Post by Indilwen on May 22, 2012 19:30:19 GMT 12
If you're a European New Zealander, then for the last 30-years you've been reminded, fairly frequently, that you're merely the unwanted "flotsam and jetsam", caste-off floating garbage of Britain that got washed up on, and now pollutes these shores. Apparently, New Zealand has fallen from its former, pre-colonial paradisiacal state to become "the land of the long white crowd" and now it's open season on Europeans, which allows activists like Harawera to make her "kill-a-white" comments with legal impunity.
But in fact, as every true Maori Kaumatua or Tohunga knows and will probably tell you, if you ask politely enough, Europeans have occupied New Zealand, constantly, for many thousands of years and were, once, the core population of the country before the arrival of Polynesian/ Melanesian Maori. The old Maori Kaumatuas, who were properly trained in the wharewaanangas or at the feet of the elders, memorised the oral histories handed down from their distant forebears. This was no small task or accomplishment and it took the alert minds of the most gifted children, coupled with tremendous discipline, to learn the histories by song or cadence rhythm and keep them alive. Oral traditions have to be memorised perfectly and are, generally, very reliable. Many regional oral histories have been recorded and are available in the history books of the last 200-years.
Generation upon generation of old Kaumatuas and Kuias have always acknowledged the existence of the kiri puwhero (light complexion, reddish skinned) and uru-kehu (light coloured, golden tinged or reddish hair) taniwha races (the pre-Maori stonebuilders). It is only the lately trained corporate kaumatuas, with a degree in business management or law, who have, all-too-conveniently, forgotten who the actual Tangata Whenua (Lords of the soil) of New Zealand truly are. The ruined stone structures and highly visible landscape excavations of the stonebuilders dot our countryside in their thousands and many of these structures relate to astronomy, just like in Britain or Continental Europe and the Mediterranean.
Virtually everything one sees in Maori culture has been derived from the earlier kiri-puwhero and uru-kehu stonebuilders, as the spoils of war and conquest by the Maori warriors, who, subsequently, annihilated the earlier people.
The name Turehu, from whom Maori acknowledge they learned the art of "Moko", the "Haka" dance and many other cultural expressions, describes a large sub-group of the kiri-puwhero, uru-kehu races, which came under an umbrella term or name of Patu-paiarehe. Other names for these people were Pakepakeha, Maruiwi, Ngati-Hotu, etc. In fact, remnants of the Ngati-Hotu survived into colonial times and were also called Te whanau o Rangi…or the children of heaven.
J.M. McEwen researched the Ngati-Hotu for over 15-years and used for reference the writings of Hawke's Bay chiefs Raniera Te Ahiko and Paramena Te Naonao. Other researchers gleaned information from genealogical tables related by tribes bordering Lake Taupo and by interviews with the learned elders there. One quotation about the Ngati-Hotu, derived from these Maori sources, states:
Generally speaking, Ngati Hotu were of medium height and of light colouring. In the majority of cases they had reddish hair. They were referred to as urukehu. It is said that during the early stages of their occupation of Taupo they did not practice tattooing as later generations did, and were spoken of as te whanau a rangi (the children of heaven) because of their fair skin.
There were two distinct types. One had a kiri wherowhero or reddish skin, a round face, small eyes and thick protruding eyebrows. The other was fair-skinned, much smaller in stature, with larger and very handsome features. The latter were the true urukehu and te whanau a rangi. In some cases not only did they have reddish hair, but also light coloured eyes.
(See Tuwharetoa, chapter 7, page 115, by Rev. John Grace).
Our rapidly disappearing older books are replete with oral tradition quotes or observations about the pre-Maori "Stonebuilders" and, during the 1960's and before, these people were common knowledge and openly talked about. Even the "collectable picture cards" from our Vita-Brits breakfast cereal box mentioned them, as did old tourist maps of Taupo, etc. Felton Mathew, Surveyor General in Hobson's fledgling government, observed during his first visit to Thames-Waitemata on February 23rd 1840:
'There are several very singular hills rising boldly from the surrounding land, in shape and form closely resembling the Roman encampments on the Tumuli that abound in many parts of England & having like them three or four distinct fops or ditches encircling them towards the summit - This singular too that these have been formed for defence by the natives - the top of every hill is marked in this way with distinct lines of circumvallation. An antiquary might from this circumstance deduce a connection between the New Zealanders and the ancient Romans!!' (see Felton Mathew's unpublished letters to his wife, Special Collections, Auckland Public Library.
Another early explorer noted:
'Arriving at the foot of the mountain [Mt. Eden] we assayed its ascent in the course of which my friend evinced a deep interest in traces of Maori fortifications of a past age, which were everywhere in evidence, the escarpments, trenches and what had once been covered ways and store pits though fallen in or overgrown, were yet in a wonderful state of recognition.
Several of the stone walls of these fortifications could still be traced with considerable accuracy, although the oldest living Maori could not tell when, or by whom, they were erected.
The Maori race show a wonderful aptitude for field engineering in warfare, and these traces of ancient fortifications, in particular, have often called forth the highest commendation from those most capable of judging such matters.
It must have taken a much larger population than was then to be found to man these fortifications effectively, so extensive were they, the whole mountain appearing to be girt by them, line after line, from bottom to top (see Sketches of Early Colonisation in New Zealand -and its Phases of Contact With the Maori Race, (circa late 1840's), by "Te Manuwiri", pg. 123, Whitcomb & Tombs).
Another publication states:
"Maungawhau, 'the mountain of the whau', a shrub believed to have been growing in the area. The shrub was valued for its cork-like wood, used for floats on fishing nets...Maori legend tells of Maungawhau's [Mt. Eden's] first inhabitants, the Patupaiarehe or Turehu, who were skilled in the arts of fishing, hunting, weaving and warefare. It is said that this nocturnal people were destroyed as they lingered building a bridge after dawn"(see The Changing Face Of Mt. Eden, pg. 8, Mt. Eden Borough Council, 1989).
Indeed, British Archaeologist, Aileen Fox made much the same observation in her 1976 book, Prehistoric Maori Fortifications in the North Island of New Zealand, remarking on the distinct similarities between Maori PA's and the ancient, palisade encompassed, pre-Celtic hill forts of Britain. A mass of such landscape evidence, incorporating many kinds of structures across New Zealand, has been, in recent years, increasingly relegated to the realm of politically incorrect, fringe or pseudo-science and, consequently, never allowed to be seriously investigated by our mainstream archaeologists or historians.
Of these extensive fortifications, built in a very European style, leading historian Elsdon Best said:
The Maori did not live in this manner in his former home in eastern Polynesia. Did he evolve the pa system after he settled here, or did he borrow it from former inhabitants? (see: The Maori As He Was - A Brief Account of Maori Life as it was in Pre-European Days, Chapt. VI, pg. 165).
If the Polynesian Maori brought the artefacts, symbols and motifs here, then why are they not found in their lands of origin? Historian/ anthropologist, Edward Tregear, asked this same question. Professor Thor Heyerdahl wrote the following on this very subject:
'Irrespective of how and when the Maori began to cover their carvings with spirals, the habit is absent in their Polynesian homeland and may therefore very well be so in their still earlier fatherland further away. There is, indeed, no such curvilinear surface design on the wood carvings of the Society Islands and these include the very tall ancestral posts which were erected in ancient Tahiti' (see American Indians in the Pacific, pg. 116).
Skeletons of the uru-kehu people have been observed, frequently, in burial caves or in a sitting (trussed position) in sand dunes, since the earliest colonial times. In burial caves, they often have been seen to have red hair or other light brown and blond hues. Samples of their braided hair, taken from the Waitakere rock shelters, used to be on display at Auckland War Memorial Museum and were the subject of written commentary by Maori anthropologist, Sir Peter Buck. Our earliest maritime explorers frequently saw the, red headed, freckle-faced Maori or "waka blondes" and large pockets of them survived well into the 20th century as people who had never mixed their blood with colonial era European settlers. These days, on occasions when ancient, pre-colonial European Caucasoid skeletons are located, the iwi takes possession of them and no scientific investigation is permitted.
But in fact, as every true Maori Kaumatua or Tohunga knows and will probably tell you, if you ask politely enough, Europeans have occupied New Zealand, constantly, for many thousands of years and were, once, the core population of the country before the arrival of Polynesian/ Melanesian Maori. The old Maori Kaumatuas, who were properly trained in the wharewaanangas or at the feet of the elders, memorised the oral histories handed down from their distant forebears. This was no small task or accomplishment and it took the alert minds of the most gifted children, coupled with tremendous discipline, to learn the histories by song or cadence rhythm and keep them alive. Oral traditions have to be memorised perfectly and are, generally, very reliable. Many regional oral histories have been recorded and are available in the history books of the last 200-years.
Generation upon generation of old Kaumatuas and Kuias have always acknowledged the existence of the kiri puwhero (light complexion, reddish skinned) and uru-kehu (light coloured, golden tinged or reddish hair) taniwha races (the pre-Maori stonebuilders). It is only the lately trained corporate kaumatuas, with a degree in business management or law, who have, all-too-conveniently, forgotten who the actual Tangata Whenua (Lords of the soil) of New Zealand truly are. The ruined stone structures and highly visible landscape excavations of the stonebuilders dot our countryside in their thousands and many of these structures relate to astronomy, just like in Britain or Continental Europe and the Mediterranean.
Virtually everything one sees in Maori culture has been derived from the earlier kiri-puwhero and uru-kehu stonebuilders, as the spoils of war and conquest by the Maori warriors, who, subsequently, annihilated the earlier people.
The name Turehu, from whom Maori acknowledge they learned the art of "Moko", the "Haka" dance and many other cultural expressions, describes a large sub-group of the kiri-puwhero, uru-kehu races, which came under an umbrella term or name of Patu-paiarehe. Other names for these people were Pakepakeha, Maruiwi, Ngati-Hotu, etc. In fact, remnants of the Ngati-Hotu survived into colonial times and were also called Te whanau o Rangi…or the children of heaven.
J.M. McEwen researched the Ngati-Hotu for over 15-years and used for reference the writings of Hawke's Bay chiefs Raniera Te Ahiko and Paramena Te Naonao. Other researchers gleaned information from genealogical tables related by tribes bordering Lake Taupo and by interviews with the learned elders there. One quotation about the Ngati-Hotu, derived from these Maori sources, states:
Generally speaking, Ngati Hotu were of medium height and of light colouring. In the majority of cases they had reddish hair. They were referred to as urukehu. It is said that during the early stages of their occupation of Taupo they did not practice tattooing as later generations did, and were spoken of as te whanau a rangi (the children of heaven) because of their fair skin.
There were two distinct types. One had a kiri wherowhero or reddish skin, a round face, small eyes and thick protruding eyebrows. The other was fair-skinned, much smaller in stature, with larger and very handsome features. The latter were the true urukehu and te whanau a rangi. In some cases not only did they have reddish hair, but also light coloured eyes.
(See Tuwharetoa, chapter 7, page 115, by Rev. John Grace).
Our rapidly disappearing older books are replete with oral tradition quotes or observations about the pre-Maori "Stonebuilders" and, during the 1960's and before, these people were common knowledge and openly talked about. Even the "collectable picture cards" from our Vita-Brits breakfast cereal box mentioned them, as did old tourist maps of Taupo, etc. Felton Mathew, Surveyor General in Hobson's fledgling government, observed during his first visit to Thames-Waitemata on February 23rd 1840:
'There are several very singular hills rising boldly from the surrounding land, in shape and form closely resembling the Roman encampments on the Tumuli that abound in many parts of England & having like them three or four distinct fops or ditches encircling them towards the summit - This singular too that these have been formed for defence by the natives - the top of every hill is marked in this way with distinct lines of circumvallation. An antiquary might from this circumstance deduce a connection between the New Zealanders and the ancient Romans!!' (see Felton Mathew's unpublished letters to his wife, Special Collections, Auckland Public Library.
Another early explorer noted:
'Arriving at the foot of the mountain [Mt. Eden] we assayed its ascent in the course of which my friend evinced a deep interest in traces of Maori fortifications of a past age, which were everywhere in evidence, the escarpments, trenches and what had once been covered ways and store pits though fallen in or overgrown, were yet in a wonderful state of recognition.
Several of the stone walls of these fortifications could still be traced with considerable accuracy, although the oldest living Maori could not tell when, or by whom, they were erected.
The Maori race show a wonderful aptitude for field engineering in warfare, and these traces of ancient fortifications, in particular, have often called forth the highest commendation from those most capable of judging such matters.
It must have taken a much larger population than was then to be found to man these fortifications effectively, so extensive were they, the whole mountain appearing to be girt by them, line after line, from bottom to top (see Sketches of Early Colonisation in New Zealand -and its Phases of Contact With the Maori Race, (circa late 1840's), by "Te Manuwiri", pg. 123, Whitcomb & Tombs).
Another publication states:
"Maungawhau, 'the mountain of the whau', a shrub believed to have been growing in the area. The shrub was valued for its cork-like wood, used for floats on fishing nets...Maori legend tells of Maungawhau's [Mt. Eden's] first inhabitants, the Patupaiarehe or Turehu, who were skilled in the arts of fishing, hunting, weaving and warefare. It is said that this nocturnal people were destroyed as they lingered building a bridge after dawn"(see The Changing Face Of Mt. Eden, pg. 8, Mt. Eden Borough Council, 1989).
Indeed, British Archaeologist, Aileen Fox made much the same observation in her 1976 book, Prehistoric Maori Fortifications in the North Island of New Zealand, remarking on the distinct similarities between Maori PA's and the ancient, palisade encompassed, pre-Celtic hill forts of Britain. A mass of such landscape evidence, incorporating many kinds of structures across New Zealand, has been, in recent years, increasingly relegated to the realm of politically incorrect, fringe or pseudo-science and, consequently, never allowed to be seriously investigated by our mainstream archaeologists or historians.
Of these extensive fortifications, built in a very European style, leading historian Elsdon Best said:
The Maori did not live in this manner in his former home in eastern Polynesia. Did he evolve the pa system after he settled here, or did he borrow it from former inhabitants? (see: The Maori As He Was - A Brief Account of Maori Life as it was in Pre-European Days, Chapt. VI, pg. 165).
If the Polynesian Maori brought the artefacts, symbols and motifs here, then why are they not found in their lands of origin? Historian/ anthropologist, Edward Tregear, asked this same question. Professor Thor Heyerdahl wrote the following on this very subject:
'Irrespective of how and when the Maori began to cover their carvings with spirals, the habit is absent in their Polynesian homeland and may therefore very well be so in their still earlier fatherland further away. There is, indeed, no such curvilinear surface design on the wood carvings of the Society Islands and these include the very tall ancestral posts which were erected in ancient Tahiti' (see American Indians in the Pacific, pg. 116).
Skeletons of the uru-kehu people have been observed, frequently, in burial caves or in a sitting (trussed position) in sand dunes, since the earliest colonial times. In burial caves, they often have been seen to have red hair or other light brown and blond hues. Samples of their braided hair, taken from the Waitakere rock shelters, used to be on display at Auckland War Memorial Museum and were the subject of written commentary by Maori anthropologist, Sir Peter Buck. Our earliest maritime explorers frequently saw the, red headed, freckle-faced Maori or "waka blondes" and large pockets of them survived well into the 20th century as people who had never mixed their blood with colonial era European settlers. These days, on occasions when ancient, pre-colonial European Caucasoid skeletons are located, the iwi takes possession of them and no scientific investigation is permitted.