Tā moko

Tā moko is the permanent body and face marking by Māori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Traditionally it is distinct from tattoo and tatau in that the skin was carved by uhi (chisels) rather than punctured. This left the skin with grooves, rather than a smooth surface.

Captain James Cook wrote in 1769:

The Tohunga tā moko (or tattooists) were considered tapu, or exceptionally inviolable and sacred.

Background

Tattoo arts are common in the Eastern Polynesian homeland of Māori, and the traditional implements and methods employed were similar to those used in other parts of Polynesia (see Buck 1974:296, cited in References below). In pre-European Māori culture, many if not most high-ranking persons received moko, and those who went without them were seen as persons of lower social status. Receiving moko constituted an important milestone between childhood and adulthood, and was accompanied by many rites and rituals. Apart from signalling status and rank, another reason for the practice in traditional times was to make a person more attractive to the opposite sex. Men generally received moko on their faces, buttocks (raperape) and thighs (puhoro). Women usually wore moko on their lips (kauwae) and chins. Other parts of the body known to have moko include women's foreheads, buttocks, thighs, necks and backs and men's backs, stomachs, and calves.

Moko

In the mythology of Mangaia in the Cook Islands, Moko is a wily character and grandfather of the heroic Ngaru.

Moko is a ruler or king of the lizards, and he orders his lizard subjects to climb into the basket of the sky demon Amai-te-rangi to spy on him. When Amai-te-rangi pulls up his basket, he is disappointed to find it full of miserable little reptiles, which escape and overrun his home in the sky.

References

Mokosh

Mokoš (Old Russian Мокошь) is a Slavic goddess mentioned in the Primary Chronicle, protector of women's work and women's destiny. She watches over spinning and weaving, shearing of sheep, and protects women in child birth. Mokosh is the Great Mother, Mat Zemlya.

Mokoš was the only female deity whose idol was erected by Vladimir the Great in his Kiev sanctuary along with statues of other major gods (Perun, Hors, Dažbog, Stribog and Simargl).

Etymology and origin

Mokosh probably means moisture. According to Max Vasmer, her name is derived from the same root as Slavic words mokry 'wet' and moknut(i) 'get wet'. She may have originated in the northern Finno-Ugric tribes of the Vogul, who still have the divinity Moksha.

Myth

Mokoš was one of the most popular Slavic deities and the great Mother Goddess of East Slavs and Eastern Polans. She is a wanderer and a spinner. Her consorts are probably both, the god of thunder Perun and his opponent Veles. In saying the former Katičić follows Ivanov and Toporov (1983) without further corroborating their claim. Katičić also points to the possibility that as goddess Vela she is the consort of Veles, and might even be interpreted as another form of the polymorph god Veles himself. Mokosh is also the mother of the twin siblings Jarilo and Morana.

Moko (dolphin)

Moko (2006 – 7 July 2010) was a male bottlenose dolphin who associated with humans on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand from 2007 to 2010.

Moko, short for Mokotahi, a headland on Mahia Peninsula, was three-years-old as of July 2009. He resided at Mahia Beach for two and a half years from 2007 to September 2009, and became a major attraction there. He received worldwide fame when he rescued two pygmy sperm whales in March 2008. A year later, he trapped a woman out at sea. At the beginning of September 2009 Moko moved 80 km up the coast to Waikanae Beach, Gisborne, and in January 2010 he moved to Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty for five months before following a fishing boat to Tauranga on 3 June.Scientists were worried about Moko's welfare after a study found he had been scarred by boats and a fish hook. He was found dead on a beach at Matakana Island near Tauranga on 7 July 2010.

History

Rescue of pygmy sperm whales

In March 2008, Moko was seen helping two pygmy sperm whales that were trapped between a sandbar and Mahia beach. A local man who found the whales told his neighbour, Malcolm Smith, who was a Department of Conservation worker. Smith and other rescuers tried for an hour and a half to re-float the whales, with no success. Smith was wondering if it would be better to kill the two whales when Moko appeared. Moko approached the pair of distressed whales and led them through a narrow channel to the safety of the sea.