The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1929, Page 68

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68

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

stars. For this he was worshiped. Again, the sky
was once so low that all men were compelled to
crawl, till a very stout man succeeded in lifting it
as high as a man’s head. He then climbed a tree
and “boosted” it up farther. Then he ascended the
highest mountains, still raising it up. Having got

above the highest mountains, he rested from his
How he made it stay up, we are not in-
He could not have performed his task at

labors.
formed.

Young South Sea Island Athletes.

all but for the assistance of myriads of dragon-flies,
which with their wings cut the cords which bound
heayen to earth. The world at large does not return
him any thanks for having removed the heavens
when they were in such easy reach of the earth. But
men have not got over their habit of crawling and
groveling in the dirt to this day. This would seem
to indicate a slight degree of probability in the
legend.

Such are some of the exploits of the ancestors
whom they worshiped. Those of this class were
numerous. There was the god of the fisherman, the

god of the sailor, the god of the thief, the god of the
farmer, and the god of the warrior. All were deified
men. Mothers often dedicated their children to the
service of one of these divinities. The favorites were
the god of thieves and the god of war. A noose
would be thrown over the head of the god and his
spirit thus caught. It was then, by appropriate cere-
monies, infused into the child, sometimes before its
birth, that it might become a clever thief or a bold
warrior. New Zealanders thrust small
stones down the throats of their chil-
dren, to give them stony hearts and
make them dauntless and desperate
warriors.

Their idols were very numerous, and
it was seldom that any two were alike,
except those placed on fishing-canoes.
Some were very large, others very
small; some beautiful, others exces-
sively hideous. The most ridiculous
figures and objects were often made
very sacred. Some were made of a pole
of ironwood, four or five inches in
diameter and from ten to twenty feet
long. A human head was roughly
carved on one end and an obscene
figure on the other. These poles were
then wrapped in matting till they be-
came six or eight feet in circumference.
Near the wood was a string of shells;
this was the soul of the god. In one
island the great god of war was a strip
of rotten cloth, four or five inches wide
and five or six feet long. This will
serve to give some idea of the various
silly and abominable ideas of divinity
represented in their idols. In no two
groups of islands were the gods exactly
the same, but the general character
varied little.

Besides these the islanders, in gen-
eral, had a vague idea of an all-pervading Supreme
Being, Creator of all things and Giver of every good
and perfect gift. This personage they called Tangaroa
or Tangaloa. At their great feasts an orator would
rise and, enumerating the various articles of food,
say, as he mentioned each one, “Thank you, great
Tangaroa, for this!” The offerings to the various
divinities consisted of pigs, canoes, in short, any
sort of property or food, and, in some localities, of
human sacrifices. The temples, or great huts, where
the idols were kept and where all sacrifices were
made, were called maraes. Tattooing we have