Taboo: Controlling Danger

Who we are is what



our ancestors made us.


And made,


for us


(Te Rangiaroha, contemporary Maori composer)

The power of the gods of the eastern Pacific could be present in people, places, objects and activities. This power was potentially good, but potentially harmful and had to be managed and contained. The concept of tapu describes the practices of controlling godly power.

Tapu, or taboo as it is known in English, was introduced into our language via the journals Captain James Cook wrote during his expeditions to the eastern Pacific. In English taboo has come to mean forbidden, but the Polynesian concept tapu is more complex and perhaps better translated as separated, marked or set apart.

Anything tapu had to be kept separate from things free of godly power. Chiefs were descendents of gods and inherited their dangerous power. This made them highly tapu and strong restrictions surrounded them, their body ornaments and even their bodily fluids.

Places of worship also held the gods' power as did activities such as carving and tattooing, which imitated the cutting and separating work of the gods in creation. This made such activities tapu and subject to strict rituals.

Illustration: Maori pendant made from nephrite, a form of jade. It combines the form of the hei tiki, a pendant in the form of a stylized figure, and that of the hei matau, a pendant in the shape of a fish-hook. A chief's godly power was so great it extended even to his or her body ornaments, which carried their vital essence and great harm could result if they were handled inappropriately.