Io Matua Kore
Encyclopedia
Io Matua Kore is in many ancient Polynesian
traditions the supreme god
.
The Io tradition was restricted to only the highest ("priest" or "expert", the Māori equivalent of the Hawaiian "Kahuna
") throughout the last 600 years. Io faith originated in the middle East, and spread to Polynesia through migrations of people calling themselves Menehune. It was suppressed by Polytheistic tribes from Tahiti who invaded the Eastern Pacific, eventually reaching New Zealand.
According to Nga Puhi reverend Māori Marsden who received the Io tradition from his grandfather, Io is:
Māori Marsden's grandfather was born in about 1790, was a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi
and died in 1908. Māori Marsden himself was tohied, 'consecrated and dedicated', by a group of elders when he was about 8 years old. The Io tradition could be interpreted as a belief of Non-Dualism/Monism
and similar to the idea described variously as the Void, the Is, Emptiness
, or the mind of God.
Io lived eternally in , "the absolute nothingness". The is a double negative, a double . According to Māori Marsden, to the Māori mind, the doubling of kore. meant
's two volume work The Lore of the Whāre-wananga, and from some of the writing.
Two esteemed tohunga 'priests', of the East Coast Ngāti Kahungunu
people, Te Matorohanga and Nepia Pohuhu gave a series of lectures at a ("school of learning"), in the Wairarapa district in 1865. H. T. Whatahoro over a period of 40 years wrote down, developed and rewrote these lectures. Whatahoro's text was approved by the Tane-nui-a-rangi Committee in 1907 as an agreed expression of genuine Ngaati Kahungunu tradition in that year. (Not necessarily a tradition known by the general population of Ngaati Kahungunu.)
The Io tradition was initially rejected by scholars including prominent Māori scholar Sir Peter Buck who wrote "The discovery of a supreme God named Io in New Zealand
was a surprise to Māori and Pākehā
alike." Buck believed that the Io tradition was restricted to the Ngaati Kahungunu as a response of Christianity
. This rejection was based on the Euro-Centric and Darwinistic view that differing people groups are historically unrelated. The Io Tradition recounts many Christian and Hebrew historical events and religious characteristics, describing them using Polynesian names: the son of God, the Holy Spirit, the Heavenly Father, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph's life story etc.
Contemporaneous accounts from Hawaii indicate that Io has been known to Polynesians for millennia. Western Scholars have found the early oral traditions of Io, with the place-name Ur, or Uru and the heroic figure Nu'u a difficult fact to swallow.
J. Prytz Johansen also rejects the Io tradition as existing before the introduction of Christianity to Māori. "All things considered there is the greatest probability that Io became a high god after the Europeans came to New Zealand." He does argue, though, that if there were other pieces of evidence "independent of one another, the pre-European existence of the high-god Io would be assured" because of the distance of the tribes from one another.
Polynesian mythology
Polynesian mythology is the oral traditions of the people of Polynesia, a grouping of Central and South Pacific Ocean island archipelagos in the Polynesian triangle together with the scattered cultures known as the Polynesian outliers...
traditions the supreme god
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
.
The Io tradition was restricted to only the highest ("priest" or "expert", the Māori equivalent of the Hawaiian "Kahuna
Kahuna
Kahuna is a Hawaiian word, defined in the as a "Priest, sorcerer, magician, wizard, minister, expert in any profession." Forty different types of kahuna are listed in the book, Tales from the Night Rainbow...
") throughout the last 600 years. Io faith originated in the middle East, and spread to Polynesia through migrations of people calling themselves Menehune. It was suppressed by Polytheistic tribes from Tahiti who invaded the Eastern Pacific, eventually reaching New Zealand.
According to Nga Puhi reverend Māori Marsden who received the Io tradition from his grandfather, Io is:
- "both Being-itself and absolute Nothingness. That is, He is truly infinite, encompassing within himself both the absolutely Positive and absolutely Negative."
Māori Marsden's grandfather was born in about 1790, was a signatory to the Treaty of Waitangi
Treaty of Waitangi
The Treaty of Waitangi is a treaty first signed on 6 February 1840 by representatives of the British Crown and various Māori chiefs from the North Island of New Zealand....
and died in 1908. Māori Marsden himself was tohied, 'consecrated and dedicated', by a group of elders when he was about 8 years old. The Io tradition could be interpreted as a belief of Non-Dualism/Monism
Monism
Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...
and similar to the idea described variously as the Void, the Is, Emptiness
Emptiness
Emptiness as a human condition is a sense of generalized boredom, social alienation and apathy. Feelings of emptiness often accompany dysthymia, depression, loneliness, despair, or other mental/emotional disorders such as borderline personality disorder...
, or the mind of God.
Io lived eternally in , "the absolute nothingness". The is a double negative, a double . According to Māori Marsden, to the Māori mind, the doubling of kore. meant
- "…not simply 'non-being', or annihilating nothingness, though it includes this meaning, but it went beyond this. By means of a thorough-going negativity, the negation itself turns into the most positive activity. It is the negation of negation. Te Korekore is the infinite realm of the formless and undifferentiated. It is the realm not so much of 'non-being' but rather of 'potential being'. It is the realm of Primal and Latent energy from which the stuff of the Universe proceeds and from which all things evolve."
History
Io was first known generally with the publication in 1913 of Percy S. SmithStephenson Percy Smith
Stephenson Percy Smith was a New Zealand ethnologist and surveyor. He founded The Polynesian Society.-Early life and career as a surveyor :...
's two volume work The Lore of the Whāre-wananga, and from some of the writing.
Two esteemed tohunga 'priests', of the East Coast Ngāti Kahungunu
Ngati Kahungunu
Ngāti Kahungunu is a Māori iwi located along the eastern coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The iwi is traditionally centred in the Hawke’s Bay and Tararua and Wairārapa regions....
people, Te Matorohanga and Nepia Pohuhu gave a series of lectures at a ("school of learning"), in the Wairarapa district in 1865. H. T. Whatahoro over a period of 40 years wrote down, developed and rewrote these lectures. Whatahoro's text was approved by the Tane-nui-a-rangi Committee in 1907 as an agreed expression of genuine Ngaati Kahungunu tradition in that year. (Not necessarily a tradition known by the general population of Ngaati Kahungunu.)
The Io tradition was initially rejected by scholars including prominent Māori scholar Sir Peter Buck who wrote "The discovery of a supreme God named Io in New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
was a surprise to Māori and Pākehā
Pakeha
Pākehā is a Māori language word for New Zealanders who are "of European descent". They are mostly descended from British and to a lesser extent Irish settlers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, although some Pākehā have Dutch, Scandinavian, German, Yugoslav or other ancestry...
alike." Buck believed that the Io tradition was restricted to the Ngaati Kahungunu as a response of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. This rejection was based on the Euro-Centric and Darwinistic view that differing people groups are historically unrelated. The Io Tradition recounts many Christian and Hebrew historical events and religious characteristics, describing them using Polynesian names: the son of God, the Holy Spirit, the Heavenly Father, Abraham, Isaac, Joseph's life story etc.
Contemporaneous accounts from Hawaii indicate that Io has been known to Polynesians for millennia. Western Scholars have found the early oral traditions of Io, with the place-name Ur, or Uru and the heroic figure Nu'u a difficult fact to swallow.
J. Prytz Johansen also rejects the Io tradition as existing before the introduction of Christianity to Māori. "All things considered there is the greatest probability that Io became a high god after the Europeans came to New Zealand." He does argue, though, that if there were other pieces of evidence "independent of one another, the pre-European existence of the high-god Io would be assured" because of the distance of the tribes from one another.