Kupe
In the Māori mythology of some tribes, Kupe was one of the discoverers of Aotearoa / New Zealand .
There are numerous versions of this expedition, the details of which vary from tribe to tribe. In what is considered to be the classic version, Kupe was a great tribal leader from Hawaiki who reached New Zealand in 925 . He drowned his cousin Hoturapa during a fishing trip in the sea and kidnapped his wife, Kuramarotini, with whom he then fled in their big canoe, Matahourua. During the escape, they overpowered some sea monsters and demons, including the great octopus named Te Wheke-a-Muturangi, and eventually ended up in New Zealand. Some time later, Kupe returned to Hawaiki and reported on his adventures and discovery. He was able to convince others to emigrate with him to the newly discovered country.
There is some scientific debate surrounding Kupe. Later versions of the legend differ significantly from previous ones. The so-called classic version above is closely related to Stephenson Percy Smith , a New Zealand ethnologist and researcher of the 19th century. This version gives very precise details of the arrival date in New Zealand or the places where Kupe lived, and places Kupe several centuries before the arrival of other Polynesian canoes in New Zealand. In contrast, earlier versions of the legend say that Kupe was a contemporary of those canoes.
According to the legends from the Whanganui and Taranaki regions , Kupe was explicitly a contemporary of Turi from the Aotea canoe . In other lore, Kupe reached New Zealand in other canoes, for example in the Tainui Waka - or Tākitimu Waka , around the year 1400.
On the subject, researcher Davis Simmons said:
“A search for sources for what I now call the Great New Zealand Mystery, the legend of Kupe, Toi and the Great Fleet, yields amazing results. They do not exist in this form in the ancient records, nor in the official speeches and speeches (whaikōrero) of the learned Māori. Parts of it can be found. Kupe was and is known from the lore of Hokianga Harbor , Waikato , the East Coast and the South Island , but the ancestral stories do not correspond to those given by S. Percy Smith. They are a mixture of traditions from different tribes. In other words, the whole tradition as presented to Smith is the product of a European ( pākehā ), not of Māori. The story of Toi and Whatonga and their alleged canoe race, which is said to have led to the settlement of New Zealand, is comparable. This story, as recorded by Smith, can only be traced back to a single Māori, and the scholars of his tribe never mentioned such a legend, nor was such a story remembered in any ceremony. The origin canoes of individual tribes are well known in the respective tribes, but none of these traditions speaks, as Smith does, of a fleet of six ocean-going canoes that would have cast off together in Raiatea. The great New Zealand mystery remains unsolved. "
literature
- John White : The Ancient History of the Maori, his mythology and traditions . 13 volumes. Wellington 1887 (English, list online - electronic access to the collected works in Maori and English).
- Te Whetu : Te Haerenga Mai O Kupe I Hawaiki : The Coming of Kupe From Hawaiki To New Zealand . In: Polynesian Society (Ed.): The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 2, No.3 . Auckland September 1893, p. 147-151 (English, online ).
- Himiona Kaamira : The Story of Kupe . In: Polynesian Society (Ed.): The Journal of the Polynesian Society . Volume 66, No. 3 , 1957, ISSN 0032-4000 , p. 232–248 (English, online - translated by Bruce Biggs ).
- DR Simmons : The Great New Zealand Myth. A study of the discovery and origin traditions of the Maori. . Reed , Wellington 1976, ISBN 0-589-00949-4 (English, excerpt online - excerpt from the book in Art New Zealand. Vol. 5, No. 4, February / March 1977).
- Robert D. Craig : Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology . Greenwood Press , New York 1989, ISBN 978-0-313-25890-9 (English).