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A radio series about the Māori legends of The Restless Mountains.
Narrated by Marama Martin and introduced by Wiremu Kerekere. Produced by Joan Faulkner Blake in the New Plymouth studios of the N.Z.B.C.
The legend of the "Restless Mountains", sometimes called the "Walking Mountains", is one of the better known Māori myths. But the details of the story and its influences on tribal beliefs and traditions are less familiar to many. They are explored in this seven part series about the Māori legend of Mount Taranaki (Egmont) The series includes geological evidence supporting the legend, various traditions and beliefs associated with the story, and specially recorded Māori chants relating to the maunga of the central North Island and Taranaki.
This seven-part series was first broadcast on the National Programme in October 1977. Each episode is approximately 10 minutes in duration.
Programme 1: The Legend
Opens with an excerpt of a chant by the South Taranaki Culture Group.
The legend of the mountains' competition for the love of Pihanga is told by Miru Te Tomo, Tui Te Whare, Mohi Wharepouri and Taxi Kapua, who refer to local landmarks which played a part in the legend. Taranaki moved west to his current position, and is sometimes veiled in mist and rain, when he weeps for Pihanga.
Ends with a chant by the South Taranaki Culture Group.
Programme 2: Fiction or Fact?
A volcanologist comments on geological facts woven into the legend. The influence of the story on Taranaki carving.
Programme 3: The Pilot Rock
Documenting continuing reverence for the rock known as Te Toka a Rauhotu. The story of its guardian, Minarapa, and its present whereabouts.
Programme 4: What is the Name of That Mountain?
The various names given the peak before "Egmont" was bestowed on it by Captain Cook. A Māori Trust Board petition for the re-adoption of the name "Taranaki" and a whakawaiwai about the peak (Whakawaiwai - a song extolling the beauty of the object, or person addressed.)
(NB. A recording of the traditional chant was specially commissioned by Radio New Zealand for the programme. It was learned by the South Taranaki Māori Culture Group from a tape made available from the archives of the Ethnomusicology Department of Auckland University.)
Programme 5: The Tapu Summit.
A man [possibly Mohi Wharepouri?] recites a karakia which must be said before going up the mountain. Mohi Wharepouri, Mate Kaa, Rigby Allen and Brian Scanlan comment about Māori reluctance to climb the peak, especially in the early European period. Some Māori climbed with Dieffenbach and Heberly in 1839 but they would not go beyond the bushline.
Māori were also angry at early climbers taking plant and rock specimens off the mountain. Surveyor T.K. Skinner recorded that a Ngāti Maru man threatened him for breaching the tapu on the mountain. The first documented climb by Māori was in 1848 by Mina Rapa, who guided Francis Dillon-Bell and Wellington Carrington.
Tahurangi was also believed to have climbed earlier, around 1420 and proclaimed the mountain for Taranaki iwi. Māori believe Tahurangi is now the deity of the volcano.
Programme 6: Tradition Lives On.
Māori beliefs and customs associated with several of the mountains mentioned in the legend. A karakia to Taranaki. A kumara-planting tradition associated with the peak. (Karakia - a song calling for spiritual guidance)
Programme 7: Peaks Of Veneration
Evidence of continuing veneration by iwi for the peaks of Tongariro, Pihanga, and Tauhara mountains. Several people talk about their feelings for their maunga. A connection with Lake Taupo. The controversy between modern Māori about the relevance of tapu today.