As I was doing some research on New Zealand and
Australian aborigines I came across some very interesting myth stories of the Maori
culture. Most of them told tales about the creation of New Zealand, the four
elements (water, fire, earth, and wind) and the relation between human beings
and nature. What stood out the most for me was the latest, especially as I read
a myth called “Whaitere- the enchanted stingray”. It tells the story of
Whaitere, a stingray that is chosen by Papatūānuku (the creator) as a guardian
of the overworld and its mission is to teach the “people fish” (humans) to
respect the earth and more importantly, the sea which is the home of many
species.
"Koro Pat watched from
his driftwood seat as the three children danced around the small fire, clusters
of sparks billowing into the evening light.
"Do you see that?" Koro Pat pointed out to
sea. Two black triangular wings broke the surface, slapping down on the orange
coloured water.
"It's a stingray!" yelled the
kids in unison, running to the water's edge. Kimi picked up a stone ready to
throw but Koro Pat stopped her short.
"Hoi, you wouldn't throw a stone at
your Mum would you?" Kimi looked confused, she dropped her stone.
"Haere mai, noho mai," Koro
patted the driftwood log. Kimi, Jason and Marama came and sat next to him.
"I'll tell you about a stingray, a
kaitiaki of this place."
"Our own one that looks after
us?" Marama asked.
"Āe, yours, mine, our marae, all of
us. We look after the water, this land, and our kaitiaki looks after us."
Whaitere- the enchanted stingray. Click here to read the whole story.
It amazes me how the Maori people take such good care
of nature and the environment, how with every story they pass on future
generations the message is still heard loud and clear. This also makes me
wonder why the rest of us that were not raised with such stories don´t learn
from these cultures. Most people, in my opinion, don´t have much consciousness
in regards to a responsible use of resources such as water or even animals. I
will never understand for example, people that hunt animals for “fun” because
it just doesn´t make sense to me to kill an innocent creature just for the sake
of killing it. This is why I ask, what do YOU think about these types of
stories? Would you consider them just old tales or would you learn something
from them?
With this entry I expect to bring some environmental awareness
to all my classmates and I hope that you take 5 minutes of your time to read
this beautiful story and so many others that can teach us so much.
Rocío Loredo H.
We can often notice some sort of 'living in the past' aspect in small cultural groups. This is probably because they actually keep a lot of customs and tales from many past generations and this leads to one certain thing; people from the past showed a whole lot more respect to nature than what we do now.
ResponderEliminarPersonally, I love how they used to treat nature in the past. Nature was considered a friend, a protector, the cause for all things, since they lived directly in it and had constant contact. On the contrary, nowadays, where whe live in concrete jungles and watch nature from a distance, we see it only as an exploitable object from which humans can get resources, especially by industries or corporations and often dramatically damaging it in the process.
This current situation really makes me sad, but is part of the result of human development and it's going to be a diffcult thing to change.
Of course I'm generalizing here, but I'd dare to say it's the way human kind behaves as a whole.
I deviated a bit in my last comment but it's what came to mind when I read your article. Now, answering your final questions, I think it would be great if more poeple could take this stories and their meanings seriously and put them to practice, not ignore them as old tales. I'm sure it would make this world slightly better and after some time there could be some noticeable changes.
Eliminar