Revival: Maori Symbolism (1926)

Book excerpt: ‘Maori Symbolism’ is a story of a great race as told in their own Sacred Legends. And it is even more than this. It is an accurate record of the inner meaning of Life Symbolism on which the civilization of the Dark-Whites all over the world is founded. That symbolism stands for Cultivation – of the race, of the body and of the land. The numerous illustrations are to be regarded as documents supporting the evidence reported in the text. Some of this is of startling interest, as for insurance that concerning the casting of ancient statues and megaliths from molten lava. The Sacred Legends concerning the origin and migration of the New Zealand Maori are reported at some length, and the evidence given throws fresh light on the important ‘Diffusion’ controversy. Maori land cultivation is shown to have been far in advance of European. Maori cultivation of the body, expressed in native dances, is demonstrated to be an ordered system of physical education, designed to improve and preserve the fittest. Maori race culture is exhibited as based on a lofty code of social and sexual ethics. Maori religion and philosophy, as expressed in symbolic decoration and writing, are for the first time truthfully explained and interpreted.