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THE "KA MATE" CHANT
By E. H. S.
Kawhia, 1948
For many generations —probably for many centuries— the "Ka mate"
haka or chant has featured as the orthodox prelude to ceremonial
receptions at Maori gatherings when welcoming distinguished
visitors. The procedure usually adopted is for a double line of
the most prepossessing maidens of the tribe to form a guard of
honour, each being clad in her most becoming costume and bearing a
branch of either mamaku or nikau palm (appropriate to the
occasion) with which to accompany the music as the recital of the
haka begins. The volume and intensity of the voices increases as
the visitors approach and advance between the ranks of the
performers until the party reaches the marae and awaits the formal
speeches of welcome.
Of recent years the haka has received wider publicity as it forms
the basis of a popular song, and through its adoption by our rugby
football representatives as their slogan, it has become familiar
to all parts of the British Empire. The question of its origin has
long been shrouded in mystery, the theory most commonly accepted
being that it was composed by the Kawhia chief Te Rauparaha when
on a visit to his relatives, the Ngati Tuwharetoa tribe of Taupo.
The story alleges that owing to some misconduct the chief was in
fear of his life and only escaped death by hiding in a potato pit,
which had been indicated to him by a woman. When the danger had
passed away Te Rauparaha emerged from his place of refuge and
recited the haka which, it is said, he had composed on the spot to
celebrate his deliverance. The Taupo Maori people still indicate
the pits at Te Ngongo, in one of which Te Rauparaha is alleged to
have hidden.
There are several reasons why this explanation must fail to
withstand investigation. In the first place, the haka was
universally known among the tribes of the North Island long before
Te Rauparaha was born; secondly, the sense and sentiment of the
chant are quite irrelevant as regards the potato pit story;
thirdly, the subject relates to matters and incidents of more than
local importance; fourthly, it is most improbable that the Maori
would use a battle song to welcome highly honoured guests. It may
be perfectly true that Te Rauparaha did relieve his feelings by
reciting the haka in question, but it would be quite unsafe to
credit him with its authorship, any more than it would be to
attribute its composition to the All Blacks, on the grounds that
they had chanted this haka on every football field during their
oversea tours.
Confident that the foregoing explanation was quite unsatisfactory,
the writer consulted an old Maori whose father had flourished
during the early years of the last century, and who had recorded
in writing many of the principal events and traditions of the
tribe. Reference to these documents indicated what is probably the
most reasonable history of the origin of the haka as related by Te
Huki, a Ngati Hikairo chief, who was one of the greatest tohunga-ariki
of his time.
Fully to appreciate the circumstances surrounding its origin, it
is necessary to supply a brief out- line of Maori mythology, which
may be summarised as follows:—
Io(1) (or Ahua-o-te-rangi,
Image of Heaven) was the supreme deity of Maori mythology. He was
the creator of Rangi (the sky) and Papa (the earth) who, in turn,
were the parents of all living organisms, including a number of
deities each functioning in the various physical features of the
world. As their descendants increased their movements became much
hampered by the fact that Rangi and Papa were closely bound
together and Tane-mahuta (God of the forests) was much disturbed
by the fact that most of his trees, such as ponga, mamaku, nikau,
etc.(2) were flat-topped. He
therefore secured the sacred axe Te Awhio-rangi (Divider
of heaven), subsequently brought to New Zealand in the Aotea canoe
and, severing these bonds, he was able with the help of the now
innumerable deities and demigods to raise Rangi far above Papa and
thus create an open firmament.(3)
There was much jubilation among the gods at their freedom of
action, but none rejoiced more than Ra (the Sun) who now was able
to race from his eastern pit
(Marangai) through the open
firmament at a hectic speed
without restriction. In consequence,
Ra's beneficient beams,
essential to warmth and life, were lost
to flora and fauna
alike, and at this juncture Maui, the
Polynesian hero, akin
to Hercules of Mediterranean mythology,
appeared on the
scene. Like Hercules he was endowed with
supernatural
powers, but always employed physical forces to
accomplish
marvellous feats, being able to assume, at will, the
attributes
of a man or of a god. He accepted the challenge thrown
out by the unruly sun and proceeded to bring it to subjec
tion.
Plaiting a huge rope of muka (dressed fibre) he
placed a noose
over the mouth of the pit whence Ra emerged
each morning, but the
inflammable material was at once
destroyed, like the waxen wings
of Daedalus. Undismayed,
Maui then wove a rope of green flax and
soaking it in the
ocean again prepared a snare for the
intractable Ra. On the
second occasion, the manoeuvre was quite
successful, Ra
being secured by his head and despite frantic
efforts on his
part he was held firmly by the gods, while Maui
administered
a severe thrashing by means of the jaw bone of his
grand-
father, Muri-rangawhenua. Ra surrendered unconditionally
and henceforward traversed the heavens at such a leisurely
speed
that all creation "rejoiced with exceeding great joy. "
To
celebrate Maui's great achievement the "Ka mate" haka
was
composed as under:-
Ka mate! Ka
mate!
'Twas death! 'Twas death! (Dolorosa)
Ka ora! Ka
ora!
(Now) "Tis life! 'Tis life! (Vivace)
Ka mate! Ka
mate!
'Twas death! 'Twas death! (Dolorosa)
Ka ora! Ka
ora!
(Now) "Tis life! 'Tis life! (with emphasis )
Tenei te tangata
puhuruhuru
Behold the man of
hoary antiquity
Nana i tiki
mai
'Twas he who captured(4)
the sun
Whakawhiti te
ra
And caused it to shine (recitative)
Upane!
Upane!
Look! Its head is a fixture!
Upane! Kaupane!
It is immovable! (with jubilation)
Whiti te
ra!
The sun shines! (the climax)
In Sir George Grey's Mythology and Traditions of
the New
Zealanders (1853), adds two lines to the above
text:-
Upoko! Upoko!
See its head! Its head!
Upoko! Whiti te
ra!
Its head! The sun shines!
While this addition conforms to the sense and metre of the verse,
it is never, nowadays, included in the performance of the chant.
The foregoing is an exact translation of the original, with the
exception of puhuruhuru which literally means hairy, but
is here used in a figurative sense to denote that Maui was in the
transition period(5),
in the devolution from god to man.
It should also be noted that its whole sentiment is the direct
antithesis of the frenzied fury of the war dance haka, breathing
death and destruction.
To Polynesian sun-worshippers, the supreme success of Maui's
achievement was embodied in the concluding three words "Whiti te
ra!" (the sun shines!), the promise of peace and prosperity under
the benign influence of the life-giving orb of day, so graphically
eulogised by our Milton; in fact, a transformation from death to
life.
MAORI VERSIFICATION.
The "Ka mate" chant affords a fine example of Maori verse, wherein
the swaying action of the performers accords with the metre and
music of the song. This is common to all Maori movements, whether
in work or play, whether in the poi dance, or in the war dance;
whether in digging with a ko (spade) or when paddling a canoe-in
all such cases unison of action is regulated by a variation of
verse appropriate to the occasion. Perhaps the most spectacular
illustration is furnished when fifty to one hundred and forty
rowers, forming the crew of a waka taua (war canoe)
dipped their paddles in perfect precision to a fitting karakia or
haka, chanted by the Kai-hautu who, standing amidships, directs
the navigation of the craft. The "Ka mate" chant indicated a
swinging, swaying motion by the three-four time of the metre, in a
sequence of dactyls, in the same way as Virgil reproduces the
rhythmic hoof-beats of galloping horses" I on the dusty plain " in
his famous line! Quadrupe-dante pu / trem soni / tu quatit/
ungula/ campum. Compare this with a similar swing of: Tenei
te/tangata/puhuru/huru.
While the comparison becomes still more marked from the fact that
just as the Roman poet concludes his verse with a spondee, so the
Maori detaches the syllable ra each time it
appears in the song, e.g., Whiti te ra.
CONCLUSION.
Summing up the "Ka mate" chant, it represents the glorification of
Maui and exultation at his success in ensuring the warmth and
light of glorious sunshine to a perishing world, because he had
dissipated the " darkness which was upon the face of the
deep." Meanwhile the gods, having raised Rangi to Highest
Heaven, interposed a star-studded curtain to screen his nakedness
from the motley multitude who were now romping and revelling at
will over Mother Earth (Papa) under Ra's brightest beam, joyfully
joining with one voice in that rhythmic refrain: Whiti te ra!"
(the sun shines!)
ANNOTATION.
1. Io (cf.,
Heb. "Yahveh"; Phen. "Aio"; Gr. "Zeus "); corresponding to
Jehovah.
2.
Corresponding to the carboniferous age, when the tree ferns
constituted a considerable proportion of its flora.
3. cf.,
Genesis. Chap. 1, v. 7-8; and the Chaldaic legend reciting the
same incident.
4. Literally, "brought
back."
5. Just as we would use
cave-dwellers to denote prehistoric man.
Edward Henry Schnackenberg
 Edward
Schnackenberg was influential in Kawhia and Raglan during the
early 20th century as editor and journalist for the weekly
newspaper Kawhia Settler from 1909 to1935.
His parents, Rev Cort and Annie Schnackenberg, were among the
earliest European settlers on the Waikato coast - Cort
Schnackenberg was based as a flax trader at Kawhia from 1839, but
became a Wesleyan catechist then missionary from 1844 at Mokau,
Kawhia, Aotea and Nihinihi (Raglan).
Edward was born at the mission station at Raglan in 1869. After
Rev Schnackenberg died in 1880, the family moved to Auckland,
where Edward attended school and university. He passed the Civil
Service exams in 1888 and also received a scholarship to attend
Auckland University College - he graduated with a Bachelor of
Arts. He died in Kawhia in 1953.
Edward's mother, Annie Schnackenberg (nee Allen), was a founding
member of the New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union
(WCTU), which not only advocated for temperance instruction but
also for women's suffrage. In 1893, during her time as president
of the WCTU, New Zealand women were granted the vote.
Waikato Times, 11 Nov 2016
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