NZ Folklore * Rona
NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * LORE		 Rona
Dovey Katene-Horvath & Jock McEwen 1970

E Rona E
Katene Ponika  c. 1965

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Dovey Katene-Horvath and Jock McEwen produced this song for Upper Hutt's Māwai Hakona Māori Cultural Association. Their complex award-winning 1970 version began with traditional chanting in unison, gradually developed into modern waiata-a-ringa format using kupu from Kohine Ponika's earlier composition, then finished with the simple chant again.



In 1972, students at Christchurch Teachers Training College were taught this simplified children's version.


C Takoto ana au
Ki te mo-enga uriuri.
Am Tu ake au
Titiro ki te atarau.

C  Kei runga ra,
Te marama e whiti ana
Am  Kei ra Rona
Kei roto ra.

F  Piri ki te tahā,
G  Piri ki te ngai-o.

C  Aue, ra e
Am  Rona e
F  Au - e,
G ko - ta - C hi!

 I'm lying
in my darkened bedroom
and after a while get up
to look at the moonlight.

It's up there,
the risen moon,
and there's Rona
in the middle

holding the calabash,
holding the ngaio tree.

How sad
for Rona!
Alas,
all alone!


Takoto ana au
Ki te mo-enga uriuri.
Tu ake au
Titiro ki te atarau.

Kei runga ra,
Te marama e whiti ana
Kei ra Rona
Kei roto ra.

Piri ki te tahā,
Piri ki te ngai-o.

Aue, ra e
Rona e
Au - e,
ko - ta - hi!
Here are extra lyrics condensed
E Rona e
Kei whea koe?
Anei1 ke
e heke nei
e piki nei
Te mārama kopu2
whiowhio.3
Tāwhaki Tāwhaki4
 anei ra te pakiaka.

Korero mai
koe tei mahue
i te ao
Ao po-uri-uri
ao po-nako-nako
Hei aue hi, hei aue ha!		 I'm lying
in my darkened bedroom
and after a while get up
to look at the moonlight.

It's up there,
the risen moon,
and there's Rona
in the middle

holding the calabash,
holding the ngaio tree.

How sad
for Rona!
Alas,
all alone!
from Kohine's song.
O Rona
Where are you?
There1 you are
subsiding
then rising back up;
the belly of the moon2
High-pitched spirit voice3
Tawhaki Tawhaki4
there is the Ngaio tree's root.

Tell us
 how you were abandoned
in that world,
that gloomy world,
that dim-sighted world.
Hei aue hi, hei aue ha!


Kōhine Pōnika's earlier version

 In the mid-1960s, Kōhine Pōnika of Rūātoki wrote this song about Rona.


E Rona e, kei whea koe?
Anei ke e
piki nei, e heke nei
Te marama kopu2 whio (whiro?)3

Tawhaki Tawhaki4
anei ra te pakiaki.
Tarere mai koe
e ke mahue i te ao
Ao pouriuri
ao ponakonako5
Hi aue hi! Hi aue!    x2

Korerotia mai!
Nau ra e Rona i kanga te marama
Ki te kupu pokokoho6 taurekareka!
Putua iho mai
te kino o te po7
Hutia atu ana koe x2		 Oh Rona, oh where are you?
There1 you are
rising, then subsiding;
in the moon's belly2, so sinister3

Tawhaki Tawhaki4
there is the root.
You are swinging there
long ago abandoned in a world
a gloomy world
a dim-sighted world
Hi oh hi! Hi oh!    x2

Let the story be told!
Going out, Rona cursed the moon
with the words "Boiled-head, Slave!"
bringing down
the ill-will of the night
And now you are always rooted there x2

Notes

1.  Anei means here,  but up in the line, Kei runga ra, Rona is up there, so I have kept her at a distance from us.

2.   Kopu is really an adjective here, describing the moon becoming more and more pot-bellied each night.

3.  Whiro, whio, whiowhio
Whiro is the personification of the dark fear of the unknown in our collective unconscious mind, and is the obvious meaning intended here.
Whio usually means whistle. Is it also the way Tuhoe people pronounce whiro? Or is this just a mondegreen, mistaking one word for another when hearing it sung? This happens frequently when songs are passed on in the traditional oral way.
Whiowhio is high-pitched voice heard when a tohunga communicates with the collective unconscious.

4.  Tawhaki is an adventurous young man, who, like Jack in the ancient Indo-European story of The Boy who Stole the Ogre's Treasure, climbs a phallic vine to gain the love of a heavenly woman, Tangotango.
The heavens were also climbed by Tane so he could obtain three "baskets" of knowledge to help mankind in a practical way, to use ritual and prayer to connect with the unconscious, and to learn about makutu, harmful to mankind. Whiro, Tane's brother on the dark side, tried unsuc-cessfully to stop him gaining this knowledge. Kohine's song seems to connect Whiro with Tawhaki by conflating Rona with Tangotango.
5.  Pō-nakonako is literally "darkness-with-shapes," and usually refers someone's poor eyesight - myopea or cataracts. But I think that it refers to the dim twilight world of the moon here.

6.   Pokokoho is a common swear-word, a modified form of upoko-kōhua, meaning boiled head. In the Tuamotu Archipelago version of this story, Rona is a cannibal who eats cooked heads.
You can find a more swear words in a 1920 Ngati Porou haka denouncing Sir Apirana Ngata's prohibition law for the East Coast.
...mahi hamupaka koia raka! 
Ture kaunihera koia raka! 
Poropeihana koia raka! 

Ka minamina au ki te waipiro
ka hokona i te pō! 
Purari paka! 
Kaura mokai e!		    ...a load of humbug is what we have!
Council by-laws are what we have!
Prohibition is what we have!

I want to be able to go to the pub
and buy a drink at night!
You bloody bugger! 
Lowlife coward!

7.  Kino  When used as an adjective kino means bad, rotten or evil. And here as a noun, it is badness, ill-will. When going out at night, us Pakeha kids used to scare the others with warnings like "Watch out for the Boogie-man! Don't let the Boogie-man catch you!"
 

The Legend of Rona and the Moon

I tetahi po atarua ka haere a Rona ki te utu wai; e mau ana i te ringa, te kete, he taha I roto. One bright moonlight night Rona was sent to fetch some water from a stream; in her hand was a basket, which contained a gourd.
I te haerenga atu ki te wai ka taka te marama ki tua ki te kapua, rokohanga iho he ara kino, a, tutuki noa te wae ki nga rakau. On her way to the water the moon suddenly disappeared behind a cloud, and the road being bad, she kicked her foot against some of the shrubs.
No konei, ka riri ia, a, anga ana ka kanga ki te marama, ka mea ake,
"Pokohua marama, te puta mai koe kia marama."		 This made her angry, and in her rage she cursed the moon, saying,
"Wicked moon, not to come forth and shine."
Ka riri i konei te marama ki te mahi a Rona, ka rere iho ia ki raro ka mau ki a Rona. This conduct of Rona's displeased the moon very much, and at once he came down and seized her.
Ka pupuri a Rona ki te rakau e tupu ana i te taha o te awa, otiia, hutia ana te rakau haere katoa nga pakiaka, kahaki tonu atu i a Rona, te rakau, me tana taha wai. Rona, in her turn, seized a tree which grew near the margin of the stream, but the moon tore up the tree by the roots, and flying away carried off Rona and her calabash, together with the tree.
Ka taria nei te hokinga o Rana ki te kainga ka haere ki te whakatau. Rona's friends, expecting her to come back, went in quest of her.
Rapu nei rapu nei, ka pa te karanga "E Rona, e Rona, keihea koe?" After searching for some time, they called out, "Rona, Rona, where are you?"
Ka karanga iho tera, "E! tenei au! Te kake nei i roto i te marama, i te whetu." And back came this cry to them, "Here am I, up in the moon, with the stars."

The Influence of the Moon

"Na Rona te po, na Rona te ao hei aronga mo te marama."
Rona represents the dark and bright phases of the moon.

We often give personal names to the forces of nature - Greymouth's Barber, Darwin's Cyclone Tracy, America's Hurricane Katrina, England's Jack Frost, Russia's General Winter, "Send-er-down" Huey.

In his 1922 monograph, "Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori," Elsdon Best noted that Maori did the same.

They recognised the power of the moon to affect the tide and weather, the consequent success of their fishing and planting endeavours, and the moon's relationship to women's moods, sexuality and fertility.

Then they personalized all this by referring to Rona-whakamau-tai, Rona controlling the tides, as a woman in the moon who guided and controlled these forces.

Why did Rona hold on to a ngaio tree?

In some old Maori tribes the pregnant state was attributed to the moon-god, who is "the true husband of all women."

At birth the placenta (whenua) and umbilical cord (iho) were sometimes buried and a young sapling was planted over them; either a ngaio, karaka, or kahikatea. As it grew, it was a sign of life (he tohu oranga) for the child.

The umbilical cord (iho) appears to have been compared to the trunk or roots of the tree. "Iho" is where the essenntial strength of a thing consists, as in the heart of a tree, or in the long, fibrous root of a tree or shrub.
Dr. W.H. Goldie and Elsdon Best, Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, 1904.

Maybe this legend is saying that women get pregnant when they get carried away by their monthly feelings of desire. And their whole life gets uprooted by this event.

Stories about Rona

Because the moon was the brightest object in the evening, Rona was a popular subject for children's bedtime korero purakau (fairy-tales).

 Elsdon Best lists many other stories involving Rona.

When the moon waned Rona was said to be attacking the moon because she destroyed the food products of the earth. Another story made Rona a daughter of Tangaroa, the mythical parent of all fish.

In a South Island version, Rona is transformed into a man. Being pursued by his wrathful wife, he deserted the earth and sought refuge in the moon, and he has been afraid to come down again!

Some Polynesian Island versions described Rona as a man who reaches the moon in pursuit of his wife. He causes of the waning of the moon by eating it, being devoured himself at the same time. Both are then restored to life and strength by bathing in the "living waters of Tane," after which they renew their struggle.

In the Tuamotu Archipelago, Rona is a noted cannibal (eating cooked heads) and Hina, the moon, is her daughter.

Sacred-texts.com also recounts a Cook Islands tale of the moon becoming enamoured of one of the beautiful daughters of Kui the Blind, so that he descended and carried her off with him. She can still be seen in the moon with her piles of leaves for her oven and her tongs to adjust the coals.

Aiken Drum

Rona can be compared with Aikendrum, the man in the moon of Scottish mythology.

A Wikipedia article notes how household deities like him were often attuned to agricultural cycles; sowing, reaping, and baking. Today's Aiken Drum retains many other ancient characteristics, including an ambivalent helpfulness and an attachment to the kitchen.

Aikendrum (Backbone of Oak) was a fearsome otherworldy figure whom Scottish soldiers identified with in the early 1700s.

Ken ye how a Whig Can fight, Aikendrum, Aikendrum?

The soldiers were so fearsomely different that they seemed to be from the moon. They "plyed apon the ladle" - supping with the devil - and they lived off the land, marching along with scavenged food hanging from their bodies.

By 1790 children were singing a parody of their song

There was a man cam frae the moon,
Cam frae the moon, cam frae the moon,
There was a man cam frae the moon,
An' they ca'ed him Aiken Drum.

An' he played upon a ladle, and his name was Aiken Drum.

An' his coat was ma'e a' good roast beef...
An' his buttons ma'e a' penny loaves...
An' his troosers ma'e a' haggis bags...

But today children sing about a funny man made of pizza and spaghetti.

Rona has also gone from being a personalized force of nature to the subject of a funny children's story.

Te Oka, a Pakeha Kaumātua

Jock McEwen was an administrator, teacher, historian, linguist, composer and master carver, and he became completely accepted into the Māori community.

Jock was born in Cheltenham in 1915, and at the age of 18 in 1943 he was sent to a camp for Home Guard training at Ōringi, where he formed friendships with local Rangitāne, especially the Rautahi whānau and Ranginui in particular.

It was in that time that Jock absorbed local culture - carvings and designs, music and history - which encouraged him to study more Rangitāne history. He became fluent in te reo Māori and absorbed everything he could about Māori culture. Later he travelled widely working for New Zealand's Native Department (which became Māori Affairs) and in the Pacific on government business. He even represented NZ at the UN on decolonisation issues.

After retirement he taught carving, encouraged te reo and other Māori initiatives, and helped build marae.


 'Rona' on record


1970 Māwai Hakona
1973 Turakina Maori Girls' College Choir
1973 St. Joseph's Maori Girls' College Concert Party
1978 Samuel Marsden Collegiate School
1995 Chuck Upu, Kia Orana
2006 Songs for Hui Gatherings (A great CD. Get it here)

 

This webpage was made in March 2007 for Lucy Phillips who first sang it at Training College many moons ago. The Jock McEwan was information added in June 2024, thanks to his nephew, Malcolm McEwen.
And thanks to Nahuia Wade for providing more information about E Rona E in July 2024.

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