Page:Maori Religion and Mythology.djvu/55

CH. iv. Severing for wielding the weapon, &c.&c. &c.&c. The boy infant is stept over, The boy infant is free from tapu, He runs freely where food is cooked. Cause this karakia to flow gently, To the Pukenga, To the Wananga, To the Tauira.
 * warding off,
 * seizing the first man,
 * storming the Pa.
 * climbed over,
 * lifted in the arms,

When this karakia ends the ceremony of Poipoi (= waving) follows. The tohunga takes up the fern-root cooked for the Atua, and waving it over the child repeats these words:—"This is for the Tipua, for the Pukenga, for the Wananga. Eat it. It is the food cooked for you to eat." The cooked fern-root is then deposited on the sacred place. Afterwards the child is taken in the arms of the female Ariki, who waves over it the fern- root cooked on her fire, and touches with it different parts of the child's body. The Ariki is said then to eat this fern-root, but does not do so in fact. She only spits on it, and throws it on the sacred place.

If there are several female Ariki of the same family of whom one is absent, a figure is made with weeds to represent her. Then part of the fern-root is offered to