Tapu

I recently finished reading a book called Tapu by Judy Corbalis.
It's about a missionary, his wife and his family coming to New Zealand from England during the 1800s to convert the native Maori 'heathen' into Christians.
Tapu is the Maori word for scared, set apart. The way that the Maori in history approched everything was with an attitude of honour and respect and it moved me. For example, when a relative or someone of their tribe came home after a trip overseas, the Maori on the shore would row to the boat they were on and would start screaming, wailing and cutting themselves all over their body with shark's tooth, including the women. The dead was even respected, their bones being perserved and put in a tapu place so to give their souls rest. Of course, some of their traditions back then could be seen as over the top if practised today- but imagine such culture and pride in their race and their country compared to what we have today, here and overseas. Have we lost respect for this beautiful country God has created for us? I hate it when people litter and show no apreciation for the environment, or say that New Zealand is crap and that it's a hole, because it's not. I believe it's a paradise at the very end of the world, the world's Eden, the most youngest and beautiful country in the world, a place overflowing with milk and honey. God truly has his Hand over this nation.
I'm not the type to enjoy reading about New Zealand or the Maori but this book was very interesting and thoughtful. It made me appreciate the Maori culture more, our country's history and pride and also the idea of evangelism.

Some quotes I like:

'Oh no. Not you, Mrs Kendall. You will be lovely forever. You have the bones for a beauty that lasts.'
'And yet, though my outer form today be leaner and more haggard to the view, by all it has been forced to encompass, the inner has gained in breadth and stature.'
Stockwell

'Silent she be, but fierce. And around her shines like fire, invisible yet clear, a wall that she have raised between herself and all us here, maybe even all souls in the world. And I might search and search all my days for chinks within that wall and find one never.'
'But of the inside of me, where lies such cuts and stings and deaths and fear and ice-cold, ice-cold hate, not shows to no man. And maybe better so.'
Jane

'No other woman is like you. No other wife comes near your beauty, your smell, your laughter, your sharpness of mind and softness of body...'
Shunghie

Currently listening to: Death Cab for Cutie - Summer Skin