Maoris in SF
Michael Caldwell
my Teacher's College course (it's a *requirement*, and about
the only part of the whole course it's *impossible* to flag and
still pass), and I've been busily learning Tikanga (protocol),
Waiata (songs of support and greeting) and Te Reo (The
language) for the last month or so in preperation. Quite often
throughout the process I've gone "hell, that'd be neat in a SF
story". So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
or indeed Polynesians in general. Individuals such as the
big war hero is "Ender's Game", are acceptable, but some
use of the culture would be even better. I can't think of any
examples myself, at least not off the top of my head, and am
wondering if there are any out there.
--
Jim Deutch
news:9ha3mg$th8$1...@lust.ihug.co.nz...
David Brin's _Earth_ The guy who bankrolls the protagonist is Maori, and so
are many of the engineers -- and a priestess of some sort plays a minor
role...
Jim Deutch
Bronz
I believe Tepper's _Singer From the Sea_ has a population of Polynesians;
but it's been some time since I read the book.
--Bronz
Mikey G
"Michael Caldwell" <absu...@es.co.nz> wrote in message
news:9ha3mg$th8$1...@lust.ihug.co.nz...
Donald J. HARLOW
"Michael Caldwell" <absu...@es.co.nz> skribis en mesaøo news:9ha3mg$th8$1...@lust.ihug.co.nz...
You might want to take a look at Poul Anderson's "Maurai" stories that he wrote in the sixties. Some of them are in the Tor pb whose title, if I remember correctly, was "Maurai and Kith".
--
-- Donald J. HARLOW
http://www.webcom.com/~donh/don/don.html
Recenzoj/Reviews: http://www.best.com/~donh/Esperanto/Literaturo/Recenzoj/
Mark Atwood
> Waiata (songs of support and greeting) and Te Reo (The
> language) for the last month or so in preperation. Quite often
> throughout the process I've gone "hell, that'd be neat in a SF
> story". So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
> or indeed Polynesians in general.
The DI in Ringo's _Hymn_ is Tongan.
--
Mark Atwood | I'm wearing black only until I find something darker.
m...@pobox.com | http://www.pobox.com/~mra
Gareth Wilson
> So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
> or indeed Polynesians in general. Individuals such as the
> big war hero is "Ender's Game", are acceptable, but some
> use of the culture would be even better.
The head of the space agency in Paula Ash's "Man Opening a Door" is a
Maori and wears a traditional tattoo. I think Ash describes the tattoo
as otherwise "extinct", which doesn't make a lot of sense.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Gareth Wilson
Christchurch
New Zealand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
D. Barrington
:> [...] So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
:> or indeed Polynesians in general.
Part of RAH's _Friday_ is set in New Zealand, and the particularities
of white NZers racial prejudice form a subplot. (Maori are honorary
white, Tongans are not -- no clue whether this corresponds to NZ reality
now or in the 1950's (?) when RAH visited NZ.)
Someone else just mentioned Poul Anderson, who had several stories in
one or more post-holocaust histories where the NZ-based Maurai Federation
is a dominant world power. In _Orion Shall Rise_ the Maurai are one side
(the green, soft-tech side) of a global conflict over the direction of
technological development. The other side is the Norwest Union, based on
the North Pacific coast of North America. Other players are the Mong,
Asian green-tech invaders who dominate the middle of North America, and
a feudal France ruled by a high-tech craft/airstation several miles above
Tours...
Dave MB
trike
I think Alan Dean Foster has a novel titled "Maori." Never read it, so I
don't know if it's SF.
--
Doug
--
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Steve Taylor
> So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
> or indeed Polynesians in general.
Bester's _The Deceivers_ features transplanted Maori cultures somewhere
in the outer reaches of the solar system. I've pretty much forgotten all
of the details, as _Deceivers_ was written after Bester lost it, and is
basically rubbish. I do remember being annoyed at it as a representative
for all of the SF with the planet of the rustic yodelling Swiss
colonists next to the planet of the inscrutable Confucian Chinese
colonists. Not only do they go for crude cultural stereotyping, not only
do they ignore the amount of cultural merging which has *already*
happened, but they tend not to have much to say about how these racially
distinct colonies happened in the first place.
I'll let John Barnes off the hook for _A Million Open Doors_ and _The
Earth Made of Glass_, as he had the grace to declare his cultures
artificial, the product of cultural movements which didn't necessarily
have any real link to the past they were recreating (like modern
Druidry, witchcraft, etc.)
Steve
Del Cotter
Michael Caldwell <absu...@es.co.nz> said:
>So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
>or indeed Polynesians in general. Individuals such as the
>big war hero is "Ender's Game", are acceptable, but some
>use of the culture would be even better. I can't think of any
>examples myself, at least not off the top of my head, and am
>wondering if there are any out there.
I haven't read them, but I believe Garry Kilworth has written a couple
of novels called "The Roof of Voyaging", in which Polynesians, reaching
the place where New Zealand would be, find instead the British Isles,
complete with Celts. Cross-cultural hi-jinks ensue.
--
Del Cotter d...@branta.demon.co.uk
Michael Caldwell
>: "Michael Caldwell" writes:
>:> [...] So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
>:> or indeed Polynesians in general.
>Part of RAH's _Friday_ is set in New Zealand, and the particularities
>of white NZers racial prejudice form a subplot. (Maori are honorary
>white, Tongans are not -- no clue whether this corresponds to NZ reality
>now or in the 1950's (?) when RAH visited NZ.)
For the record, it was not, and most certainly *is* not. Interestingly
enough though, this *was* the case in South Africa when the Rugby
teams of NZ and Tonga toured there, though I believe the Tongans
were considered "coloured" rather than "black". I'm afraid I don't
much like Heinlein either, so I probably won't read this one...
>Someone else just mentioned Poul Anderson, who had several stories in
>one or more post-holocaust histories where the NZ-based Maurai Federation
>is a dominant world power.
Now *that* counds good. It isn't often you get to have NZ in charge
of the world.
> In _Orion Shall Rise_ the Maurai are one side
>(the green, soft-tech side) of a global conflict over the direction of
>technological development. The other side is the Norwest Union, based on
>the North Pacific coast of North America. Other players are the Mong,
>Asian green-tech invaders who dominate the middle of North America, and
>a feudal France ruled by a high-tech craft/airstation several miles above
>Tours...
Bizzare, I'll definately have to look that one up. Thanks.
--
Gareth Wilson
> D. Barrington wrote
>
> >Part of RAH's _Friday_ is set in New Zealand, and the particularities
> >of white NZers racial prejudice form a subplot. (Maori are honorary
> >white, Tongans are not -- no clue whether this corresponds to NZ reality
> >now or in the 1950's (?) when RAH visited NZ.)
>
> For the record, it was not, and most certainly *is* not.
There are a few skinhead groups which accept Maori as "real" New Zealanders
while harrassing Polynesians and Asians. But they're hardly mainstream.
Dan Tilque
"Jim Deutch" <10313...@compuserve.com> wrote
>
> David Brin's _Earth_ The guy who bankrolls the protagonist is
Maori, and so
> are many of the engineers -- and a priestess of some sort plays a
minor
> role...
Warning about an error in that book. At one point, Brin has a Maori
(I think it was the priestess or whatever she was[1]) playing a
native drum called a zzxjoanw.
The problem is that "zzxjoanw" is not a Maori word and in fact is
nothing at all like a Maori word. Furthermore, I understand that the
Maori didn't even have drums.
This word was some kind of joke that appeared in a music
encyclopedia. People interested in odd words discovered it and
passed it around without critically examining it. Eventually it got
into Mrs. Byrnes Dictionary. From what I understand, Brin found it
there.
--
Dan Tilque
[1] I don't think the Maoris had priestesses, but I could be wrong.
Michael Caldwell
>"Jim Deutch" wrote
>> David Brin's _Earth_ The guy who bankrolls the protagonist is
>> Maori, and so are many of the engineers -- and a priestess of
>> some sort plays a minor role...
>Warning about an error in that book. At one point, Brin has a Maori
>(I think it was the priestess or whatever she was[1]) playing a
>native drum called a zzxjoanw.
>The problem is that "zzxjoanw" is not a Maori word and in fact is
>nothing at all like a Maori word.
No, it *really* isn't. There are no Z, X, or J sounds in maori, and, like
Japanese, just about every consonant needs a vowel after it (except
dipthongs such as "wh", which is pronounced like an "F" in most
dialects). In fact pronouncing it just like Japanese is a fairly safe way
to approach the whole thing (although there are some differences, and
I find it useful to annotate with katakana so I can pronounce them
properly).
>Furthermore, I understand that the Maori didn't even have drums.
I believe that they *did*, but that they were hardly ever used, and
certainly didn't form a large part of their music, which was mainly
wind instruments such as putarino (flutes) and single and double
chambered wooden trumpets (which are actually about the same
size as a largish flute, rather than trumpet shaped). Whistles too.
Their traditional music was mainly chanted, and was polytonal.
Certainly drums were not as massively used as in other Polynesian
cultures.
>[1] I don't think the Maoris had priestesses, but I could be wrong.
Nah, you'd be right, they had "priests", sort of. There were some
woman's roles which subsume some of the roles of "priestesses",
but I don't believe that worshipping the gods per se was one of
these roles.
--
Gareth Wilson
> Dan Tilque wrote
>
> >[1] I don't think the Maoris had priestesses, but I could be wrong.
>
> Nah, you'd be right, they had "priests", sort of. There were some
> woman's roles which subsume some of the roles of "priestesses",
> but I don't believe that worshipping the gods per se was one of
> these roles.
>
And modern Maori priests would probably be Anglicans, anyway :)
Captain Button
> D. Barrington wrote
>>: "Michael Caldwell" writes:
>>:> [...] So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
>>:> or indeed Polynesians in general.
>>Part of RAH's _Friday_ is set in New Zealand, and the particularities
>>of white NZers racial prejudice form a subplot. (Maori are honorary
>>white, Tongans are not -- no clue whether this corresponds to NZ reality
>>now or in the 1950's (?) when RAH visited NZ.)
> For the record, it was not, and most certainly *is* not. Interestingly
> enough though, this *was* the case in South Africa when the Rugby
> teams of NZ and Tonga toured there, though I believe the Tongans
> were considered "coloured" rather than "black". I'm afraid I don't
> much like Heinlein either, so I probably won't read this one...
The racism of a specific very small group (some members of one line
marriage, less than a dozen people) is a plot element. There is no
indication of racism in the larger NZ society.
The idiocy and vileness of racism is one of the major themes in
_Friday_, both the ordinary kind and the bigotry against "artifical
persons" like Friday.
If you don't like Heinlein, fine. But this is a silly reason
to avoid _Friday_.
--
"Gee, who'd a thunk it? Turns out alien superintelligence is
no match for our Earthly can-do spunk." - Jane Lane, "Daria"
Captain Button - [ but...@io.com ]
Garrett Fitzgerald
> So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
> or indeed Polynesians in general.
In <CITE>Strangers from the Sky</CITE>, Kirk goes to New Zealand to get
help with some very strange dreams he's been having, and participates in
a Dreamtime ritual with a museum curator.
Michael Caldwell
> absu...@es.co.nz says...
>> So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris,
>> or indeed Polynesians in general.
>In <CITE>Strangers from the Sky</CITE>, Kirk goes to New Zealand
>to get help with some very strange dreams he's been having, and
>participates in a Dreamtime ritual with a museum curator.
<Wince>
The "Dreamtime" is an Australian Aborigine concept, not shared
by Maori culture. What you describe is like someone going to
Egypt, and participating in say a Celtic wickerman ceremony
to gain the blessing of Tyr (or whoever).
--
Michael Caldwell
>The idiocy and vileness of racism is one of the major themes in
>_Friday_, both the ordinary kind and the bigotry against "artifical
>persons" like Friday.
>If you don't like Heinlein, fine. But this is a silly reason
>to avoid _Friday_.
This wasn't the reason. The reason is that I don't like Heinlein.
The *consequence* is that I probably won't read "Friday" and
thus won't see this particular depiction of NZ.
--
Luke Webber
chief of a future Maori nation living on Ganymede. Bester alse made a
glancing reference to the Maoris in Tiger! Tiger! (AKA The Stars My
Destination), with the shipwreck survivors and their facial tattoos, which
they also visited on Gully "Nomad" Foyle.
Luke
Nalo Hopkinson
> > or indeed Polynesians in general.
NH: _Walkabout Woman_ by Michaela Roessner. Probably you might consider it
fantasy rather than SF. And I *think* _Demon Drums_ by Carol Severance. Again,
more likely filed under fantasy.
Steve Taylor
>>> what SF stories involve Maoris,
>>> or indeed Polynesians in general.
> NH: _Walkabout Woman_ by Michaela Roessner. Probably you might consider it
> fantasy rather than SF.
I haven't read it, but the title would seem to apply that it's about
Australian Aborigines, not Maoris or other Polynesians. Is that the
case?
> -nalo
Steve
Fred Galvin
> So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
> Polynesians in general.
What about Robert Sheckley's _Journey of Joenes_ (aka _Journey Beyond
Tomorrow_)? The hero lives (before he goes on his Journey) on a small
island 200 miles east of Tahiti, but I don't know if you'd consider
him Polynesian enough: his parents had come from America; I don't
recall if the story mentions where Joenes himself was born.
Arian Hokin
Also, most of the recent references I've heard to that concept have
called it "the Dreaming" - I believe that including the word "time"
was felt to misrepresent the nature of the Dreaming as understood by
most Aborigines.
Arian
cd skogsberg
>So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
>Polynesians in general.
The protagonist's attorney in _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ is
Samoan...
/cd
--
"It's important for us to explain to our nation that life is important.
It's not only life of babies, but it's life of children living in, you
know, the dark dungeons of the Internet."
-- George W. Bush, going for that elusive teen e-Morlock vote
Michael Caldwell
>Michael Caldwell wrote:
>>So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
>>Polynesians in general.
>The protagonist's attorney in _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ is
>Samoan...
Nice, yet another reason to read that book. I have an ex-boss who
keeps urging it on me. Still, it's not *exactly* SF from what I can
understand is it?
--
"More and more of our imports are now coming from overseas"
-Everyone's favourite world leader.
Luke Webber
> cd skogsberg wrote
> >Michael Caldwell wrote:
>
> >>So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
> >>Polynesians in general.
>
> >The protagonist's attorney in _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ is
> >Samoan...
>
> Nice, yet another reason to read that book. I have an ex-boss who
> keeps urging it on me. Still, it's not *exactly* SF from what I can
> understand is it?
It's not *exactly* anything. It's offensive, crude, bizarre and screamingly
funny, in a blokish sort. But no, it's certainly not SF. I believe the term
that Thompson coined for it was "gonzo journalism".
Luke
cd skogsberg
>>>So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
>>>Polynesians in general.
>>The protagonist's attorney in _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ is
>>Samoan...
>Nice, yet another reason to read that book. I have an ex-boss who
>keeps urging it on me. Still, it's not *exactly* SF from what I can
>understand is it?
Magic surrealism, maybe?
/cd
--
"[A Crazed Topologists] code was like a Heironymous Bosch triptych.
Beautiful in its own way, but containing a disturbing vision of
another world. I not only learned some math, but gained a lot of
insight into human psychology." -- Pete Stickney
Michael Caldwell
>Michael Caldwell wrote:
>>cd skogsberg wrote
>>>Michael Caldwell wrote:
>>>>So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
>>>>Polynesians in general.
>>>The protagonist's attorney in _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ is
>>>Samoan...
>>Nice, yet another reason to read that book. I have an ex-boss who
>>keeps urging it on me. Still, it's not *exactly* SF from what I can
>>understand is it?
>Magic surrealism, maybe?
That, sir, is a very nicely turned phrase. As Luke suggests in his post,
I'd heard that it was "Gonzo Journalism", a genre which has gained
more adherants over the years (PJ O'Rourke for example, who's books
I love). I was wondering however, just how some of the "visions" I
have heard are caused by his drugging himself, were handled in the
book, and whether some sort of fantastical element had not been
included. Hence the "not exactly SF" in my post.
--
David Eppstein
d97...@dtek.chalmers.se (cd skogsberg) wrote:
> >So, my question is, what SF stories involve Maoris, or indeed
> >Polynesians in general.
>
> The protagonist's attorney in _Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas_ is
> Samoan...
As I understand it the real life person on which the attorney was based is
actually hispanic.
--
David Eppstein UC Irvine Dept. of Information & Computer Science
epps...@ics.uci.edu http://www.ics.uci.edu/~eppstein/
Michael S. Schiffer
@lust.ihug.co.nz>:
>...
>"More and more of our imports are now coming from overseas"
>-Everyone's favourite world leader.
Hmm... the world leader I've seen this attributed to is in charge of a
country with two large trade partners (including its largest) across
land borders. (I don't know if the claim is correct. Given NAFTA, it
seems more likely that the proportion of imports from overland
international trade would have gone up. Might still be true in absolute
numbers, though.)
ObSF about importing and trade between polities: Poul Anderson's
Polesotechnic League stories, of course. Le Guin's _The Dispossessed_,
and the recurring discussions of why Anarres doesn't/can't trade much
with the nations of Urras. Niven's "The Fourth Profession", dealing
with the establishment of trade relations with STL traders. MacLeod's
_Cosmonaut Keep_. Cherryh's Merchanter stories in the Union/Alliance
universe.
Mike
--
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS If reading in an archive, please do
ms...@mediaone.net not click on words highlighted as links
msch...@condor.depaul.edu by Deja or other archives. They violate
the author's copyright and his wishes.
Joe Slater
>Also, most of the recent references I've heard to that concept have
>called it "the Dreaming" - I believe that including the word "time"
>was felt to misrepresent the nature of the Dreaming as understood by
>most Aborigines.
Australia's a continent nearly as big as any other, at least if you
slice Eurasia up in the accepted places. Until recently it was
inhabited by people who thought that kangaroos went pretty damned
fast. I don't know that there was any more commonality of belief
between, say, Murrays and Pitjjantjatjaras than there would have been
between British druids and Phoenecian Baal-worshippers.
jds
--
Joe Slater was but a low-grade paranoiac, whose fantastic notions must
have come from the crude hereditary folk-tales which circulated in even
the most decadent of communities.
_Beyond the Wall of Sleep_ by H P Lovecraft
Arian Hokin
> Arian Hokin <ar...@holly.northnet.com.au> wrote:
> >Also, most of the recent references I've heard to that concept have
> >called it "the Dreaming" - I believe that including the word "time"
> >was felt to misrepresent the nature of the Dreaming as understood by
> >most Aborigines.
>
> Australia's a continent nearly as big as any other, at least if you
> slice Eurasia up in the accepted places. Until recently it was
> inhabited by people who thought that kangaroos went pretty damned
> fast. I don't know that there was any more commonality of belief
> between, say, Murrays and Pitjjantjatjaras than there would have been
> between British druids and Phoenecian Baal-worshippers.
I didn't mean to suggest that there was; but a preference for "the
Dreaming" instead of "the Dreamtime" has been pretty much universal in all
the refs. I've heard recently. If you know any Aborigines who are happy to
use the word "Dreamtime", I suppose my sample space hasn't been large
enough.
Arian
Howard Brazee
William December Starr
"Michael Caldwell" <absu...@es.co.nz> said:
>>> In <CITE>Strangers from the Sky</CITE>, Kirk goes to New
>>> Zealand to get help with some very strange dreams he's
>>> been having, and participates in a Dreamtime ritual with
>>> a museum curator. [Garrett Fitzgerald]
>
> <Wince>
>
> The "Dreamtime" is an Australian Aborigine concept, not
> shared by Maori culture. What you describe is like someone
> going to Egypt, and participating in say a Celtic
> wickerman ceremony to gain the blessing of Tyr (or whoever).
Hey, it's the 23rd century; you never know who you're going
to find where.
Either that or Margaret Wander Bonanno just screwed it up.
It's not like the rest of the book was much of a masterpiece
(he said, relying on thirteen-year-old memories).
-- William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
mstemper - emis . com
><!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
><html>
>Of course the novel <b><i><u>Maori</u></i></b> was written by Alan Dean
>Foster.</html>
If you're going to post in HTML, which you <strong>should not do</strong>,
at least get the tags right! To refer to a title of a book, you should
use the <cite> tag, which is content-based, rather than the nasty
physical tags that you used.
--
Michael F. Stemper
#include <Standard_Disclaimer>
If we aren't supposed to eat animals, why are they made from meat?
mstemper - emis . com
><!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
><html>
>Of course the novel <b><i><u>Maori</u></i></b> was written by Alan Dean
>Foster.</html>
If you're going to post in HTML, which you should not do, please at
least use the <cite> tag for a book title, rather than that mish-mash.
--
Michael F. Stemper
#include <Standard_Disclaimer>
COFFEE.SYS not found. Abort, Retry, Fail?
O Deus
mstemper @ siemens - emis . com (Michael Stemper) wrote in message
<9ht063$bei$1...@daymark.empros.com>...
Howard Brazee
Michael Stemper wrote:
> In article <3B3E825F...@brazee.net>, Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> writes:
> ><!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
> ><html>
> >Of course the novel <b><i><u>Maori</u></i></b> was written by Alan Dean
> >Foster.</html>
>
> If you're going to post in HTML, which you <strong>should not do</strong>,
> at least get the tags right! To refer to a title of a book, you should
> use the <cite> tag, which is content-based, rather than the nasty
> physical tags that you used.
I tell my browser to post twice - once for people with capable browsers, and once for
people with incapable browsers. My composer doesn't have a "cite" button - because I
am just writing a document which the browser converts as best as it can. What does
<cite> look like in a message? How do I enter it in composer (when I am using
Netscape), or Word (when I am using Outlook)?
With the bandwidth problem really over, and most people with capable browsers, I choose
to not post to an obsolete lowest common denominator.
Joe Slater
>I tell my browser to post twice - once for people with capable browsers, and once for
>people with incapable browsers.
Really? I tell my browser not to bother with people who prize color
over content.
>With the bandwidth problem really over, and most people with capable browsers, I choose
>to not post to an obsolete lowest common denominator.
And I choose to ignore people who can't follow standards.
Gary Weiner
Howard Brazee wrote:
>
> Michael Stemper wrote:
>
> > In article <3B3E825F...@brazee.net>, Howard Brazee <how...@brazee.net> writes:
> > ><!doctype html public "-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en">
> > ><html>
> > >Of course the novel <b><i><u>Maori</u></i></b> was written by Alan Dean
> > >Foster.</html>
> >
> > If you're going to post in HTML, which you <strong>should not do</strong>,
> > at least get the tags right! To refer to a title of a book, you should
> > use the <cite> tag, which is content-based, rather than the nasty
> > physical tags that you used.
>
> I tell my browser to post twice - once for people with capable browsers, and once for
> people with incapable browsers. My composer doesn't have a "cite" button - because I
> am just writing a document which the browser converts as best as it can. What does
> <cite> look like in a message? How do I enter it in composer (when I am using
> Netscape), or Word (when I am using Outlook)?
What you do is select Edit->Preferences from your menu, click the plus
sign next to "Mail & Newsgroups", click on "Formatting" and then click
the the radio button next to "Use the plain text editor to compose
messages".
>
> With the bandwidth problem really over, and most people with capable browsers, I choose
> to not post to an obsolete lowest common denominator.
The bandwidth problem isn't "over". There are still plenty of people on
slow dialup connections.
Not to mention that Usenet is a text based environment. Plain text. No
HTML thankyouverymuch.
--
Gary J. Weiner \ "When you can balance a tack hammer on
webm...@hatrack.net \ your head, you will head off your foes
http://www.hatrack.net \ with a balanced attack!"
"Hang Your Web With Us!"\ -The Sphinx "Mystery Men"
Michael Caldwell
>"Michael Caldwell" said:
>>>> In <CITE>Strangers from the Sky</CITE>, Kirk goes to New
>>>> Zealand to get help with some very strange dreams he's
>>>> been having, and participates in a Dreamtime ritual with
>>>> a museum curator. [Garrett Fitzgerald]
>> <Wince>
>> The "Dreamtime" is an Australian Aborigine concept, not
>> shared by Maori culture. What you describe is like someone
>> going to Egypt, and participating in say a Celtic
>> wickerman ceremony to gain the blessing of Tyr (or whoever).
>Hey, it's the 23rd century; you never know who you're going
>to find where.
Exactly, which is why I used the example I did. Who would have
guessed in the late 20th century that the Egyptians would ditch
Islam for neo-celtic paganism and subjugate Northern Africa
in order to feed their need for human sacrifices. There's nothing
quite like the smell as you sip your mead in the warm breezes
beside the nile.
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