A couple days ago the subject of Taniwha popped up on Cryptomundo, so I thought it would be a good time to write about the subject to.Taniwha were creatures that lived in the oceans, lakes and rivers. They appear in many different forms, whales, sharks, lizards and even as logs or driftwood. Mostly they were guardians of the people who associated themselves with them and would help the people out sometimes, giving warnings and such, but you did have to respect the creatures even if they were your guardian. Taniwha had the power to change the surrounding landscape and if you were closely associated with one you could possibly become one yourself.
There are many stories of Taniwha, most tribes had their own. When Maori arrived in New Zealand on various waka (canoes) from Hawaiki some were accompanied by Taniwha, in the case of my ancestry the waka Tainui had a Taniwha swim with it from Hawaiki, it was in the form of a whale.
I consider Taniwha to be natural beings, not so much supernatural, mainly because they appear to be actually living, breathing animals, whales and sharks, even dolphins. What's a little different is the inland ones which appear more reptile like with spines running down their backs, like a tuatara only the size of a whale, could they be stories of dinosaurs or crocodiles?
An example from recent times is the story of Pelorus Jack, a dolphin who would escort ships through Cook Strait in New Zealand, the Strait is dangerous in certain areas and Pelorus Jack would regularly appear escorting ships for over 20 years before the last sighting in 1912. I think Jack was given the title of Taniwha, but I'm not to sure on that.
You can't really liken them to Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster, they're more like tales of dragons, they usually have a relationship to the environmental conditions and the stories usually come with knowledge that pertains to it's location that is valuable to people of that area. Take for example one of my tribes Taniwha, it appears as driftwood acting strangely out at sea, if you see it it could be an omen of danger, I take this to mean changing currents, bad weather on the way etc. My tribe has a few others that follow the same common sense approach.
I guess if you take the Pelorus Jack story into account, Taniwha don't seem so cryptid after all, just stories about creatures that the people of the time had an affinity with and had lessons that could be passed on.
Excellent write-up!
ReplyDeleteI helped set up, and now help maintain the "Leaves of Wisdom" on the Book of THoTH. It's a wiki-style encyclopedia. I've spent quite a bit of time putting in mythology, cyrptids, folklore, etc. and I think this would be an awesome addition. If you're interested in putting it up there, send me an e-mail.
Glad you liked it, sent ya an email.
ReplyDeleteKia ora
ReplyDeleteTaniwha are mythical creatures beieng of both this world and of the heavens. Many were naturalised in appearence but many also were of many forms, wether as \shapeshifters or as part human looking and part beast.
I remeber Pelorus jack but do not ever recall it being ever regarded as a taniwha. Perhaps it was called so by the media but not by maori as I remember.
Miri Te ahi Puia Furlong
Pelorus Jake was never seen as a taniwha. That's my land
Deletekia ora
ReplyDeletejust want to comment on the TANIWHA
SEEING IS BELIEVING, I KNOW AND I'M
STILL SCARRED TODAY.
everyone says taniwha is a myth or legend.
ReplyDeletethis is not true
i was named taniwha by the local people in WAIUKU when i lived there in the 1980's.
i never had a problem with any maori (even before they named me)and was treated with respect by them(i be a pakeha)
i was not part of their hapu or iwi nor did i have much to do with them.(i was never invited to the pa -much to my disapointment)
when people who try to dominate or threaten me (always seemed to be a pakeha or gang of them) wake me up, they all run away afraid-they don't know why they are scared but they are.i know why! i am the boagyman and i am very scary.
nah actually i know where their fear button is in their head and i push it.
very rare did i actually have to hit anyone-most people are afraid of death
i am not a myth or legend
dont mock me
of course this could all have been a paranoid schizophrenic delusion as any current psychologist would say
i am maori, i grew up in the far north of aotearoa and i always thought taniwha were myths until i saw one for myself. this incident happened in 2003, or thereabouts. i was living in tamaki makaurau with my son. i got a book about a taniwha from the libray and read it to my son a day or so later. i put the book away and thought nothing more of it. one morning i woke up and was just lying in my bed looking at the wall, gathering my thoughts and getting ready for my day. the time was approx 7 am, it was daylight and i was awake, not asleep, not dreaming, not in a half awake state ... i was fully wide awake. as i was lying there, eyes open and looking at the wall a creature that i have never seen before put its head over my shoulder and looked at me. i got such a fright that, like a little kid, i put my head under the blanket and shut my eyes out of sheer terror. in my head i was thinking ... wtf is that??? this thing had a reptile body, with a dragon-like head, with a pointy nose (like a sausage dog) and black beady eyes. when i put my head out of the blanket (ages later) it had dissappeared. a few nights later i had a dream of someone telling me that this thing was a taniwha and that my son had called it to him. after that dream i went through our house with holy water and i 'cleansed' our house of this thing. i never saw it again, however ever since this time i have believed in taniwha.
ReplyDeleteGod doesnt exist, Taniwha's dont exist, Heaven and hell also do exist if you didnt know.
ReplyDeleteIf it can't be proved by cold hard fact then stop wasting our time! Instead of saying you saw a taniwha how about recording one on a camera and showing us :)
However it is not up to my self a (non beliver) to say it doesnt exist in your eyes. It is up to you the (beliver) to make me belive.
Angry much? I'm not the best writer, but after re-reading what I wrote here I think it's obvious I was talking about Taniwha as a metaphor.
ReplyDeleteSuch as driftwood floating out at sea, that can be dangerous while out paddling a canoe, that's reality, so to pass on that lesson they tell the story of the driftwood Taniwha and to heed it's warning.
There's more to fables than just the supernatural, if you look close enough you can find real world applications in a lot of myth, it's just that from our perspective we can't interpret them, we can't get past the dragons and fairies.
Can someone help me I just turned 18 and I moved to new Zealand one morning out of impulse... it's 7 months in of me being here and I kept dreaming of this thing I couldn't figure out what it was until my last dream I was swimming with it in the sea and there where people on the shore shouting Taniwha and pointing at it. I have this dream of then we are usually just swimming. I wantto know more about it
ReplyDeleterecently i dreamt about riding on a taniwha, This taniwha took me through the big blue waves where I saw our beautiful papatuanuku looking down on us with a smile and a look, like she was happy that I was coming home, I am ready. We came to this scared river which was covered in whale skin. I couldn't touch but only admire. What felt like hours admiring this beautiful land, it was time for the taniwha to take me home. I arrived home to see my soulmate waiting for me, embracing me with his love that he will never let me go....The next day, I found out the some of the land that I own in Kaikoura, is the land of the PA, tapu land. I have never had a dream like it and I will never forget this dream ever. I am in the middle of having a desire of connecting with the whakapapa. I don't know why i dreamt this but it didn't feel like a bad energy. it was a message to go back to roots. It's time....Has anyone had a dream like that?
ReplyDelete