinforce the leadership role of the Chief.
All living things were thought to have a mauri. To give expression to that mauri the tohunga concentrated the mauri of the kumara for example in a mauri stone. He prayed over the mauri to ensure crops would be abundant and then hid it away from enemies. If the crops were poor the mauri would be recovered and incantations performed over it to revive it. This procedure was also applied to the mauri of fisheries and forests.
Makutu (sorcery) by an enemy was capable of blasting the mauri of a person or natural resource. The only remedy lay in the power of the tohunga ahurewa (highest grade of tohunga trained in the whare wananga).
Utu (equivalence, payment, revenge) was the temporal institution for social control which operated at several levels. In intertribal or hapu relations, utu was sought for territorial invasion or past murders and defeats. These were considered to be take (just cause) for making war. At the personal level, utu was taken for a slight to chiefly mana. For instance if a rahui was transgressed without spiritual retribution, the chief would exact punishment directly. Personal offences were also dealt with by utu through the custom of muru (plundering goods) in compensation. A taua muru was a raiding party seeking compensation for an offense. A taua wahine was an avenging party in cases of adultery or some other sexual offense.
Reading:
Best. E - The Maori as he was
Buck - The Coming of the Maori
Firth - Economics of the NZ Maori
Metge J - Maori of NZ