maori greenstone proverbs
Posted on | December 29, 2007 | No Comments
i bought the neatest book recently:
maori sayings and proverbs
compiled by murdoch riley
i love reading and learning proverbs from other cultures….they are such a fast insight into what a culture values and what preoccupies it’s collective mind.
the maori have lots of sayings about war, land, beauty, trees, and of course…..greenstone.
here are some i have paraphrased:
ahakoa iti, he pounamu.
although it is small, it is of greenstone.
though the gift may appear small, it is precious nonetheless.
ha iti ra, he iti mapihi pounamu.
it may be small, but it is the finest greenstone.
small things have their value, too.
kati ano taku taonga nui i te pounamu.
my only treasure is greenstone.
ahara ahau te tangata i kite i te ika a poutini.
i am not the man who found the fish of poutini.
a proverb quoted by a speaker wishing to apologise for not giving greenstone as a gift.
this proverb has a complex back story in the form of a myth featuring pounamu and poutini.
i’ve heard three versions of this tale, they all involve water and weeping and stone.
kaua e uru pounamu mai ki a au.
don’t give me greenstone again.
a retort to someone who keeps repeating a question.
tatau pounamu.
door of greenstone.
the mark of lasting peace.
a chief would own a fine piece of greenstone, fashioned into a mere (a graceful but deadly club-like weapon), meant to be hand held.
when peace was called for between warring tribes, they would call for the “greenstone door” to be raised.
the mere represented the mana of the chief, the ultimate war weapon and permanence….and was therefore a guarantee that any peace negotiated would hold.
tau mahi ra, e te iti kahurangi.
well done, my pretty one.
a mother will speak of her child as “my precious little one” or “my greenstone earring”.
kahurangi is a very beautiful type of greenstone that is often mentioned in speech and song.
taku toi kahurangi.
my precious jewel.
words used in a tangi (funeral) oration for the dead.
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