Any Kiwis able to shed light on Moari culture and Christianity?

[Guest Gee]

Kia ora bro,

 

so many years ago I was touring NZ to play rugby and my team were taken to a Moari cultural center.

In the Moari cultural center I remember a Moari gentleman talking about the threat to Moari culture in the 19th century because of the change to their traditional way of life and how Christians then taught the Moari of Christianity and taught them how to transmit their culture through song.

 

I had a look about but couldn't really find any information about it. 

Does anyone happen to know more about this topic?

 

Cheers,

 

Graham.

 

 

[AccuTron]

My father was one of the total of two parasitologists with the US Army in WW2 Pacific theater, and learned quite a bit of miscellaneous information.  (I personally assume this low number to be another expression of the interwar desire to think a military isn't really needed and can be underfunded.)  

 

I don't know all the locations, so I'll call this generalized South Pacific islands.  

 

(To say that he worked in rear areas is true both militarily and anatomically.  My father and one assistant, and no refrigeration, examined stool samples from I think an entire US Army division, 81st or 92nd, something like that.  They always had the mess hall to themselves.)

 

He told me that in the hot humid climate, the natives wore little clothing, and had healthy skin.  Missionaries came onto the scene, told them they were immodest (and no, they weren't behaving like so many drunken fools), and needed to wear more clothing.  Which then blocked the germ killing sunlight, and trapped moisture and grime, and no surprise, the incidence of various skin diseases increased markedly.

[Kerry1]

Kia ora bro,

 

so many years ago I was touring NZ to play rugby and my team were taken to a Moari cultural center.

In the Moari cultural center I remember a Moari gentleman talking about the threat to Moari culture in the 19th century because of the change to their traditional way of life and how Christians then taught the Moari of Christianity and taught them how to transmit their culture through song.

 

I had a look about but couldn't really find any information about it. 

Does anyone happen to know more about this topic?

 

Cheers,

 

Graham.

Hi Graham.

The word is "Maori". The "ao" sounds like the "o" as in "mold" and the "r" is rolled like if you were speaking Spanish the "i" sounds like "e" as in "she". If you are speaking with Maori they really appreciate the pronunciation. Many Kiwis still are lazy about that- saying something like "marry" instead.

 

I really agree with Stefan on the issue of colonization, introducing a different culture to another is always going to involve troubles, and this is no different in some ways than many other colonial stories. However, Christianity did soften the blow for Maori in many ways often advocating on their behalf with those powers that were bringing in these sweeping changes. Such was the extent of Maoris adopting Christianity that in the early years of colonization there were more Maori Christians than there were European settlers at one point. This can still be observed today by the fact that many Maraes (marae is a fenced-in complex of carved buildings and grounds that belongs to a particular iwi [tribe], hapū [sub tribe] or whānau [family].still have a Christian Church on the grounds.

 

I'm no expert but I do know that Maoris were having intertribal battles, there were cannibalistic tendencies, there was no comprehension of forgiveness, "utu" meaning revenge was the standard response to injustices. While it is easy to argue that white people brought such things as influenza which at one point decimated the population, they also brought such good things as the rule of law for all, ensuring the principle of equality under the law. Though in practice it didn't happen overnight. New Zealand is struggling right now as a country to come to terms with all of the injustices that the state and private individuals committed against Maori. Such as land confiscation, marginalization, banning the Maori language. Christian missionaries preserved the language by giving them a written language. I'm sorry I don't know more- but am sure there are very good historical accounts of these interactions. I would highly reccommed that you don't just look for histories written by secular authorities, I do know that Christians have also researched and documented histories that will give you more evidence of the Christian influence, particularly the history of preserving their culture in song. The following may give you a lead in your search- good luck.

 

"[in] the recent lavishly illustrated version of Michael King’s history of NZ not a single church building or church event figures. We have recognized, thank God, in our general histories that women existed, that Maori existed, we give generous space to depictions of war and sport, but it’s as if religious life and thought never existed, or as Ian Breward put it, was ‘socially irrelevant’.... "So here is the riddle: given the virtual inseparability of the religious and the secular for most of our history how to explain the apparent decline in the churches’ influence and standing in society today? And how is this, in turn, related to the interpretive difficulty so many of our secular historians have in doing justice to the religious dimension?" The Riddle of Christianity in Aotearoa By Prof. Dr. Peter Matheson 

 

[Guest Gee]

Thank you so much Kerry.

Thank you too AccuTron.