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Traditional Māori religion, that is, the pre-European belief-system of the Māori, differed little from that of their perceived homeland, Hawaiki Nui, aka Raʻiātea or Raiatea, conceiving of everything – including natural elements and all living things – as connected by common descent through whakapapa or genealogy.
Māori culture (Māori: Māoritanga) is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture and, due to a large diaspora and the incorporation of Māori motifs into popular culture ...
Māui, a demigod, culture hero, and trickster. Motoro; Ngahue or Kahue, the god or discoverer of pounamu, the taniwha Poutini is his guardian. Pūhaorangi, a celestial being who descended from the heavens to sleep with the beautiful maiden Te Kuraimonoa. Punga or Hairi, the ancestor of sharks, lizards, rays, and all deformed, ugly things.
Māori participate fully in all spheres of New Zealand culture and society, leading largely Western lifestyles while also maintaining their own cultural and social customs. The traditional social strata of rangatira , tūtūā and mōkai have all but disappeared from Māori society, while the roles of tohunga and kaumātua are still present.
Most of the missionaries who did master the language were unsympathetic to Māori beliefs, [4] regarding them as 'puerile beliefs', or even 'works of the devil'. [4] Exceptions to this general rule were Johan Wohlers of the South Island , [ a ] Richard Taylor , who worked in the Taranaki and Wanganui River areas, and William Colenso who lived ...
Spirits Bay is considered a sacred place in Māori belief. Spirits Bay, believed to be one of the most haunted spots in New Zealand and a famous spot for supernatural beings, [5] is considered a sacred place in Māori culture because according to legend, spirits of the dead depart to their ancestral home () [6] from a pōhutukawa tree at the tip of Cape Reinga.
Prior to colonisation, the “innate belief in the immortality of the soul” [18] held by the Māori was directed into the belief of Rarohenga. [4] Unlike the biblical systems of heaven and hell , the underworld and its key spiritual figures were not characterised as evil and malevolent beings.
Hemopereki Simon, from Ngāti Tūwharetoa, asserts that there are many forms of mana in Maori beliefs. [13] The indigenous word reflects a non-Western view of reality, complicating translation. [14] This is confirmed by the definition of mana provided by Māori Marsden who states that mana is: