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| Photo depiction of Papa and Rangi |
Maori people believe that the God's control people's lives that their presence can be found in nature. There's a myriad of supernatural beings, or atua, that they believe in. Io was the supreme god. Papa and Rangi, the two primeval parents, had eight divine offspring named Haumia, the god of uncultivated weather; Tane, the father of humans and god of forests; Rongo, the god of peace and agriculture; Ruaumoko, the god of earthquakes; Tawhirimatea, the god of weather; Tangaroa, the god of the ocean; Tumatauenga, the war god; and Whiro, the god of darkness and evil. When Maori caught fish, they throw back their first catch back to Tangaroa, the first bird caught to Tane, and the first kumara to Rongo. Maori religious practitioners involves a senior priesthood (tohunga ahurewa), where each member receives extensive training. They are responsible for knowledge on tribal history, assisting people by providing special incantations and rites of passage to appease the gods, and genealogy of the tribe. Many believed that priests can control the weather. Shamans, in comparison, served the family gods. They communicated with them through spiritual possession and sorcery, becoming an intermediary between spiritual and physical world acting upon the influence of both good and evil spirits. When a Maori dies, his/her spirit is believed to make a voyage to their final residence, which is in a mysterious underworld.
References
Everyculture.com
2015. Countries and Their Cultures. Electronic Document, http://www.everyculture.com/Oceania/Maori-Religion-and-Expressive-Culture.html accessed March 25, 2015.
Whaleriderreligiousstudies.weebly.com
2015. Maori Mythology. Electornic Document, http://whaleriderreligiousstudies.weebly.com/maori-mythology.html. Accessed March 25, 2015.
The Maori has such a unique culture that it gives them a sense of unity with nature and the things around them. It provides them a deep connection to nature that gives them close spiritual connections to their God's. Although their beliefs of polytheism and customs are considered as outlandish to my faith in Christianity and goes against what I believe in, I still have a lot of respect to their practices and beliefs. In the end, I cannot decide what is considered as absolute truth, but I what I can do is to respect other people's beliefs and encourage them to keep on believing on what they want to believe in.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up, I was told to not believe in other practices for they were considered evil. I now realize that everyone comes from a different background and that spirituality can come in any form. Even though the Maori culture has a completely opposite form of spiritual connection than my religion, I can't help but realize that it's still no different than my faith. I may have a different practices, but in the end it still gives me a similar religious connection to my God as the Maori have with their multiple Gods.
DeleteAwesome! Thanks for the responsible work here Jonathan. I am just making the comment here to you all, that we need to make those references consistent in the AAA formatting. The guide I posted on Canvas. Thanks :-)
DeleteI really like your post, so much creativity and thought. It's actually really interesting as well to see a god with the same name as your name! It is really interesting if you do a cross-cultural study of the vast different variety of cultures around the world. Interestingly enough, you'll see that religion plays a huge role in any culture. Even more interestingly enough, you'll see parallel characteristics that surrounds each and every religion around the world. As we learned in class and through any prior knowledge, religion typically consists of a "specialized" person with a higher level of spirituality. Some person that may have a closer connection to the higher beings of purpose. Such shaman, or priest, or whatever you like to call it, have become, or have always been, important symbols in any society, big or small. Also, we also see how no matter how different religions are, they always attempt to explain the explainable, and offer us reassurance of what we don't understand. It's funny to see people laughing when they see videos of different cultures practice their "rights of passage" into their religion. I am a Catholic, a religion that is practiced by a large portion of many Americans and westernized nations. Our right of passage can be seen through baptism, which is the first step in the holy sacraments, or various stages of "passages" that a catholic passes through in life. No matter how you see it, religion is virtually universal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the extra insightful comment here David!!! I appreciate it.
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