{"id":1431,"date":"2021-09-30T19:23:47","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T19:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.walkingtheshadowlands.com\/?p=1431"},"modified":"2024-11-16T14:15:46","modified_gmt":"2024-11-16T01:15:46","slug":"episode-9-the-taniwha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walkingtheshadowlands.com\/?p=1431","title":{"rendered":"Episode 9: The Taniwha"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Episode 9: The Taniwha<\/strong><\/p><\/h3><\/div>

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Humankind as a rule, loves mystery. We love things that are unexplained \u2013 unknown to us, perhaps unseen, but by a few. We love to find out the stories behind these mysteries, perhaps in hope of being the one to solve them, if only for our own satisfaction and sense of curiosity and wonder. Although, because of our love of mystery, sometimes we create one out of nothing.<\/p>\n

But is that the case with strange and unusual animals that have been spotted world wide \u2013 like the Yeti, the Chupracabra? Is it really? Or, is there something more to the story?\u00a0 Stories of these mythical beasts can be found world wide. Some of them are very well known, such as the Loch Ness monster, and the Yeti, or Bigfoot as mentioned previously.\u00a0 Some have only come to public attention in the past few decades such as the Chupacabra in the Americas.<\/p>\n

Those who actively research or hunt for these elusive creatures are called Cryptozoologists, and the study of these beasties is called Cryptozoology. Cryptozoology as a field of study was originally founded in the 1950\u2019s by zoologists Bernard Heuvelmans<\/a> and Ivan T. Sanderson<\/a>. The animals themselves, are referred to as Cryptids, by those who follow this field of study. So Cryptozoology is the study of the subject and Cryptids are the creatures themselves.<\/p>\n

I personally like the definition of Cryptozoology as put out by the Center for Fortean Zooology<\/a> in Australia. They give it this definition \u2013 Cryptozoology:<\/p>\n

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The field of \u2018hidden zoology\u2019, concentrating on the research of animals considered to be legendary or otherwise non-existent by mainstream biology. This includes looking for living examples of animals that are considered extinct, such as dinosaurs and more recently extinct creatures such as the Tasmanian Tiger; animals whose existence lacks physical support but which appear in myths, legends, or are reported, such as Bigfoot and the Chupacabra; and wild animals dramatically outside of their normal geographic ranges, such as Alien Big Cats (ABCs).<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Whilst I absolutely acknowledge that these cryptids are reported world-wide, as this is a New Zealand based podcast, with myself being based in the Sunny Hawkes Bay region of our beautiful country \u2013 I felt that for this initial episode at least, that we would focus solely on NZ Cryptids and reports from around my home country. And, we have plenty of them ourselves \u2013 some many New Zealanders may not even have heard of. Before we begin, I have tried my best to be as accurate as I can with the pronunciation of our te ao Maori \u2013 the Maori language, I am not a native speaker \u2013 but am trying my best to learn it \u2013 so there is no offence intended for any mispronunciations in this episode.<\/p>\n

I have always had a fascination for the unexplained, the unknown, the mysterious, and a desire to know more about them, I have followed these stories on and off all my life, from the very first time I heard of the elusive big foot as a youngster.<\/p>\n

There are many different types of Cryptids, beasties, and life forms that are said to reside on NZ lands and in the waters on and surrounding our beautiful country. In 1966, the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand included a section headed \u201cAnimals, Mythical\u201d. Included in it were numerous tales of monsters, ogres, goblins and fairies, and weird `hairy men\u2019 who devoured unwary travellers and waylaid hunting parties \u2013 these also have long been part of Maori lore. With that we\u2019ll begin with the most famous cryptid that belongs in NZ waters, whether on or off land. This is the one that most, New Zealanders would have heard the name of \u2013 or seen carved into the beautifully ornate carvings on a local Marae (meeting house), or used as a school\u2019s logo. That is the Taniwha.<\/p>\n

In NZ our native people are know as Maori. In te ao M\u0101ori (the M\u0101ori worldview), legend and reality are very, very intertwined, and it is often difficult for NZ to reconcile the elements of te ao tipua (the supernatural world) with todays modern society, as they continue to be very central to the beliefs of many Maori today. In fact, in only the past few decades, these beliefs have caused a few issues and some tensions, between Maori customs and expectations and todays realities as we perceive them to be.<\/p>\n

For example: In 2002 Transit New Zealand, our national road authority, re-routed part of State Highway 1 near Meremere, when they were rebuilding it, away from the domain of a taniwha named Karu Tahi after Ng\u0101ti Naho the local iwi (or tribe) expressed concerns about the dangers of building on this site. Fourteen months after construction was completed the Waikato river flooded swamping area.<\/p>\n

In the same year, Northland iwi unsuccessfully protested against Ng\u0101wh\u0101 prison near Kaikohe being built on an old swampland kainga (home) of a taniwha named Takauere. In 2007, after ignoring the taniwha warning, the Government admitted the prison was sinking into the ground and now requires major structural repairs. The Auckland rail tunnel project proposed by Mayor Len Brown is also encountering issues with a Ng\u0101ti Wh\u0101tua taniwha named Horotiu who lives in an ancient river which now flows beneath the Town Hall and runs along Queen Street out to sea.<\/p>\n

The Taniwha<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Taniwha in Maori mythology, usually lived in or near the water, lakes, rivers, swamps, or the sea. They hid in dens or lairs, known as Rua Taniwha<\/em> \u2013 this could be deep pools, caves, or dangerous waterways \u2013 always areas that people avoided. The Taniwha, can take on numerous forms\u2026 in the sea, they often appear as a whale or quite large shark. In lakes and rivers, they may still be whale-like in size, but look more like a tuatara \u2013 our native lizard, having a row of spines along the back. Other Taniwha, can appear as a floating log, which behaves in an unusual way, as in my Mother\u2019s own experience later on. Taniwha can be either Male or Female and not all Taniwha live in the water, some are land based. And some are said to have the ability to shape shift.<\/p>\n

Some of these Taniwha are seen as kaitiaki<\/em> or protectors of the iwi<\/a> (tribes), and hap\u016b<\/a> (sub-tribes). These ones that were kaitiaki were respected and people who passed by their rua taniwha, would say an appropriate karakia<\/a> (charm, or prayer). They would also leave an offering for the taniwha, such as a green twig. However, for some iwi, Taniwha are seen as dangerous, predatory beings. Terrifying creatures, that captured people and ate them. Some were known to kidnap women and take them as wives \u2013 so the legends go. For the more traditional Maori, the Taniwha \u2013 regardless of if they see it as benevolent or malevolent, is a very real \u2013 living, if supernatural, creature. Or at the least, one that for now may simply be sleeping.<\/p>\n

Many Maori had names for their Taniwha.. like the ones mentioned previously. Here are a couple more. There is the taniwha Tuhirangi,\u00a0 who is said to live in the Cook Straight, a channel that divides the North Island of NZ\u00a0 from the South. Or Hine-k\u014drako a female Taniwha who lives under the Te R\u0113inga waterfall in Wairoa.<\/p>\n

In the 1870\u2019s the belief by iwi in the existence of the Taniwha, was very real to the Maori, and in fact a letter was sent into a M\u0101ori language newspaper Te Waka Maori o Niu Tirani<\/em>, by one Mohi T\u016brei, an elder of the Ng\u0101ti Porou iwi. He described the case of a girl who was said to have been killed by a taniwha at a local swimming hole also said to be a rua taniwha\u2026 that report in the news paper went as follows.<\/p>\n

On 20 December 1876, four young girls had gone to bathe in a waterhole at Waipapa. This spot was renowned as the lair of a taniwha named T\u0101minamina. While three of the girls began to bathe, the fourth, Mereana, swam to the other side of the waterhole, climbed out onto the rocks, and began sucking nectar from the red flowers of the sacred r\u0101t\u0101 tree. Suddenly, she slipped back into the water. Her friend R\u0101hera tried to grab her, but failed. The two other girls screamed, because they saw the water whirling near where she had fallen, and knew it to be the taniwha named T\u0101minamina who had got their friend.<\/p>\n

R\u0101hera dived to find her, but could not, and swam to shallow waters and then saw the water was rising into waves. Days later Mereana was found, back on the rock where she had slipped. But when a group came to get her body, she had once again disappeared. An elder believed she had been taken by the taniwha as punishment for sucking the flowers of the sacred r\u0101t\u0101 tree.<\/p>\n

In the case of this story, it was not because they were at the rua taniwha or the taniwha\u2019s water space, but it was because the young women disrespected the place by sucking the nectar from the flowers of the R\u0101t\u0101 tree. Which was obviously a taboo.<\/p>\n

In more recent times a member of my FB group. Walking the Shadowlands, had her own experience with a Taniwha that was found washed up on the local seashore.<\/p>\n

Washed up Taniwha<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Anon:<\/strong> Ok so, around about 94-96 I was living in Otaki, and I remember the family I was living with, we got told that a Taniwha had been washed up on the beach. So we went down for a look, and there was a lot of local Maori there doing a karakia. And, when I went down to look at this Taniwha, it was like a log, but more drift wood. It was long and in three pieces, and on the side it was like an indent of an eye, and by then the Maori people had put a muscle shell in there as well. But it had heaps of little\u2026 What is it? Kaimoana, which is like seafood \u2013 like muscle looking things they were little and like green seaweed on it too, just a little bit \u2013 it sort, of looked like a dragon I guess.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah.\u00a0 And so the local Maori people did a karakia for it and\u2026 But just looking at it, it was very fascinating, but it was sad as well. \u2018Cause, you could feel it in your heart that it was a Taniwha, and that it had been in the ocean for years and years. So the three pieces \u2013The first piece, looked like a head piece, and I remember the last bit the last bit of the wood, looked like the tail piece as well. Yeah, it actually looked like a tail, the shape of it, cause it didn\u2019t look like any other wood that had been washed up on the beach previously. Like absolutely covered in little shell fishes and the seaweed and stuff that looked like it had been there for years and years. You know, like you know you see a whale and they have those rocks on it, kind of like that. But then again… More fascinating again.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Marianne:<\/strong> Right. So I\u2019m just trying to understand how the local iwi felt it was a Taniwha? and like what gave them the idea it was a taniwha? Was it more about the feeling? Or more about how it looked?<\/p>\n

I, I think it was all of that. Because, it did look like it and like even myself walking up to look at it, you could just feel straight away that, that\u2019s what it was. Yeah\u2026 Yeah like I said, it did not look like any other piece of wood that had washed up.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

How long do you think it would have been in length?<\/p>\n

Oh\u2026 Definitely longer than what I am. Maybe, twice my height? But then again, because it had broken off into three pieces\u2026 Um, when it was together it\u2026 It still wasn\u2019t far apart from one another. And then, when I stood beside it, it came up to\u2026 Like the headpiece came up to my hips, sort of thing.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

So what happened\u2026. what happened to the Taniwha after the karakias? Did they bury it or\u2026?<\/p>\n

From what I know, they pretty much just left it there, and yeah, I actually can\u2019t remember to be honest. But no, I don\u2019t think they buried it because I \u2013 I\u2019m pretty sure, I think there were other gifts around it as well. Like a couple of kete bags, like woven out of flax sort of thing\u2026.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

There is a school of thought amongst some cryptozoologists that the sea based Taniwha, might in fact be a species of Mososaur, a sea creature that officially died out in the cretaceous period about 65 million years ago. A NZ palaeontologist named Alan Marks has a theory that a population of Mosasaurs still exists, albeit a very small population, that live in the depths of the Pacific ocean, though occasionally areas such as the Atlantic and Indian oceans where they are sometimes spotted. He argues that the ridiculous amount of little known NZ sightings may mean that New Zealand is a breeding ground for Mosasaurs. But of course, this is all speculative.<\/p>\n

Here are some alleged sightings \u2013 reported around NZ waters over the centuries beginning in 1889 With one Mr Alexander Lindsay Kerr. Mr Kerr the chief officer of the union steam shipping company ship, the Rotomahana, was shocked to witness: <\/em><\/p>\n

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\u201d A huge conger eel, with the exception that it had two fins about 10ft (3 metres) long\u201d rise out of the ocean almost 30ft, 9 metres, off the Portland Light between Gisbourne and Napier.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

He later described how when he saw pictures of Eels in books later he thought the serpent he had seen had a far more crocodile shaped head.<\/p>\n