Prof. Dr Jan Pajak THE NEW ZEALAND EXPLOSION OF ... - Totalizm

C-17with a terrifying whistle, kept dropping everywhere from the sky, about huge waves from theocean that climbed deeply into the land, and about the many years of decay, coldness, rain,floods, hunger, illness, and death which came afterwards.There is a unique monument of these terrifying events left in New Zealand until now.This is the name of the small township "Mataura", which is an ancient Maori equivalent tothe present term "UFO". Thus, Mataura is probably the only township in the world whosename has such unconventional meaning and origin.Stories similar to that described above are still told by descendants of Maori warriorsfrom the Mataura village. The author prepared a VHS video-recording of the content of thismyth as described by Mr Allan Chittock (Waikoikoi, 5 R.D., Gore, New Zealand). TheMataura legends are only a small example of the oral Maori tradition concerning "Nga Ahi oTamaatea", i.e. legendary fires which in New Zealand written folklore are better knownunder their English name of the "Fires of Tamaatea". The main hero in all of them is amythical commander "Tamaatea", sometimes also called "Tamau". He originated fromstars, but frequently visited Earth in his discoidal spaceship called "Mata-ura" or "Mataaho".An interesting result gives the linguistic analysis of the name "Tamaatea". "Ta" in theMaori language could mean "a powerful blow able to smash someone's head", "ma" means"in consequence of something", whereas "atea" means "space", or "the personified form ofspace". Thus the Maori meaning of the name "Ta-ma-atea" could be interpreted as "thepowerful from space", or "the space being whose power could blow your head off". Thename of his spaceship's comprises the meanings: "mata" = star or any celestial object, alsoface, appearance; "ura" = glow, gleam; "aho" = radiant light. Thus terms "mata-ura" and"mata-aho" can be interpreted as "the object or disk that glows with radiant light" or, as wewould express it presently, a "UFO". The information which constitutes the main motive forall legends on the Fires of Tamaatea states that a huge vehicle of "sons-of-sky"commanded by Tamau exploded in ancient times, spreading the fires, destruction anddeath that affected everything in New Zealand. The first of these legends the author heardshortly after he took up his position of Polytechnic tutor in Invercargill in 1983. Thedescription which follows is not an exact repetition of the content of this legend originallyheard, but it was obtained by merging together a number of versions that the author haslearned over the years.Not far from Invercargill there is an island presently called Stewart Island. Once upona time, when this island was still called "Te-Puka-o-te-waka-o-Maui", a Maori lady ofastonishing beauty was living on it. (Herries Beattie in his book [1C1] entitled, "Moriori: TheMorioris of the South Island" {Otago Daily Times and Witness Newspapers Co., Ltd.,Dunedin 1941, page 10}, explains that the name "Te-Puka-o-te-waka-o-Maui" in Maorilanguage means "the anchor stone of the canoe of Maui". This name refers to the shape ofthe South Island of New Zealand, which looks like a canoe, while Stewart Island placednear the front of it looks like an anchor stone for this canoe. It is interesting that theseshapes can only be perceived when one sees New Zealand from space.) Her beauty wasso dazzling that the "sons-of-sky" who lived on stars and observed everything as ithappened on Earth, could not take their eyes off her. Their commander, a powerful Tamau,fell deeply in love with her and began to visit her regularly in his glowing spaceship.However, as is usual in life, something stood in the path of complete happiness of thecouple. The obstacle was the jealous husband of the beautiful lady, who, predicting thesubsequent arrival of "sons-of-sky" took his wife to the Mainland (i.e. the South Island ofNew Zealand) and hid her in a cave. When the Tamau descended to Earth and learnt thathis loved one had been taken away, he erupted into anger and ordered a chase. Hisspaceship flew eastward to the Mataura village, scanning the population for his lady whomhe could not find there. When, in further chase, his spaceship reached the slopes of the hilllater called Pukeruau, he realized that his search was fruitless. The anger of defeat and thethirst of revenge were so powerful that the commander blushed with rage and mortification,igniting the whole sky with his mystic fires. The island was thereafter called by Maoris as