War-related human sacrifice

The practice of human sacrifice in times of war, as practiced by the Maori, has two aspects to consider. One is related to the killing of a person for a special purpose related to combat, but, as a rule, not on a battlefield or in an actual engagement. The other phase is illustrated by the use of the body of the first enemy killed as an offering to the gods, a soothing offering to ensure their aid. 

In his article on the Maori religion, Colonel Gudgeon tells us that "when the service to which the war party was engaged presented unusual danger, a victim was chosen and offered to the gods before the warriors left their village, in order that the favor of these deities could be more effectively secured. In this case, the offering to Uenuku would be a man, but to Maru a dog would be offered. This same author mentions a remarkable case which occurred in the district of Bay of Plenty. The Whakatohea tribe had been defeated twice, with heavy casualties, by the Ngai-Tai people. 

This fact meant, of course, that the gods were against them, or at least had not exercised themselves in favor of Whakatohea. Their chief tribal god, Tama-i-waho, must be appeased and reconciled, enticed to help them settle the score. Their chief tohunga (priestly expert, seer) was consulted, and he came to the conclusion that the best thing to do under the circumstances was to slaughter a number of people close to Ngai-Tai, who lived among the Whakatohea. These people really belonged to both tribes, the result of intermarriage; they had every right to live as members of the Whakatohea and lived in friendship with them. 

But the gods had spoken, or their human medium had done so, and therefore these unfortunates were doomed. They were killed mercilessly as an offering, as a human sacrifice, to the tribal atua, thus showing the insecurity of life among a superstitious people. This action, however, had, as the author says, the happiest results, for in the ensuing fighting the Ngai-Tai were nearly wiped out as a tribe.

A human sacrifice was sometimes made in times of war for the purpose of divination; and at any time of stress, bewilderment, or threat of danger, such an offering could be made, though, so far as we could judge, they did not often take place. In these cases, a member of the same tribe, even a close relative of the killers, could be killed for this purpose. 

Wilson mentions such a case in his Life of Te Waharoa, when at such a time a priest demanded the sacrifice of a man of rank in order to save the tribe from disaster. A relative of an important chief was chosen, and the courage with which he met his death gave new hearts to the tribesmen, who defeated their enemies in the next engagement.

In an account of the troubles at the Rotorua mission published in the Church Missionary Record of 1838, Mr Knight gives a vivid description of the horrors he witnessed: "A body, apparently killed at the time, was dragged into the camp before me; his head was gone almost before I could look around. It did not satisfy the wretched; his chest was cut open, and his heart, smoking with heat, was torn out and carried away. Here the hearts of the dead were almost certainly taken as an offering to the gods.

 Of another incident which occurred in the same district, this writer says: "According to the savage customs of the New Zealanders, they tore out the heart of the first man who was shot on the Rotorua side, and made it an offering to Whiro, the evil spirit. His mutilated corpse, in a state of nudity, was later displayed on a crude wooden stand outside the pa.

Shortland also makes some remarks on this use of the heart of the enemy's first kill; “The body of the first person killed was sacred to the atua, or spirit, that had guided them to success. He was devoted to the atua to keep him in a good mood, or, in their own words, kia koa ai (that he could rejoice). The victim's heart was fixed on a stake. Tunui-a-rangi, of Wai-rarapa, states that the heart of the first enemy killed in combat was given to the priest, who offered it to the gods. It also seems, in some cases, to have been placed against the lips of the chief chief's firstborn, so that he would become a victorious warrior.

Judge Wilson, speaking of the offering to Whiro mentioned above, says: "The offerings consisted of a piece of cooked heart or liver, a lock of hair, and a cooked potato each placed on a small stick planted in the floor by a small oven, as Whiro had its own separate oven, the size of a dinner plate. 

Flesh and hair had been taken from the body of the first man slain in battle, which body was a whakahere (propitiatory offering) held tapu sometimes, in dubious conflict the priest with a force hastily tore out the heart of the whakahere and, muttering incantations, waved it towards the atua to ensure the success of his people.

In his notes from Ngai-Tahu (South Island), Mr. John White tells us that the body of the first enemy killed in combat was tapu at Tumatauenga. If such a body was not available, then a prisoner, or even a camp supporter, would be killed to fill the gap. In the latter case, the body was not cooked, but an offering of its blood was made to Tu. In some cases, when a human offering was not available, a dog or a bird was substituted.