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 taha,
G Piri ki te ngai-o.
C Aue, au...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!
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."
"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 brighest 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.
'Rona'
on record
This
song was was composed in 1972 by Christchurch Teachers
Training College students under the guidance of Mrs
Honor Goldsmith.
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.
"Na
Rona te po, na Rona te ao hei aronga
mo te marama."
