New Zealand road construction gives way to the Maori 'Taniwha'

The Māori of New Zealand have a legend called the 'Taniwha'.

A Taniwha is a large creature. Some look like lizards, some like dragons, some like whales, some like snakes. They live in rivers, lakes, the sea, and caves. In legend, Taniwha are divided into two types: one is the guardian of a tribe, protecting the local land and water, warning people of danger, and sometimes even holding people up and carrying them to shore when a boat is about to capsize; the other is dangerous, eating people, capsizing boats, and causing floods.

There is a legend about the capital Wellington that goes like this: long ago, Wellington Harbour was a closed lake, in which lived two Taniwha, one named 'Ngake' and the other 'Whātaitai'. Ngake wanted to go see the sea, so it smashed open the coast with its tail and rushed out; the water flowed out and became the entrance to the present-day harbour. Whātaitai didn't keep up and was trapped in the harbour, becoming the land by the harbour.

These legends still have influence in New Zealand today. In the 2000s, while building a highway through the Waikato region, the local Māori tribe pointed out that a section of the road passed through a river stretch where a Taniwha lived. The engineering side did not treat it as a joke; they invited tribal elders to hold a ceremony, recite prayers, and made adjustments to part of the construction arrangement.

To outsiders, this move seems a bit strange; but in New Zealand, it is regarded as a sign of respect for Māori culture. The Māori say that Taniwha are not superstition; they are the memory of this land and water, the names of those places the tribe has guarded for hundreds of years.

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