Tena Koe

Hawaii - 6:00 P.M., New Zealand - 4:00 P.M. (Friday, July 15)

Good afternoon!

Since my last update, I have finally started classes!  Luckily, my schedule is as follows:

Monday - No class
Tuesday - 12 P.M. Maori Society, 1 P.M. Cultural and Self Identity Sociology, 5 P.M. Introduction to Conversational Maori
Wednesday - No class
Thursday - 12 P.M. Maori Society, 1 P.M. Cultural and Self Identity Sociology, 5 P.M. Introduction to Conversational Maori
Friday - 11 A.M. Intro to Conversational Maori Tutorial, 12 P.M. Cultural and Self Identity Sociology Tutorial

So far I am really enjoying my courses.  My favorite is tied between Intro to Conversational Maori and Maori Society.  Both instructors are fabulous and all of them have great humor.  Our first real lecture for Maori Society consisted of covering the stories of the "creation" (based on Maori culture, of course).  And the story is truly fascinating.  Basically, two atua (often classified as gods but more accurately are considered as the ancestors of Maori)--Rangi (the Sky father) and Papa (the Earth mother)--were created by Io (a presence and energy which existed prior to everything and created everything).  Rangi and Papa became lovers and clung to each other very closely.  Eventually they had children who were between them--trapped in darkness. Their children wanted to escape the darkness and so the sons tried to separate their parents.  They were unable to do so until Tane (atua of forests) tried and pushed his father far away.  This led to the creation of te ao marama (the world of light).  Papa was so heartbroken at the separation from her lover, so Tane clothed her in greenery and forests.  One brother, Tawhiri (atua of the winds), was similarly upset about the separation of his parents.  Thus, he fled to the sky to be with  his father. He eventually attacked his brothers, creating storms and fierce winds, trying to destroy them.  Only one brother stood up to him--Tu (atua of humans).  However, Tu lost to Tawhiri, and punished his brothers for not helping him by eating them.  He consumed his brother, Tangaroa's (atua of the sea) descendants: the marine life and amphibians.  He ate the youngest brother's who were protected by their mother (by being pushed into her Earth), Rongo (atua of kumara and all cultivated foods) and Haumie (atua of the aruhe and all wild, uncultivated foods).  And he ate the birds and beasts of the forests.  This act was about taking away power; this is why humans are able to control and destroy their environments; why they are able to eat plants, animals, and fish.  However, we are unable to control one thing: the weather.  Maori believe this is because Tu was unable to beat Tawhiri.

During this separation of Rangi and Papa, Papa was pregnant with another child.  This child was still in the womb during the war between his brothers; Papa turned over while trying to protect her youngest and so, Ru (atua of earthquakes and volcanoes) was never born.  He was very upset that his brothers did not wait until he was born; this is the reason for earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

As for the creation of man, story says that Tane molded the first man, Tikiahua, to personify his penis.  He molded the first woman, Hine-hau-one, from his mother's shape.  Tane then became the first man to walk the earth.  He married Hine-hau-one and they had children.  After the birth of their daughter, Hine-ti-tama, he married her and had children.  Curious about who her father is, she asked her husband, Tane, one day.  Ashamed, he told her he was her father.  She was mortified and in her shame she became Hine-nui-te-po (Goddess of the Night).  She told Tane he could have their children in the world of light and she would greet them in death (the world of night).  This is the reason why we die.

Maori use these legends to make sense of their world and explain their relationships with various aspects of their world.  It's truly remarkable to have this amazing view into their world.  I am, as always, so humbled by this class and all I have already learned.

In my Conversational Maori class, we went over the pronunciation of their vowels (a, e, i, o, u -- both long and short vowel sounds which are defined by the presence of a macron) and consonants (h, k, m, n, w, p, r, t, ng, wh).  We also learned: Tena Koe (te-nah-co-eh).  With the presence of the appropriate macrons over the "e" and "a", it means "hello", "thanks", and "goodbye".  I'm really excited to learn more in this class and to dive deeper into the Maori culture and language.

That's all for now.  Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I will make up for it in my next post... I promise!

Cheers!