Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Maori had no metals and no written language (and no alcoholic drinks or drugs).
But their culture and spiritual life was rich and distinctive. Below Ranginui (sky father)
and Papatuanuku (earth mother) were various gods of land, forest and sea, joined by dei-
fied ancestors over time.
The mischievous demigod Maui was particularly important. In legend, he vanquished
the sun and fished up the North Island before meeting his death between the thighs of the
goddess Hine-nui-te-po in an attempt to conquer the human mortality embodied in her.
Maori traditional performance art, the group singing and dancing known as
kapa haka,
has real power, even for modern audiences. Visual art, notably woodcarving, is something
special - 'like nothing but itself', in the words of 18th-century explorer-scientist Joseph
Banks.
Rumours of late survivals of the giant moa bird abound, but none have been authenticated. So if you see
a moa in your travels, photograph it - you'll have just made the greatest zoological discovery of the last
100 years.