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Between the years 2000 and 2010, I located more than a hundred old texts to produce a research paper on the ancient origins of Ka Mate. Here is a brief outline of these findings.
- Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru....whiti te ra! was part of a waka-hauling chant associated with verses also used during the launching of the Tainui voyaging waka in Tahiti.The crewmen hauling the waka ashore thanked their vessel's hairy-faced commander who had delivered them from stormy seas to a sunny shore.
- The Ka mate, ka ora couplet was known in Eastern Polynesia, and used in the Fijian hinterland as Sa mate... sa mbula..., the cry of warriors who were prepared to die to ensure the continuity of the their tribe.
- These two elements were combined in Aotearoa, probably in the 15th century, to praise a strong tribal leader who could change war to peace. The imagery of Maui snaring the sun was used. "Long sunny days" were long peaceful years.
-
Ka Mate was used throughout Aotearoa in a
peace-making role, in association with another former
waka-hauling chant, Toia Mai.
- Ka Mate was later added on to the end of the erotic wedding night chant, Kikiki Kakaka, that was performed when an arranged marriage sealed the peace between two tribes.
-
Kikiki Kakaka was given a personal historical
meaning many generations later, in about 1810, after the
renegade chief Te Rauparaha hid under a woman's skirts to
escape the vengeful relatives of travellers he had
murdered. The word "Upane" (Side by side)
was
then changed to "Hupane" (Up the step).
Maui
slows the sun
This old story tells how when the sun came up one morning, Maui and his brothers lassoed it and slowed it down to make longer days; the message being that brave men must work together with a strong, ingenious leader to ensure long periods of peace.
Margaret Orbell (Maori Poetry 1967) pointed out that in the ancient usage of "Te tangata puhuruhuru" (the hairy person) symbolised unified strength. Brave warriors are the "hairs on the legs" of a strong chief. She also explained that "Whiti te ra" (the sun is shining) symbolised light, life and peace.
She noted that in the old versions of the haka, "Upane, ka upane" (together, all together) means that when men are united, all together, they became the Hairy One, powerful enough to bring about the triumph of life over death, that is, to transform war into peace.
Consequently this haka was performed to affirm the making of the peace process between tribes. "Ka mate, ka ora" conveys the feelings of the reunited groups: "We thought we were all going to die, but now we are safe."
Similarly, the purpose of rugby football tours, in their pre-commercial days, was to affirm the bonds of peace and unity between isolated regions and countries.
You can download my fully referenced paper detailing the antiquity of Ka Mate and discussing the Ngati Toa claim to its ownership here. Ka_Mate_origins_development_significance.html
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Johannes Andersen, Maori Music with its Polynesian Background (1934)
Margaret Orbell , Maori Poetry (Heinemann, 1978) p 102
Margaret Orbell, e-mail to John Archer (23 Nov 2001)
E H Schnackenburg , Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol 58. (1948)
Ka
Mate webpage written
by John Archer.
Nov 1999. Revised Jan 2002.
Lost, and reinstalled 13 March 2003. Revised 2006,
2007, 2008
Content divided into eight smaller pages Sept 2008