Posts Tagged ‘maori’
Another one of those lens that I stare at and wonder what to do ..
The story of Kupe who took the great canoe Matahourua to New Zealand
Various Maori traditions recount how their ancestors set out from a mythical homeland in great ocean-going canoes, or waka. These traditions name the homeland as Hawaiki. “The-place-from-where-we-all-came“.
Among these is the story of Kupe, who had eloped with Kuramarotini, the wife of Hoturapa, whom Kupe had murdered. Kuramarotini was the owner of the great canoe Matahourua. I’m unsure if Kupe lusted after her, or after the canoe.
To escape punishment for the murder, Kupe and Kura fled in Matahourua and discovered a land he called Aotearoa -’long-white-cloud’. He explored its coast and killed the sea monster Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, finally returning to his home to spread news of his newly discovered land.
Other stories of various other tribes report migrations to escape famine, over-population, and warfare. These were also made in legendary canoes. These people knock me out. I can’t imagine setting out across the endless Pacific! They followed the flights of birds, or the path of the great whales.
Sea Faring People
There’s always talk of ‘writing with passion‘. Yeah, well …..lol. I’m passionate about these seafaring people. I’m a modern descendant of seafaring people.
The boats of my people skipped and sculled along the west coasts of the British Isles, along the Gulf Stream, back and forth through mists and fog, capricious flows and the occasional iceberg.
But the navigators of the Pacific set out on a frightening trek across an ocean! An ocean so vast that just to look at it frightens me today. How could they do it? They had no lodestone to judge the North Pole. No maps. No familiar stars to guide them. They put their trust in the birds of the air and the creatures of the sea.
Somehow my passion doesn’t show in this lens. It may need a complete rewrite.
