Two Polynesian words have entered the world's vocabulary: mana and taboo. The first became familiar through anthropology, literature and even video games, where it denotes a kind of magical energy. The second, from the Polynesian tapu or tabu, passed into almost every European language. In both cases modern usage has lost much of the original meaning, which is worth recovering.
Mana: authority, efficacy, prestige
In Polynesian languages, and in many related Austronesian languages, mana denotes a quality that shows itself in efficacy. A chief whose decisions are followed and whose harvests thrive has mana; so does the warrior who wins, the canoe voyager who reaches his destination, the orator whose words move an assembly, even an object such as a weapon or ornament linked to illustrious deeds and ancestors.
Mana is not an impersonal fluid that can be stored up at will. It is rather a visible sign of the favour of ancestors and gods, partly inherited through genealogy and partly demonstrated through action. It can grow, but it can also be lost: a defeat, an unavenged insult or a wrong decision can diminish it.
How mana entered anthropology
In the late nineteenth century the missionary and scholar R. H. Codrington described mana among the peoples of Melanesia as a supernatural force that manifests itself in people and things. His description had a great impact: writers such as Robert Marett and Marcel Mauss made it a key concept for discussing the origins of religion and magic.
Later studies, more attentive to local languages, showed that this interpretation was partly a European construction. On many islands mana often works as a verb or adjective, in the sense of "being effective" or "being powerful", rather than as the name of a substance.
Tapu: what is set apart
Tapu is the complementary concept. It denotes what is sacred and therefore set apart, withdrawn from common use and surrounded by restrictions. In many Polynesian societies the following were tapu:
- the high-ranking chief, and above all his head, considered the most sacred part of the body;
- places of worship, such as marae and altars;
- objects that belonged to sacred people, such as clothing or utensils;
- people engaged in ritual activities, in building a canoe or in mourning;
- certain foods, in certain seasons or for certain people.
Breaking a tapu was not merely a social transgression: it was believed to expose one to serious consequences, from illness to death, because it brought into contact what had to remain separate.
Noa: the return to the ordinary
The opposite of tapu is noa, what is common, free and accessible. Many Polynesian rites aim to make a person or place noa after a period of tapu. This is often done with water or food: sharing a meal, for instance, is a way of returning participants to the ordinary state after a ceremony.
From the Pacific to Europe
The word entered European languages through the accounts of Captain James Cook's voyages. Visiting the Tonga Islands in 1777, Cook noted the use of the term tabu for what it was forbidden to touch or eat. From there the word spread quickly in English and then in other languages, eventually taking on the modern, more general sense of a socially forbidden topic or behaviour.
Rāhui: a tapu for nature
An interesting application of tapu is rāhui, practised by the Māori of New Zealand and, under similar names, elsewhere in Polynesia. It is a temporary restriction placed on an area or a resource: a stretch of coast where no fishing takes place, a forest where no fruit is gathered. It may be imposed after a death at sea, out of respect, or to allow a resource to regenerate. Māori communities still declare rāhui today, and sometimes the authorities support their observance.
A system, not a superstition
Reducing mana and tapu to "magical beliefs" means losing their richness. Together they formed a system that governed hierarchies, relations between people, the management of resources and the relationship with ancestors. Studio Esoterico Cornelio regards them as an illuminating example of how a culture can conceive the sacred not as something abstract, but as a concrete quality running through bodies, places and objects.
In short
- Mana is a quality of efficacy, authority and prestige, tied to ancestors and deeds.
- Reading mana as an impersonal force is partly a construction of European anthropology.
- Tapu denotes what is sacred and set apart, noa what is ordinary and free.
- The word "taboo" reached Europe through Cook's accounts from Tonga in 1777.
- Rāhui shows tapu applied to the protection of places and resources.
