Taua
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A taua is a war party in the tradition of the
Composition
A taua was typically composed of
The most comprehensive written account of a war expedition was written by missionary
Mango, Kakaha and Tītore (a war leader of the Ngāpuhi) did not commence the muru until January 1832.[5][3][6] The warriors were successful in fights on the Mercury Islands and Tauranga, with the muru continuing until late July 1832.[3] In February 1833 Tītore consulted the Tohunga, Tohitapu to foresee the success of a second war expedition;[7] then Tītore led a party of Te Rarawa, allies of the Ngāpuhi, back to Tauranga. Williams also accompanied the second expedition.[8][9]
Muru
Muru is the negative or revenge side of the Maori cultural practice of utu, carried out by taua, which can be either positive or negative. It was within Māori traditions for a taua to conduct muru against hapu who had no involvement in the events that caused the death of the chief.[4] Often muru was preceded by a tribal or hapu discussion as to what action should take place. Normally muru was an act by taua to balance an act of violence or theft. In the early days of European settlers muru was practiced against settlers who had transgressed against Maori lore. Often settlers were bewildered by apparent random thefts or acts of violence. Sometimes, especially in the north, chiefs would intercede to give a cultural explanation to settlers and arrange a suitable payment of goods in compensation. In Maori society it was accepted that muru could be carried out against strangers. This had the appearance of arbitrary attacks on innocent parties. This led to a direct conflict with New Zealand law where only the guilty could be punished. In 1847 in Whanganui a Maori chief was accidentally shot in the face on a ship. He accepted that his wound was an accident. His wound was tended to by a doctor and the man recovered but a taua decided to take muru for the accident by attacking a local farmer /artist. He escaped, but the taua killed four members of the family and wounded two more. When five of the taua were caught by Maori the taua were found to be 14 and 19 year olds. All, apart from the 14 year old were found guilty of murder and hanged. The 14 year old was banished.[citation needed]
Strategy
Taua would typically restrict their activity to the fighting season, between late November and early April, when food and fishing was plentiful. During the height of the musket wars Taua were away from their turangawaiwai for up to a year. By 1830 they were no longer dependent on traditional crops such as kumara which only grew well in the north most part of North Island, the Iwi now grew large quantities of more easily grown potatoes.
The taua would usually attack at dawn in the form of an ambush or a surprise raid. Their intimate knowledge of New Zealand's natural environment enabled them to appear and disappear swiftly and noiselessly and successfully complete their mission. As Maori at the time were strongly committed to the idea of "utu" (revenge), the aim would be to kill all members of the enemy war party and leave no survivors. There were, however, occasions when warring taua would come to a truce. This would be typically settled through the arrangement of an intertribal marriage.
Customs
The
Taua film
Taua (aka War Party) is a 2007 short film written and directed by
References
- ^ "Traditional Maori Concepts, Utu" Ministry of Justice website
- ^ a b "Traditional Maori Concepts, Muru" Ministry of Justice website
- ^ a b c Carleton, Hugh (1874). "Vol. I". The Life of Henry Williams. Early New Zealand Books (ENZB), University of Auckland Library. pp. 106–126.
- ^ a b Carleton, Hugh (1874). "Vol. I". The Life of Henry Williams. Early New Zealand Books (ENZB), University of Auckland Library. pp. 78–87.
- ISBN 978-1-86969-439-5.
- New Zealand Electronic Text Centre(NZETC)
- NZETC
- ^ Carleton, Hugh (1874). "Vol. I". The Life of Henry Williams. Early New Zealand Books (ENZB), University of Auckland Library. pp. 130–133.
- ^ Rogers, Lawrence M. (1973). Te Wiremu: A Biography of Henry Williams. Pegasus Press. pp. 99–100.
- ^ Taua (War Party)
External links
- Māori and warfare: The Haka, The Taua, New Zealand in History
- Taua at IMDb