When they settled in New Zealand, the Māori brought from the various islands from which they originated, a certain number of stories which they adapted to their new environment and developed. This is the concept of Manawa ora, the breath of life.
Here we have a quality which is soon explained and eliminated. Manawa is a term for breath, and the expression manawa ora means the breath of life.
When Tane formed the earthly image which was vivified and thus became the first of mortal women, the wairua and manawa ora by means of which life was bestowed upon her were obtained from the Supreme Being. Thus, this last expression designates something more than an ordinary breath; it is often used as implying a more spiritual quality. As in the case of Hine-ahu-one, it relates to the supernormal spiritual life, ira atua.
On the other hand, manawa ora is also used to refer to ordinary breathing or fresh air. In Java, we find that the word nawa means breath, life and soul. In the Hawaiian Islands, manawa means spirit, among other things; has Mangaia, it designates the mind, or the spirit; in the Marquesas the breath of life; and to Mangareva the soul, the conscience. In many islands it carries its two ordinary meanings of “breath” and “belly”.
It also means, in Maori, the heart, both the material organ and the heart as the seat of emotions. The word appears in a number of compound forms like manawa-nui (lively); manawa-pa (parsimonious);. manawa-rau (uncomfortable); manawa-reka (gratified), etc.
The words meaning breath, wind, air, and heart have been used by many people to refer to spirit or soul, sometimes spirit. The Maori used such words to define certain qualities relating to man, but chose the word shadow to apply to the apparitional soul of man which finally leaves the body at death.
The word ngakau means the bowels in Maori, also the seat of the affections, also the spirit. In the Hawaiian Islands, na'au, the same word, has the same meanings, but is also used to refer to the soul, a synonym for uhane. In both dialects it means the seat of moral powers. Obviously the original meaning was the first given above, and this is noted in many Polynesian dialects.
The word puku, meaning "stomach", is used in a similar way, because the stomach was considered the seat of emotions and memory. So we had pukukata (fun); pukutakaro (playful) pukumahi (industrious); pukumahara (cautious), etc.
The term hinengaro refers to the seat of thought, the mind, and is also used where we use the word “consciousness”.
The following curious passage is taken from an account of the Vancouver voyage: “The priests (of Tahiti) taught that the intestines are the immediate organ of sensation, where all impressions are first received, and by means of which all the functions of the soul are accomplished. and this is why they maintained, as the first principle of the philosophy of mind, that the intestines have the greatest affinity with the immortal part of man
. that all intellectual operations took place in the head, they generally responded with a smile of incredulity, remarking that they had often seen men healed whose skulls had been fractured... but that in all cases where the intestines were injured, the patient died….
Other arguments they also put forward in support of their belief, notably the effect of fear or any violent passion, which caused great agitation in the heart, and even in the stomach…. These views they shared a belief very common in the western parts of Asia, and of which we find some traces in the sacred writings. » (Vancouver, Voyage of Discovery 1790-1795, vol. 1, pp. 121-2).
The above coincides exactly with the Maori belief in the functions of the ngakau. It is, however, somewhat curious that the author does not mention the Polynesian belief in the spirit which leaves the body at death and enters the spirit world.
Further data regarding terms relating to spiritual concepts has been given in Dominion Museum Monograph 2, Spiritual and Mental Concepts of the Maori.
Some of the terms used to designate the immortal element of man in the islands of Polynesia are apparently unknown to the Maoris of New Zealand. This is the case of the term Hawaiian uhane and mahoi Tuamotu. It is entirely possible that we have this last word in Tini o te mahoihoi, a name applied by the tribes of the Bay of Plenty to certain, apparently mythical, forest creatures of the distant past.
Again we have the Arawa story of Te Mahoi, or Te Mahoihoi, also known as Tama-o-hoi, the latter term of which does not impress as being an authentic form. These names refer to a strange being said to have lived underground in the Rotoiti district, a being who appeared in human form and who was a master of black magic. Some natives claim he took to an underground life after the arrival of Polynesian immigrants, whose magical arts were too difficult for him to contend with.
Apparently it was an evil spirit and the story was one of many local folk tales. In the Tahitian dialect, mahoi is said to designate the essence or soul of a god, and Te Mahoi of myth Maori is one of the horde of mythical beings included in the term atua.
In angaanga we have a term that refers to the spirit or soul of the island of Niue and the Samoan group. In Maori, as far as we know, it has no related meaning. In the Tuamotu group iho means spirit, ancestral spirits called ihoiho; these terms also seem to be used in the Society and cooking, in the form of io in the latter. In Maori, as in the islands just mentioned, iho means nucleus, innermost part or nucleus, but it is also used to designate a predominant constituent quality or product. I have known a few birds or fish presented to a native as the iho of lands in which he had an interest.
The mauri or fish weir material is considered the iho of this weir, simply because it is the most important and essential object of the weir, although it is not part of it. Iho also refers to the umbilical cord. But our Maori people do not use this term as a synonym for wairua when referring to the spiritual part of man. Ora, a term for spirit and ghost in the Tikopia dialect, is a Polynesian word meaning life and well-being on many remote islands.
It does not appear to be used to refer to the spirit in Polynesia proper or New Zealand, but an allied term, toiora, is used by Māori to refer to spiritual life and well-being. In the following passage, taken from an ancient story, the term toiora obviously applies to the well-being of the spirit which leaves the body at death and goes to the spirit world; not that any particular spirit or spirits were designated, but the spiritual welfare of all Hine's descendants was to be his future care: "Ka kapua i konei te toiora ki te wheuriuri e Hine-titama." » The first Dawn Maid took on the task of protecting the spirits of the dead in the underworld.
The term koiwi ora is sometimes used to refer to the spirit of man, as shown in Williams's Maori dictionary. This word koiwi is used in a particular way in some cases and various meanings seem to be applied to it. A certain thing is mentioned in an account of a myth, or of life and events in the heavens or the spirit world, and we are told that "toua koiwi i tenei ao he..." i.e. that she is represented in this world by…
In an account of Tane's training of the first woman so that he could father a mortal man occurs as follows – "No tona hikanga kia puta te koiwi ora ki te ao", etc. Here koiwi ora apparently does not mean the spirit, but a living member of a new race of beings about to be brought into being.
We have little data on Polynesia concerning subjects that require a long and meticulous investigation, such as spiritual concepts for example. Hawaii and New Zealand have recorded the most indigenous traditions, but in many islands opportunities have been overlooked.
The two expressions, ira atua and ira tangata, as denoting supernatural or spiritual life and mortal life, have been explained in Bulletin 10, pp. 61 and 122, et seq.
Although these atua possessed bodies composed of bone, flesh, and muscle, and had eyes, yet they had no blood, no form of moisture belonging to them; it is because we possess blood and moisture that we do not resemble the poutiriao.
The eyes of these beings differ from ours, therefore all things and actions are clearly seen by them; that is why blood was bestowed upon the ira tangata (mortal man), because he is of the earth, that is why we cannot see, we do not possess the powers of sight which are held by atua.
