1 - Mother Earth, Sister Moon and the Great Forest of Tāne

Summary

Ma te rongo ka mōhio Through sound comes awareness

Ma te mōhio ka mārama Through awareness comes understanding

Ma te mārama ka mātau Through understanding comes knowledge

Ma te mātau ka ora. Through knowledge comes well-being.

This ess ay be gins with a whakataukī (Māori proverb), because this is the way Māori impart knowledge and present their taonga (treasures). There is no specific term for the word ‘value’ in Māori; objects of good or cultural value are taonga. Whether these are tangible or intangible remains of the past, whether their end value is material or spiritual, they are classified ngā taonga a ngā tūpuna (ancestral treasures) and ohaaki a ngā tūpuna (guidelines, maxims of the ancestors). Knowledge itself is taonga and so too are whakataukī. At a formal level this article follows the guidelines mapped out in the whakataukī cited above. It was conceived as a conference paper and therefore presented orally, as sound. Its transformation from spoken word to written record, that is, from intangible sound to material image, aims at fixing awareness in materiality. With this push, and in accord with the whakataukī, the research sends out tendrils of new growth to promote understanding, knowledge, and well-being. There is a creative process outlined in the whakataukī that this work strives to emulate. It also seems fitting, in a study juxtaposing indigenous New Zealand and European cultures, that both spoken and written words are used in its transmission, for Māori had no written language before Europeans settled in New Zealand. Repetition and oral presentations are what kept and continue to keep Māori culture alive. By adhering to Māori practice and seeking to present taonga in the Māori manner, I can contribute to and become part of a living culture. Only working within its frame can I understand Māori culture and begin to compare it with that of western Europe on equal terms.

This study works in wide open spaces. It looks across the hemispheres at Māori and European use of arboreal imagery around the time of the Middle Ages. Both cultures made significant metaphorical use of trees and plants in their struggle to commit their histories to memory for future generations well before European explorers Abel Tasman and Captain James Cook arrived in New Zealand in 1642 and 1769.