A person has died on Mount Ruapehu.
Local iwi have placed a rāhui over the Tūroa ski area. …
“The rāhui acknowledges the sacredness of our maunga, the sacredness of the loss of life and acknowledges the family’s loss.”
The rāhui meant operations on the ski area would be paused to allow for a “quiet time” to heal the mountain.
“This is done to uplift the spirit of the deceased and restore the elements to make it safe for visitors to return,” the statement said.
Mountains don’t have spirit. They don’t have feelings. They don’t get sad when someone dies on them., Mountains are made of rock and soil. The rocks are mainly silicon and oxygen.
I wouldn’t have a problem with a place being closed because of mourning the loss of life. That is not superstition. But to give credence to claims that rocks need time to heal because someone died on them is just more mixing science and mythology.
I love mythology. I love reading about and studying the Greek Gods, the Roman Gods, the Norse Gods and the Maori Gods. They all have a wonderful place to play in culture. But they have no place to play in science or law.
David Farrar runs Curia Market Research, a specialist opinion polling and research agency, and the popular Kiwiblog where this article was sourced. He previously worked in the Parliament for eight years, serving two National Party Prime Ministers and three Opposition Leaders.
5 comments:
These rahui are primarily stunts to inconvenience and thus tweak colonists and thereby gain mana among fellow maori. Mildly surprising if maori now have a financial interest in the ski fields. And they wonder ehy the public are so wary of maori wards.
Mountains have spirit. People have spirit and are made of chemicals and atoms too. Science cannot tell us how matter is conscious.
I agree that the mountain doesn’t need to be closed. It is big enough to take care of itself.
With the Treaty Principles Bill soon to be taking full flight I was thinking of this very thing just the other day. This is a crock, but if Maori want to observe it, fine they can go knock themselves out, just don't expect the rest of the world to stop based on their superstitions. And if they do it on a mountain, why not a road, or anywhere else people meet an untimely death? Or, is this just a case of them invoking their tino rangitiratanga? And if that's the case, why don't us Pakeha start using some of our conventional thinking and practises. When we can't use, enjoy, or work something, we don't pay. So maybe in kind, we stop welfare payments to Maori while rahui are in place? Everything has consequences after all, just like those that may have booked and paid for an experience that is now denied them.
This is the 21st Century and one would have thought we might have moved on? But then, of course, some of us do seem to like cutting their cloth to suit their needs, and with more than a dollar each way.
Iwi don't have rights that are superior to others. So I would suggest nobody takes notice of the rahui. People die all over the place.
Steve Ellis
I believe the government has declared some river to be a 'person' therefore having feelings etc.
Are we going crazy going along with these primitive ideas - any normal person can see this is ridiculous.
The local iwi are just trying to grab as much power as they can, and bully everyone into obeying any stupid idea that they can come up with - and I guess they charge a lot of money when they put the 'rahui' on. It's all about power and money for these people who are looking for an easy, work-free life
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