The Mythological Context: Tree Worship and the Evolution of Creation Myths

Abstract

The settlement history of the Pacific is reflected in the diffusion of tree worship, of associated rituals and of Creation myths relating to the Cosmogonic Tree. Of central importance is the preservation in the isolation of the Chatham Islands, which lie in the Southern Ocean 870 km east of New Zealand, of a 4,000-year-old version of a totemic Creation myth involving the Cosmogonic Tree. This totemic myth is far older than the Creation myths recorded in Eastern Polynesia which involve a purposeful Creator. We suggest that the ancient Creation myth found in the Chatham Islands and also found vestigially amongst an ancient tribe in New Zealand and the tree worship and rituals associated with it were carried to New Zealand with Lapita-age first settlers. For these myths and rituals echo the tree worship known to have been practised in recognized Lapita colonies in Island Melanesia and Western Polynesia. In these colonies the distribution of the sacred Benjamin fig, the focus there for tree worship, matched the distribution of Lapita pottery. The preservation in the isolated Chatham Islands and in New Zealand of a Lapita-age myth and associated rituals supports the case for a Lapita-age first settlement of New Zealand.