18.9 Dating the Last Great Migration
321
Three times did Ue-nuku call on his gods before his foes were destroyed.
Then Ue-nuku and his warriors paddled the canoes to the shore and killed the few survivors who were found on the beach; but Ta-wheta and his immediate followers rallied
and came on and attacked Ue-nuku and his people, who fought desperately with them, and
Ta-wheta was killed.
The battle on the sea was called “The Day of Two Sunsets,” but, on account of the great
amount of the blood of man in the sea, it was also named “The Sea of Loathsome Water.”
And the name given to the last battle on land, in which Ta-wheta was slain, was “The Rising
Tide.”
The victors cooked human flesh day after day; but they could not cook it all, so it was
left and wasted, because it became rotten. These are the battles of Ue-nuku the man-eater,
and the murders of his children were fully avenged.
Ue-nuku took Pai-mahu-tanga to wife, and she had a son, who was called Rua-tapu
(sacred pit). (pp. 13–23)
The detail in this traditional account of the war between Uenuku and Tawheta is
fascinating. There can be no doubt that a total solar eclipse occurred – the visibility
of the stars by day is specifically mentioned as is the eerie “sunset” that precedes
a total eclipse. Mention of “The Day of Two Sunsets” captures this element for us.
Uenuku’s triple conjuring up of “fog” may also refer to the intensification of the
eerie dusk that precedes and follows a total eclipse, though it is more likely that the
triple conjuring is a literary device used to heighten dramatic tension and enhance
the impact of Uenuku’s sorcery. Magic in legend and folktale is often patterned in
threes.
It seems very likely that through priestly training Uenuku recognized the signs
of the coming eclipse and set out to play the role of powerful tohunga controlling
the sun itself to bring about the defeat of his enemies. In Chapter 19 we quote an
instance of a Tahitian priest using a solar eclipse to assert his spiritual and political
power by claiming to have restored the sun. Duncan Steel tells us that “Random
locations on the Earth’s surface are transited by a total solar eclipse track about
once per 410 years on average” [22]. The passing on of traditional knowledge of
the sequence of events associated with a solar eclipse, given their relative frequency,
seems likely. There are several historical accounts of battle-leaders in other countries
at other times using an eclipse to strike fear into the hearts of the opposing army.
Duncan Steel cites several examples of the use of eclipses. A lunar eclipse was
predicted by the Roman tribune Sulpicius Gallus to appear on the eve of the battle of Pydna in the Gulf of Salonika and claimed ahead of time to be a sign of
divine favour. The Romans won the battle which was pivotal in the eventual Roman
control of Greece (p. 16). In 1504 Christopher Columbus evoked the power of the
Christian God to eclipse the moon, threatening the Jamaican natives with famine
and disease if they failed to supply his party with food and other supplies. The sight
of the moon being swallowed up secured their co-operation (pp. 94–96). In 1806
a native American prophet, Tenkskwatawa, promised that the Great Spirit would
demonstrate his approval of his followers by blacking out the noonday sun. The
appearance of the predicted eclipse led to a rising of the Shawnee, though this ended
in tragedy in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Historians suggest foreknowledge of
the eclipse came from a British almanac.
321
Three times did Ue-nuku call on his gods before his foes were destroyed.
Then Ue-nuku and his warriors paddled the canoes to the shore and killed the few survivors who were found on the beach; but Ta-wheta and his immediate followers rallied
and came on and attacked Ue-nuku and his people, who fought desperately with them, and
Ta-wheta was killed.
The battle on the sea was called “The Day of Two Sunsets,” but, on account of the great
amount of the blood of man in the sea, it was also named “The Sea of Loathsome Water.”
And the name given to the last battle on land, in which Ta-wheta was slain, was “The Rising
Tide.”
The victors cooked human flesh day after day; but they could not cook it all, so it was
left and wasted, because it became rotten. These are the battles of Ue-nuku the man-eater,
and the murders of his children were fully avenged.
Ue-nuku took Pai-mahu-tanga to wife, and she had a son, who was called Rua-tapu
(sacred pit). (pp. 13–23)
The detail in this traditional account of the war between Uenuku and Tawheta is
fascinating. There can be no doubt that a total solar eclipse occurred – the visibility
of the stars by day is specifically mentioned as is the eerie “sunset” that precedes
a total eclipse. Mention of “The Day of Two Sunsets” captures this element for us.
Uenuku’s triple conjuring up of “fog” may also refer to the intensification of the
eerie dusk that precedes and follows a total eclipse, though it is more likely that the
triple conjuring is a literary device used to heighten dramatic tension and enhance
the impact of Uenuku’s sorcery. Magic in legend and folktale is often patterned in
threes.
It seems very likely that through priestly training Uenuku recognized the signs
of the coming eclipse and set out to play the role of powerful tohunga controlling
the sun itself to bring about the defeat of his enemies. In Chapter 19 we quote an
instance of a Tahitian priest using a solar eclipse to assert his spiritual and political
power by claiming to have restored the sun. Duncan Steel tells us that “Random
locations on the Earth’s surface are transited by a total solar eclipse track about
once per 410 years on average” [22]. The passing on of traditional knowledge of
the sequence of events associated with a solar eclipse, given their relative frequency,
seems likely. There are several historical accounts of battle-leaders in other countries
at other times using an eclipse to strike fear into the hearts of the opposing army.
Duncan Steel cites several examples of the use of eclipses. A lunar eclipse was
predicted by the Roman tribune Sulpicius Gallus to appear on the eve of the battle of Pydna in the Gulf of Salonika and claimed ahead of time to be a sign of
divine favour. The Romans won the battle which was pivotal in the eventual Roman
control of Greece (p. 16). In 1504 Christopher Columbus evoked the power of the
Christian God to eclipse the moon, threatening the Jamaican natives with famine
and disease if they failed to supply his party with food and other supplies. The sight
of the moon being swallowed up secured their co-operation (pp. 94–96). In 1806
a native American prophet, Tenkskwatawa, promised that the Great Spirit would
demonstrate his approval of his followers by blacking out the noonday sun. The
appearance of the predicted eclipse led to a rising of the Shawnee, though this ended
in tragedy in the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Historians suggest foreknowledge of
the eclipse came from a British almanac.