Revival: Maori Symbolism (1926) by Ettie A. Rout

Author:Ettie A. Rout [Rout, Ettie A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General
ISBN: 9781351339216
Google: 7lFHDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2018-01-17T04:40:23+00:00

Reading this in the order of the lettered symbols we have: (a) This is the Bird-Sign—a key-sign indicating a Sacred Legend relating to migration. Where the key-sign is a crescent, it indicates Science, Theology and War; a Sun indicates Heroic History; a Man (warrior with tongue out), Personal Achievements—Deeds of Daring. Where the key-sign is one of the Sacred Life-Symbols (usually that of the male), the legend following relates to Race Culture, Health, Fertility, Marriage, and Procreation, Genealogy and so forth.

(b) This is also a key sign, indicating Migration. The “spiral,” or four O’s, shows continuous journeyings; and the cross line marks a halt—a short halt being shown by the two lines close together; a long halt by the two lines far apart. This key-sign is put in front of Migration Legends only, and its use is limited to sea-voyages.

(c) A composite sign, referring to the Migration Legend of the sea-journey from Rarotonga to Tongariro.

(d) Connecting sign between c and e (the two islands).

(e) This is the sign for The Island of Rapa-nui and the the voyage to it. The large circle represents the island; and the second loop at the top indicates the sea-voyage from the Island of Rapa-iti (represented in (f)) to the Island of Rapa-nui.

(f) This represents The Island of Rapa-iti, the horizontal line being the connecting link to (g).

(g) This is Pito-o-te-Whenua, the Navel of the Earth (Easter Island). The containing line represents an island but is incomplete in outline in order to limit its application to Easter Island. The outline of the inside portion of the hieroglyph represents the navel and three perpendicular lines were put inside to refer to the Earth.

(h) This sign represents the beak of the bird, and is used with the connecting lines between (g) and (j). The bird’s beak is employed thus because at Easter Island starvation was prevented by the arrival of the migratory birds.

(j) This is the figure of a man called Eperu, who represents the country of Peru. The hand pointing to Easter Island shows that the Maori came from a certain place in Peru to Easter Island. The sign for the head is supposed to be a combination of the head of bird and the head of man, i.e., it represents the bird-man.

(k) This represents the land-journeys in Peru—i.e. between the places represented by (j) and (l) The sign is two combinations of four circles—indicating a continuous land-journey.

(l) This sign is assumed to be a representation of Tiki as the Creator. Hence the ormanent is composed of the sacred life-symbols—the male and female symbols combined with the beak of the bird.

(m) These signs indicate life-distinction. The top one stands for the fittest and most distinguished group of teachers and preachers; the middle one for the fittest and most distinguished group of scientists and doctors; the bottom for the fittest and most distinguished leaders and soldiers. All three groups are nobles. Thus the signs at the end of this Migration Legend indicate that the original party of migrants consisted wholly of selected members of the nobility.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.