Suku Māori
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Māori adalah nama penduduk asli Selandia Baru, dan bahasanya. Kata māori artinya adalah "normal" atau "biasa" dalam bahasa Māori dan merujuk pada makhluk-makhluk hidup yang berbeda dari Dewa-Dewi. Kata "Māori" memiliki banyak kerabat dalam bahasa Austronesia lainnya seperti bahasa Hawaii. Kata maoli dalam bahasa Hawaii artinya adalah asli, pribumi, benar atau nyata. Nama ini juga merupakan nama bangsa dan bahasa Kepulauan Cook, yang disebut sebagai Māori Kepulauan Cook. Kata ini juga memiliki kerabat dalam bahasa Jawa: (ma)urip yang berarti "hidup". Kata hidup sendiri dalam bahasa Melayu juga merupakan kerabat kata ini.
 Te Puni, seorang Kepala Suku Māori | |
| Daerah dengan populasi signifikan | |
|---|---|
| Selandia Baru 586,000 (2001) 635,100 (2005) Australia ~8,000 (awal 2000-an) | |
| Bahasa | |
| Bahasa Inggris, Bahasa Maori | |
| Kelompok etnik terkait | |
| bangsa Polinesia lain |
Māori origins
New Zealand was one of the last areas of the planet to be reached by humans. Polynesian voyagers are believed to have migrated to what is now New Zealand from eastern Polynesia in the latter part of the 1st millennium. Māori origins therefore cannot be separated from those of their Polynesian ancestors (for more information see Polynesian culture). Archaeological and linguistic evidence (see Sutton 1994 cited in References section below) suggests there were probably several waves of migration from Eastern Polynesia to New Zealand between 800 and 1300. Māori oral history describes their arrival from Hawaiki (a mythical homeland in tropical Polynesia) by large ocean–going canoes (waka). During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the idea arose that Māori had voyaged to New Zealand in the so-called 'Great Fleet of 1350AD' which claims that seven canoes arrived simultaneously. More recent research has revealed that this concept originated with European researchers including Percy Smith who attempted to cobble together various unrelated Māori legends. The spurious fleet scenario was then accepted by some Māori including Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck), and won general acceptance until it was debunked in the 1960s by the research of David Simmons and others. In fact nowhere in the authentic voyaging traditions is there an account of several canoes all arriving together at one place and time. Migration accounts vary among Māori tribes or iwi, whose members can identify with the different waka in their genealogies or whakapapa. There is no credible evidence of human settlement in New Zealand prior to the Māori voyagers; on the other hand, compelling evidence from archaeology, linguistics and physical anthropology indicates that the first settlers were East Polynesians who became the Māori.
Culture
The East Polynesian ancestors of the Māori were hunters, fishermen and gardeners. After arriving in New Zealand, Māori had to rapidly adapt their material culture and agricultural practices to suit the climate of their new land, cold and harsh in comparison to tropical island Polynesia. Great ingenuity was required to grow the tropical plants they had brought with them from Polynesia, including taro, kumara, gourds, and yams; this was especially difficult in the chillier southern parts of the country. The harakeke (flax plant) served as a replacement for coconut fronds and hibiscus fibre in the manufacture of mats, baskets, rope, fishing nets and clothing. Seasonal activites included gardening, fishing and the hunting of birds. Main tasks were separated for men and women, but there were also a lot of group activities involving food gathering & food cultivation, and warfare. Art was and is a prominent part of the culture as seen in the carving of houses, canoes, weapons, and other items. The people also wore highly decorative personal ornaments, and people of rank were often extensively tattooed.
The marae is a communal ceremonial centre where meetings and ceremonies take place in accordance with traditional protocols. The marae symbolises group unity and generally consists of an open grassed area in front of a large carved meeting house, along with a dining hall and other facilities necessary to provide a comfortable stay for visiting groups. On the marae official functions take place including formal welcomes, celebrations, weddings, christenings, tribal reunions, and tangihanga (funerals). The older people have the authority on the marae, and they impart to the young people traditions and cultural practices including legends, songs or the arts of weaving or carving. Locals and visitors have to respect certain rules, especially during the rituals of encounter. This is when the phrase tāngata whenua (people of the land) comes into play. Should a group of people come to stay on a marae, they are considered manuhiri (guests) while the owners of the marae are known as tāngata whenua. Should other groups of manuhiri arrive, the manuhiri who arrived previously - regardless of their race - are considered tāngata whenua for the purposes of formally welcoming the new group. When Māori refer to themselves as tāngata whenua this is not done solely to emphasise their indigenous status, as is often assumed, because the connotation in Māori of the phrase is one not of separation but rather of welcome and inclusion.
Although marae have modern cooking facilities, the hāngi, a traditional way of cooking food in Polynesia, is still used to provide meals for large groups because the food it produces is considered flavourful. The hāngi consists of a shallow hole dug in the ground. A fire is prepared in the hole and stones are placed on the top of it. When the stones are hot the hāngi is prepared for cooking by leaving the hot stones and some of the coals at the bottom of the hole. The food is placed on top of the stones, the meat first, with the vegetables, such as kumara and potatoes, on top of it. The hāngi is then covered with leaves or mats woven out of flax (or wet sacks) and left to cook. Finally, soil is heaped over the hāngi to keep the heat in.
The history of individual tribal groups is kept by means of narratives, songs and chants, hence the importance of music, story and poetry. Oratory, the making of speeches, is especially important in the rituals of encounter, and it is regarded as important for a speaker to include allusions to traditional narrative and to a complex system of proverbial sayings, called whakataukī.
Religion and tapu
Māori religion is closely related to nature and to the ancestors, and all things are conceived of as possessing a life force or mauri, since all living things are connected by a common descent through whakapapa or genealogy. Certain people and objects contain mana - spiritual power or essence. In accordance with the Polynesian tradition, Tangaroa is god of the ocean and the origin of all fish. Tane is the god of the forest and the origin of all birds, and Rongo is the god of peaceful activities and agriculture. According to some, the supreme god of the Māori is Io; however this idea is controversial. Tapu can be interpreted as "sacred", as "spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition"; it involves rules and prohibitions. There are two kinds of tapu, the private (relating to individuals) and the public tapu (relating to communities). A person, an object or a place, which is tapu, may not be touched by human contact, in some cases, not even approached. A person, object or a place could be made sacred by tapu for a certain time. In earlier times, tribal members of a higher rank would not touch objects which belonged to members of a lower rank. This was considered "pollution" and persons of a lower rank could not touch the belongings of a highborn person. Death was the penalty. A violation of tapu could have dire consequences, including the death of the offender through sickness or at the hands of someone affected by the offence. In earlier times food cooked for a person of high rank was tapu, and could not be eaten by an inferior. A chief's house was tapu, and even the chief could not eat food in the interior of his house. Not only were the houses of people of high rank perceived to be tapu, but also their possessions including their clothing. Burial grounds and places of death were always tapu, and these areas were often surrounded by a protective fence. In pre-contact society, tapu was one of the strongest forces in Māori life; however in the early 1800s, Māori enthusiastically embraced Christianity and its concepts and adapted them to their culture. Today, tapu is still observed in matters relating to sickness, death, and burial.
Dance and personal adornment
Haka
The haka is just one of many kinds of group dance or performance. A number of different types of haka are performed depending on the occasion. There are haka of song and joy, and warlike haka. There are various types of war haka - one performed without weapons, usually to express public or private feelings, is known as the "haka taparahi"; another, the peruperu, is performed with weapons. In former times, the peruperu was performed before a battle. Its purpose was to invoke the god of war and to warn enemies of the fate awaiting them. It involved fierce facial expressions and grimaces, poking out of the tongue, eye bulging, grunts and cries, and the waving of weapons. If the haka was not performed in total unison, this was regarded as an bad omen for the battle. Often, warriors went naked into battle, apart from a plaited flax belt around the waist. The aim of the warriors was to kill all the members of the enemy war party, so that no survivors would remain to undertake revenge. In today's environment however, haka are often performed as a mark of respect for distinguished visitors, or to express a sense of the importance of an occasion. The New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, perform a haka before international matches not only as a reflection of the importance of the game that is about to be played but also to motivate themselves and their supporters to greater efforts; indirectly then, as in days of old on the Māori battlefield, they are paying a compliment to the perceived skills of their opponents.
Pendants
The hei-tiki, a small ornamental pendant usually made of pounamu and worn around the neck, is often incorrectly referred to as a tiki, a term that actually refers to large human figures carved in wood, and, also, the small wooden carvings used to mark sacred places. One theory of the origin of the hei-tiki suggests a connection with Tiki, the god who created human life, in which case the hei-tiki is a symbol of fertility. Another less romantic theory holds that it served merely for personal adornment. The most valuable hei-tiki are carved from greenstone or pounamu. New Zealand greenstone consists of either nephrite (a type of jade, in Māori: pounamu) or bowenite (Māori: tangiwai). Pounamu is esteemed highly by Māori for its beauty, toughness and great hardness; it is used not only for ornaments such as hei-tiki and ear pendants, but also for carving tools, adzes, and weapons. Named varieties include translucent green kahurangi, whitish inanga, semi-transparent kawakawa, and tangiwai or bowenite.
From the size and style of traditional examples of hei-tiki it is likely that the stone was first cut in the form of a small adze. The tilted head of the pitau variety of hei-tiki derives from the properties of the stone - its hardness and great value make it important to minimise the amount of the stone that has to be removed. Creating a hei-tiki with traditional methods is a long, arduous process during which the stone is smoothed by abrasive rubbing; finally, using sticks and water, it is slowly shaped and the holes bored out. After laborious and lengthy polishing, the completed pendant is suspended by a plaited cord and secured by a loop and toggle.
Other taonga (treasured possessions) used as items of personal adornment include bone carvings in the form of neck ornaments, earrings or necklaces. For many Māori the wearing of such items relates to cultural identity; however, they are also popular with young New Zealanders of all races. Several artistic collectives have been established by Māori tribal groups. These collectives have begun creating and exporting jewellery (such as bone carved hei matau pendants and greenstone jewellery) and other artistic items (such as wood carvings and textiles). Several actors who have recently appeared in high-profile movies filmed in New Zealand have come back wearing such jewellery, including Viggo Mortensen of The Lord of the Rings fame, took to wearing a hei matau around his neck. These trends have contributed towards a worldwide interest in traditional Māori culture and arts.
Tā moko
As a cultural practice tattooing (tā moko) was brought by the Māori from their Eastern Polynesian homeland, and the implements and methods employed were similar to those used in other parts of Polynesia (see Buck 1974:296, cited in References below). It is thought that in traditional society many or most high-ranking persons were tattooed, and those who went without tattoos were seen as persons of lower social status; although Simmons (1997), cited below, contains references throughout to servants who were tattooed with patterns that signalled that they were the slave of a high ranking chief. The receiving of tattoos constituted an important milestone on a person's journey to maturity and was accompanied by many rites and rituals. According to Simmons, in both men and women, the patterns used were highly significant of a person's rank, skills, knowledge, personal life history, tribal affilations and genealogy; in contrast Buck (1974:298) thought that because tā moko experts travelled widely to carry out their art the designs would have related more to the tribal affiliations of the tattooist rather than those of the tattooed. Apart from signalling status and rank, another reason for the practice in traditional times was to make a person more attractive to the opposite sex. The instrument used to tattoo in former times (up to 1925) was a bone chisel with an extremely sharp edge. The first stage of the tattoo started with the carving of deep grooves into the skin (see Simmons 1997:19). Next, the chisel was dipped into a sooty pigment such as burnt kauri gum which was then smeared into the skin. It was an extremely long and painful process, and often leaves from the karaka tree were placed over the swollen incisions to hasten the healing process. Women were not as extensively tattooed: with some exceptions, only their lips and chin were decorated. Simmons also mentions that the use of the painful traditional tattooing implements began to be abandoned in favour of grouped metal needles starting from about 1910 (ibid). In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the practice of tattooing for both men and women, as a sign of cultural identity and a reflection of the general revival of the language and culture; members of kapa haka (concert parties) often apply temporary markings to their faces to give an approximation of a tattooed appearance.
==Interactions with Europeans== European colonisation of New Zealand occurred relatively recently, causing the late New Zealand historian Michael King to state in his book, The Penguin History Of New Zealand, that Māori were "the last major human community on earth untouched and unaffected by the wider world."
The early European explorers, including Abel Tasman and James Cook, reported encounters with Māori.
These early reports described the Māori as a fierce and proud warrior race. Inter-tribal warfare was a way of life, with the conquered being enslaved or in some cases eaten. From as early as the 1780s Māori had encounters with European sealers and whalers; some even crewed on their ships. There was also a continuous trickle of escaped convicts from Australia and deserters from visiting ships. By 1830 it was estimated that there were as many as 2,000 Pakeha living among the Māori, status varying from slaves through to high ranking advisors, from prisoners to those who abandoned European culture and identified themselves as Māori. Pakeha were valued for their ability to describe European skills and culture and their ability to obtain European items in trade, particularly weaponry. These Europeans were known as Pakeha Māori. When Pomare led a war party against Titore in 1838, among his warriors were 132 Pakeha mercenaries. Frederick Edward Maning, an early settler, wrote two colourful contemporaneous accounts of life at that time which have become classics of New Zealand literature: Old New Zealand and History of the War in the North of New Zealand against the Chief Heke. Governor George Grey learned the language and recorded much of the mythology.
During this period the acquisition of muskets by those tribes in close contact with European visitors destabilised the existing balance of power between Māori tribes, and there was a period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, during which several tribes were effectively exterminated and others were driven from their traditional territory. European diseases also killed a large but unknown number of Māori during this period. Estimates vary between ten and fifty percent.
With increasing European missionary activity and settlement in the 1830s as well as perceived European lawlessness, the British Crown, as a predominant world power, came under pressure to intervene. Ultimately this led to William Hobson being dispatched with instructions to take possession of New Zealand. Before he arrived, Queen Victoria annexed new Zealand by royal proclamation in January 1840. On arrival in February, Hobson negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with the surrounding northern chiefs. This treaty was subsequently signed by many other Māori chiefs, though by no means all. The treaty made the Māori British subjects in return for a guarantee of property rights and tribal autonomy.
In the 1860s, disputes over questionable land purchases and the attempts of Māori in the Waikato to establish a rival British-style system of royalty led to the New Zealand wars. Although these resulted in relatively few deaths, large tracts of tribal land were confiscated by the colonial government. Settlements such as Parihaka in Taranaki are remembered as sites of violent conflict that took place there during that period.
Revival
With the loss of much of their land, Māori went into a period of decline, and by the late 19th century it was believed that the Māori population would cease to exist as a separate race and be assimilated into the European population. The predicted decline did not occur, and population levels recovered. Despite a high degree of intermingling between the Māori and European populations, Māori were able to retain their cultural identity and in the 1960s and 1970s, Māoridom underwent a cultural revival. No Māori live a traditional pre-European contact lifestyle today. Some commentators express frustration with the "theme-parkisation" of Māori identity with tourist-driven performances and gift shop "art". Others seek to develop a New Zealand identity that incorporates strands of Māori identity.
Sympathetic governments and political activism have led to compensation for certain historic instances of unjust confiscation of land and the violation of other property rights. A special court, the Waitangi Tribunal, was established to investigate and make recommendations on such issues. As a result of the compensation paid, Māori now have significant interests in the fishing and forestry industries.
In many areas of New Zealand, Māori language ceased to be used as a living community language (by significant numbers of people) in the post-war years. Generous state funding is assisting with the revival attempt. Māori culture and language is taught in most New Zealand schools, and pre-school kohanga reo or language nests, teach tamariki or young children exclusively in Māori. Māori Television, a government-funded TV station committed to broadcasting primarily in te reo, began broadcasting on March 28, 2004. Māori language has the equivalent status to English in government and law. Māori politicians have seven designated Māori seats in the New Zealand parliament (and may stand in the General seats), and consideration and consultation with Māori are routine requirements for many New Zealand councils and government organisations.
Despite significant social and economic advances during the 20th century, Māori still perform negatively in most health and education statistics, labour participation as well as being over-represented in criminal and corrections statistics.
In 2001 a dispute arose between Danish toymaker LEGO and several Māori tribal groups fronted by lawyer Maui Solomon, and also several members of an online discussion forum Aotearoa Cafe, over the popular LEGO toy line Bionicle. The product line used many words that were an appropriation of Māori language, imagery and folklore. The dispute was settled amicably. Initially LEGO refused to withdraw the game, saying the names it used were drawn from many cultures, but later agreed that it had taken the names from Māori and agreed to change certain names or spellings to help set the toy line apart from the Māori legends. This, however, did not prevent the many Bionicle users from continuing to use the disputed words, resulting in the popular Bionicle website BZPower coming under a denial-of-service attack for four days by an attacker using the name Kotiate [1].
See also
References
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2004). Australians' Ancestries: 2001. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Catalogue Number 2054.0. [2]
- Biggs, Bruce (1994). Does Maori have a closest relative? In Sutton (Ed.)(1994), pp. 96–-105.
- Hiroa, Te Rangi (Sir Peter Buck)(1974). The Coming of the Maori. Second Edition. First Published 1949. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs.
- Irwin, Geoffrey (1992). The Prehistoric Exploration and Colonisation of the Pacific. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Simmons, D.R. (1997). Ta Moko, The Art of Maori Tattoo. Revised Edition. First published 1986. Auckland: Reed.
- Statistics Canada (2003). Ethnic Origin (232), Sex (3) and Single and Multiple Responses (3) for Population, for Canada, Provinces, Territories, Census Metropolitan Areas and Census Agglomerations, 2001 Census - 20% Sample Data.. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, Cat. No. 97F0010XCB2001001. [3]
- Statistics New Zealand (2005). Estimated resident population of Māori ethnic group, at 30 June 1991-2005, selected age groups by sex. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand. [4]
- Sutton, Douglas G. (Ed.) (1994). The Origins of the First New Zealanders. Auckland: Auckland University Press.
- United States Census Bureau (2003). Census 2000 Foreign-Born Profiles (STP-159): Country of Birth: New Zealand. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Census Bureau. [5]
- Walrond, Carl (2005). Māori overseas, Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. [6]
Pranala luar
- (Inggris) culture.co.nz — Important Māori websites on the net.
- (Inggris) maori.org.nz — The largest Māori site on the net, covering a wide range of topics.
- (Inggris) korero.maori.nz Interactive Māori language resource site
- (Inggris) Māori Sovereignty Yahoogroup — Active online discussion group; membership required
- (Inggris) Aotearoa Cafe — Discussion forum about Māori history, politics and art.
- (Inggris) Aotearoa Māori Internet Organisation — Online discussion board.
- (Inggris) Māori related news headlines — From the Te Kareere Ipurangi news portal.
- (Inggris) Ta Moko — Website about the famous 'Moko', unique Māori body art.
- (Inggris) Māori theology — by the late Michael Shirres.
- (Inggris) Te Ara Encylopedia of New Zealand — Government-funded encyclopedia.