17.4 The Cosmogonic Tree as the Primal Power of Creation in Moriori Myth
293
tree, it is hardly a coincidence that Tane, the Sky-Propper, is the god of forests.
In the story of Tane, who is the heaven born son of Rangi and Papa, violently
attacking his father to achieve freedom, the hint of the older version of the myth
survives in Tane’s use of sky props (which it is natural to think of as tree trunks
placed one on top of the other). In the myth of the Cosmogonic Tree its trunk and
branches are seen as linking the earth, where mortal man lives, to the ten heavens
and the realms of immortality, normally out of his reach. In the simplest form of
the later Eastern Polynesian version of the myth, available to all members of the
tribe, the sky props form a tree trunk not linking but separating the ten heavens
from the earth. In the more complex sacred form, restricted to tohungas and their
pupils, the Cosmogonic Vine binds the ten heavens together but the ten breaths of
Io, the Supreme God, are seen as fundamental to the secure establishment of the
heavens.
17.4 The Cosmogonic Tree as the Primal Power of Creation
in Moriori Myth
It is clear that tree worship was part of the Lapita cultural complex. If New Zealand
was a Lapita-age colony and the Chatham Islands a probably accidental secondary
colony from New Zealand, it is not surprising to find, in the earliest indigenous traditions in New Zealand and in the Chatham Islands, belief in the Cosmogonic Tree
as the fount of Life, the primal power of Creation. And it is not surprising to find the
belief that this power can be tapped by a powerful tohunga (priest, shaman) using
karakia (incantations, invocations). The Sky-Propper of the Moriori is presented not
as the parentless male Creator, the “divine potter” we see in most Eastern Polynesian
Creation myths breathing life into an image of man he has made of clay. The Moriori
Sky-Propper works magic through invocations used to raise and release the power
of the Cosmogonic Tree. He does so in order to perform two great deeds, involving
what is seen as the greatest magic of all, the separation of Heaven and Earth and the
creation of man.
The Creation myth of the Moriori records the very invocations used to work such
magic. The recorded invocations open what we see as a unique and direct window to
a Lapita world. In this chapter we quote just the incantation for creating the body of
man and the “gathering” of his spirit into “the world of existence”. The translation is
Alexander Shand’s who recorded these myths [11]. His explanatory notes are given
in square brackets in the text.
Then, for the first time there was light, and the world existed. That ended, Rangitokona (the
Sky-propper) heaped up earth in Papa and made man – Tu. This was the incantation used:
STEM or BODY HEAPED UP
1. Stem heaped up, heaped, heaped up; stem gathered together, gathered,
gathered together; heap it in the stem of the tree, heap it in the foundation of the tree, heap it in the fibrous roots of the tree, heap it in the butt of
293
tree, it is hardly a coincidence that Tane, the Sky-Propper, is the god of forests.
In the story of Tane, who is the heaven born son of Rangi and Papa, violently
attacking his father to achieve freedom, the hint of the older version of the myth
survives in Tane’s use of sky props (which it is natural to think of as tree trunks
placed one on top of the other). In the myth of the Cosmogonic Tree its trunk and
branches are seen as linking the earth, where mortal man lives, to the ten heavens
and the realms of immortality, normally out of his reach. In the simplest form of
the later Eastern Polynesian version of the myth, available to all members of the
tribe, the sky props form a tree trunk not linking but separating the ten heavens
from the earth. In the more complex sacred form, restricted to tohungas and their
pupils, the Cosmogonic Vine binds the ten heavens together but the ten breaths of
Io, the Supreme God, are seen as fundamental to the secure establishment of the
heavens.
17.4 The Cosmogonic Tree as the Primal Power of Creation
in Moriori Myth
It is clear that tree worship was part of the Lapita cultural complex. If New Zealand
was a Lapita-age colony and the Chatham Islands a probably accidental secondary
colony from New Zealand, it is not surprising to find, in the earliest indigenous traditions in New Zealand and in the Chatham Islands, belief in the Cosmogonic Tree
as the fount of Life, the primal power of Creation. And it is not surprising to find the
belief that this power can be tapped by a powerful tohunga (priest, shaman) using
karakia (incantations, invocations). The Sky-Propper of the Moriori is presented not
as the parentless male Creator, the “divine potter” we see in most Eastern Polynesian
Creation myths breathing life into an image of man he has made of clay. The Moriori
Sky-Propper works magic through invocations used to raise and release the power
of the Cosmogonic Tree. He does so in order to perform two great deeds, involving
what is seen as the greatest magic of all, the separation of Heaven and Earth and the
creation of man.
The Creation myth of the Moriori records the very invocations used to work such
magic. The recorded invocations open what we see as a unique and direct window to
a Lapita world. In this chapter we quote just the incantation for creating the body of
man and the “gathering” of his spirit into “the world of existence”. The translation is
Alexander Shand’s who recorded these myths [11]. His explanatory notes are given
in square brackets in the text.
Then, for the first time there was light, and the world existed. That ended, Rangitokona (the
Sky-propper) heaped up earth in Papa and made man – Tu. This was the incantation used:
STEM or BODY HEAPED UP
1. Stem heaped up, heaped, heaped up; stem gathered together, gathered,
gathered together; heap it in the stem of the tree, heap it in the foundation of the tree, heap it in the fibrous roots of the tree, heap it in the butt of