View source for Mana (Oceanian cultures)

{{Short description|Life force energy, power, effectiveness, and prestige in Pacific Island culture}}
{{Italic title}}
{{Anthropology of religion|Basic}}
{{Paranormal}}

In [[Melanesian mythology|Melanesian]] and [[Polynesian culture|Polynesian]] cultures, '''''mana''''' is a [[supernatural]] force that permeates the universe.<ref name="britannica">{{Cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/mana-Polynesian-and-Melanesian-religion |title=Mana (Polynesian and Melanesian religion) |website=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |language=en|access-date=28 November 2019}}</ref> Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being a source of power.<ref name="britannica" /> It is an intentional force.<ref name="britannica" />

''Mana'' has been discussed mostly in relation to cultures of [[Polynesian mythology|Polynesia]], but also of [[Melanesia]], notably the [[Solomon Islands]]<ref>{{Cite book| publisher = Columbia University Press| last = Keesing| first = Roger| title = Kwaio Religion: The Living and the Dead in a Solomon Island Society| location = New York| date = 1982}}</ref>{{sfn|Keesing|1984}} and [[Vanuatu]].<ref name="Codrington">{{harvcoltxt|Codrington|1891|p=118 ff.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.2307/2843828| issn = 0307-3114| volume = 61| pages = 157–166| last = Ivens| first = W. G.| title = The Place of Vui and Tamate in the Religion of Mota.| journal = The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland | date = 1931| jstor = 2843828}}</ref>{{sfn|Mondragón|2004}}<ref>{{Citation
| last = François
| first = Alexandre
| author-link =Alexandre François
| contribution = Shadows of bygone lives: The histories of spiritual words in northern Vanuatu
| editor1-last = Mailhammer
| editor1-first = Robert
| title = Lexical and structural etymology: Beyond word histories
| volume = 11
| pages = 185–244
| publisher = DeGruyter Mouton
| place = Berlin
| year = 2013
| series = Studies in Language Change
| isbn = 
| contribution-url = https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2013_Shadows-of-bygone-lives-The-histories-of-spiritual-words-in-northern-Vanuatu.pdf
| chapter-format = 
| url=
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1353/ol.2022.0017| volume = 61| issue = 1| pages = 212–255| last = François| first = Alexandre | title = Awesome forces and warning signs: Charting the semantic history of *tabu words in Vanuatu| journal = Oceanic Linguistics| access-date = 2022-07-11| date = 2022| url = https://marama.huma-num.fr/data/AlexFrancois_2022_Awesome-Forces_Tabu_Vanuatu_OceanicLinguistics.pdf |ref=tabu}}</ref>

In the 19th century, scholars compared ''mana'' to similar concepts such as the ''[[orenda]]'' of the [[Iroquois]] Indians and theorized that ''mana'' was a universal phenomenon that explained the [[origin of religion]]s.<ref name="britannica" />

==Etymology==
The [[Linguistic reconstruction|reconstructed]] [[Proto-Oceanic language|Proto-Oceanic]] word *mana is thought to have referred to "powerful forces of nature such as thunder and storm winds" rather than supernatural power.<ref name="Blust">{{cite journal |last1=Blust|first1=Robert|author-link=Robert Blust |date=2007 |title=Proto-Oceanic *mana Revisited |url=https://www.academia.edu/21896750 |journal=[[Oceanic Linguistics]] |volume=46 |issue=2|pages=404–423|doi=10.1353/ol.2008.0005|s2cid=144945623}}</ref> As the [[Oceanic languages|Oceanic-speaking]] peoples [[Austronesian expansion|spread eastward]], the word started to refer instead to unseen supernatural powers.<ref name="Blust"/>

=={{anchor|In Polynesian culture}}Polynesian culture==
''Mana'' is a foundation of [[Polynesian culture|Polynesian theology]], a spiritual quality with a supernatural origin and a sacred, impersonal force. To have ''mana'' implies influence, [[authority]], and [[efficacy]]: the ability to perform in a given situation. The quality of ''mana'' is not limited to individuals; peoples, governments, places, and inanimate objects may also possess ''mana'', and its possessors are accorded respect. ''Mana'' protects its protector, and they depend on each other for growth, both positive and negative. It depends on the person where he takes his ''mana''.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

In Polynesia, ''mana'' was traditionally seen as a "[[Transcendence (philosophy)|transcendent]] power that [[Blessing|blesses]]" that can "express itself directly" through various ways, but most often shows itself through the [[speech]], movement, or [[Tradition|traditional]] [[ritual]] of a "[[prophet]], [[priest]], or [[king]]."<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Carlson |first1=Kathie |title=The Book of Symbols: Reflections on Archetypal Images |last2=Flanagin |first2=Michael N. |last3=Martin |first3=Kathleen |last4=Martin |first4=Mary E. |last5=Mendelsohn |first5=John |last6=Rodgers |first6=Priscilla Young |last7=Ronnberg |first7=Ami |last8=Salman |first8=Sherry |last9=Wesley |first9=Deborah A. |publisher=[[Taschen]] |year=2010 |isbn=978-3-8365-1448-4 |editor-last=Arm |editor-first=Karen |location=Köln |page=730 |editor-last2=Ueda |editor-first2=Kako |editor-last3=Thulin |editor-first3=Anne |editor-last4=Langerak |editor-first4=Allison |editor-last5=Kiley |editor-first5=Timothy Gus |editor-last6=Wolff |editor-first6=Mary}}</ref>

==={{anchor|In Hawaiian and Tahitian culture}}Hawaiian and Tahitian culture===
In [[Hawaii]]an and [[Tahiti]]an culture, mana is a [[Energy (esotericism)|spiritual energy]] and healing power which can exist in places, objects, and persons. Hawaiians believe that ''mana'' may be gained or lost by actions, and Hawaiians and Tahitians believe that ''mana'' is both external and internal. Sites on the [[Hawaiian Islands]] and in [[French Polynesia]] are believed to possess mana—for example, the top rim of the [[Haleakalā]] volcano on the island of [[Maui]] and the [[Taputapuatea marae]] on the island of [[Raʻiātea]] in the [[Society Islands]].{{cn|date=May 2023}}

Ancient Hawaiians also believed that the island of [[Molokaʻi]] possessed ''mana'' compared with its neighboring islands. Before the unification of the [[Hawaiian Kingdom]] by [[Kamehameha I|King Kamehameha I]], battles were fought for possession of the island and its south shore [[fish pond]]s, which existed until the late 19th century.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

A person may gain mana by [[pono (word)|pono]] "right actions". In ancient Hawaii, there were two paths to ''mana'': sexual means or violence. In at least this tradition, nature is seen as dualistic, and everything has a counterpart. A balance between the gods [[Kū]] and [[Lono]] formed, through whom are the two paths to mana (''ʻimihaku'', or the search for mana). Kū, the god of war and politics, offers mana through violence; this was how Kamehameha gained his mana. Lono, the god of peace and fertility, offers mana through sexuality.{{citation needed|date=September 2017}} Prayers were believed to have mana, which was sent to the [[Atua|''akua'']] at the end when the priest usually said "amama ua noa," meaning "the prayer is now free or flown."<ref>{{Cite book|author=Cunningham, Scott|title=Hawaiian religion and magic|date=1995|publisher=Llewellyn Publications|isbn=1-56718-199-6|page=15|oclc=663898381}}</ref>

=== {{anchor|In New Zealand culture}}Māori (New Zealand) culture ===

===={{anchor|In Māori usage}}Māori use====
In [[Māori culture]], there are two essential aspects of a person's ''mana'': ''mana [[tangata whenua|tangata]]'', authority derived from [[whakapapa]] ([[genealogy]]) and ''mana [[huaanga]]'', defined as "authority derived from having a wealth of resources to [[gift economy|gift to others to bind them into reciprocal obligations]]".<ref>{{cite book|title=The Whanganui River report (Wai 167).|date=1999|publisher=GP Publications|location=Wellington, New Zealand|isbn=1-86956-250-X|page=35 |url=https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_68450539/Whanganui%20River%20Report%201999.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914150131/https://forms.justice.govt.nz/search/Documents/WT/wt_DOC_68450539/Whanganui%20River%20Report%201999.pdf |archive-date=2016-09-14 |url-status=live|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref> [[Hemopereki Simon]], from [[Ngāti Tūwharetoa]], asserts that there are many forms of ''mana'' in Maori beliefs.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal|url=https://ojs.aut.ac.nz/te-kaharoa/index.php/tekaharoa/article/view/6/4 |title=View of Te Arewhana Kei Roto i Te Rūma: An Indigenous Neo-Disputatio on Settler Society, Nullifying Te Tiriti, 'Natural Resources' and Our Collective Future in New Zealand|journal=Te Kaharoa|date=2 February 2016 |volume=9|issue=1 |doi=10.24135/tekaharoa.v9i1.6|access-date=11 October 2018|doi-access=free}}</ref> The indigenous word reflects a non-Western view of reality, complicating translation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=469d396b-ce85-4e30-b04f-a39dc8d03f38&chapter=36 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020102335/http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/viewchapter.asp?reportID=469D396B-CE85-4E30-B04F-A39DC8D03F38&chapter=36 |archive-date=20 October 2007 |title=The Ngāi Tahu Sea Fisheries Report 1992 |publisher=Waitangi Tribunal |access-date=26 January 2015}}</ref> This is confirmed by the definition of ''mana'' provided by [[Māori Marsden]] who states that ''mana'' is:

<blockquote>Spiritual power and authority as opposed to the purely psychic and natural force — ihi.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Te Ao Hurihuri: The World Moves |last=Marsden|first=Māori|publisher=Hicks Smith|year=1975|editor-last=King|editor-first=Michael |location=Wellington|page=145 |chapter=God, Man, and the Universe}}</ref></blockquote>

According to [[Margaret Mutu]], ''mana'' in its traditional sense means:

<blockquote>Power, authority, ownership, status, influence, dignity, respect derived from the [[atua]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=State of Māori Rights|last=Mutu|first=Margaret|publisher=Huia|year=2011|location=Wellington|page=213}}</ref><ref name=":0" /></blockquote>

In terms of leadership, [[Ngāti Kahungunu]] legal scholar Carwyn Jones comments: "Mana is the central concept that underlies Māori leadership and accountability." He also considers ''mana'' as a fundamental aspect of the [[Māori politics#Māori and colonial politics|constitutional traditions of Māori society]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jones|first=Carwyn|date=2014|title=A Māori Constitutional Tradition |url=https://www.victoria.ac.nz/law/centres/nzcpl/publications/nz-journal-of-public-and-international-law/previous-issues/volume-121,-september-2014/Jones.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180222085535/https://www.victoria.ac.nz/law/centres/nzcpl/publications/nz-journal-of-public-and-international-law/previous-issues/volume-121,-september-2014/Jones.pdf |archive-date=2018-02-22 |url-status=live|journal=New Zealand Journal of Public and International Law|volume=11|issue=3 |pages=187–204}}</ref>

According to the [[New Zealand Ministry of Justice]]:

{{blockquote|Mana and [[Tapu (Polynesian culture)|tapu]] are concepts which have both been attributed single-worded definitions by contemporary writers. As concepts, especially Maori concepts they can not easily be translated into a single English definition. Both mana and tapu take on a whole range of related meanings depending on their association and the context in which they are being used.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/h/he-hinatore-ki-te-ao-maori-a-glimpse-into-the-maori-world/part-1-traditional-maori-concepts/mana-and-tapu |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522222543/http://www.justice.govt.nz/publications/global-publications/h/he-hinatore-ki-te-ao-maori-a-glimpse-into-the-maori-world/part-1-traditional-maori-concepts/mana-and-tapu |archive-date=2010-05-22 |title=Mana and Tapu |publisher=Ministry of Justice, New Zealand  |access-date=2015-01-26}}</ref>}}

A tribe with ''mana whenua'' must have demonstrated their authority over a territory.

===={{anchor|General English usage}}General English usage====
In contemporary [[New Zealand English]], the word "mana" refers to a person or organisation of people of great personal prestige and character.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newzealandatoz.com/index.php?pageid=357 |title=Kiwi (NZ) to English Dictionary |publisher=New Zealand A to Z |access-date=26 January 2015}}</ref>

=={{anchor|The academic study of mana}}Academic study==
[[File:StateLibQld 1 116272 Southern Cross (ship).jpg|thumb|275px|alt=Photo of a three-masted schooner|The 1891 ''[[Southern Cross (1891 Melanesian Mission ship)|Southern Cross]]'', one of the ships at [[Norfolk Island]]'s [[Melanesian Mission]] where Codrington taught and worked]]

Missionary [[Robert Henry Codrington]] traveled widely in [[Melanesia]], publishing several studies of its language and culture. His 1891 book ''The Melanesians: Studies in their Anthropology and Folk-Lore'' contains the first detailed description of ''mana'' in English.<ref name="Blust" /> Codrington defines it as "a force altogether distinct from physical power, which acts in all kinds of ways for good and evil, and which it is of the greatest advantage to possess or control".<ref name="Codrington" />

==={{anchor|Pre-animistic phase of religion}}Pre-animism===
Describing pre-animism, [[Robert Ranulph Marett]] cited the Melanesian mana (primarily with Codrington's work): "When the science of Comparative Religion employs a native expression such as mana, it is obliged to disregard to some extent its original or local meaning. Science, then, may adopt mana as a general category ... ".<ref name="Marett">{{cite book |last1=Marett |first1=Robert Randolph |title=Threshold of Religion |date=2013 |publisher=Hardpress Ltd |isbn=978-1-313-15196-2}}</ref>{{rp|99}} In Melanesia, [[spirit (supernatural entity)|"animae"]] are the souls of living men, the ghosts of deceased men, and spirits "of ghost-like appearance" or imitating living people. Spirits can inhabit other objects, such as animals or stones.<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|115–120}}

The most significant property of mana is that it is distinct from, and exists independently of, its source. Animae act only through mana. It is impersonal, undistinguished, and (like energy) transmissible between objects, which can have more or less of it. Mana is perceptible, appearing as a "Power of awfulness" (in the sense of awe or wonder).<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|12–13}} Objects possessing it impress an observer with "respect, veneration, propitiation, service" emanating from the ''mana's'' power. Marett lists several objects habitually possessing mana: "startling manifestations of nature", "curious stones", animals, "human remains", blood,<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|2}} thunderstorms, eclipses, eruptions, glaciers, and the sound of a [[bullroarer]].<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|14–17}}

If ''mana'' is a distinct power, it may be treated distinctly. Marett distinguishes [[incantation|spells]], which treat mana quasi-objectively, and [[prayer]]s, which address the animae. An anima may have departed, leaving mana in the form of a spell which can be addressed by [[Magic (supernatural)|magic]]. Although Marett postulates [[Urreligion|an earlier pre-animistic phase]], a "rudimentary religion" or "[[magico-religious]]" phase in which the mana figures without animae, "no island of pure 'pre-animism' is to be found."<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|xxvi}} Like Tylor, he theorizes a thread of commonality between animism and pre-animism identified with the [[supernatural]]—the "mysterious", as opposed to the reasonable.<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|22}}

===Durkheim's totemism===

In 1912, French sociologist [[Émile Durkheim]] examined [[totemism (Durkheim)|totemism]], the religion of the [[Aboriginal Australians]], from a sociological and theological point of view, describing [[collective effervescence]] as originating in the idea of the totemic principle or mana.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

==={{anchor|Criticisms}}Criticism===
In 1936, [[Ian Hogbin]] criticised the universality of Marett's pre-animism: "Mana is by no means universal and, consequently, to adopt it as a basis on which to build up a general theory of primitive religion is not only erroneous but indeed fallacious".<ref name="Mana">{{cite journal|last1=Hogbin|first1=H. Ian|title=Mana |journal=Oceania|date=March 1936|volume=6|issue=3|pages=241–274|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.1936.tb00187.x}}</ref> However, Marett intended the concept as an [[abstraction]].<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|99}} Spells, for example, may be found "from Central Australia to Scotland."<ref name="Marett"/>{{rp|55}}

Early 20th-century scholars also saw ''mana'' as a universal concept, found in all human cultures and expressing fundamental human awareness of a sacred life energy. In his 1904 essay, "Outline of a General Theory of Magic", [[Marcel Mauss]] drew on the writings of Codrington and others to paint a picture of ''mana'' as "power ''[[wikt:par excellence|par excellence]]'', the genuine effectiveness of things which corroborates their practical actions without annihilating them".<ref name="Mauss">{{cite book|last1=Mauss|first1=Marcel|title=A General Theory of Magic|date=2007|publisher=Routledge|location=London|isbn=978-0-415-25396-3|edition=Reprint}}</ref>{{rp|111}} Mauss pointed out the similarity of ''mana'' to the [[Iroquois]] [[orenda]] and the [[Algonquian peoples|Algonquian]] [[manitou]], convinced of the "universality of the institution";<ref name="Mauss"/>{{rp|116}} "a concept, encompassing the idea of magical power, was once found everywhere".<ref name="Mauss"/>{{rp|117}}

Mauss and his collaborator, [[Henri Hubert]], were criticised for this position when their 1904 ''Outline of a General Theory of Magic'' was published. "No one questioned the existence of the notion of mana", wrote Mauss's biographer [[Marcel Fournier]], "but Hubert and Mauss were criticized for giving it a universal dimension".<ref name="Fournier">{{cite book|last1=Fournier|first1=Marcel|title=Marcel Mauss: A Biography|date=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=978-0-691-11777-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/marcelmaussbiogr0000four/page/138 138]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/marcelmaussbiogr0000four/page/138}}</ref> Criticism of ''mana'' as an archetype of life energy increased. According to [[Mircea Eliade]], the idea of ''mana'' is not universal; in places where it is believed, not everyone has it, and "even among the varying formulae (''mana'', ''wakan'', ''orenda'', etc.) there are, if not glaring differences, certainly nuances not sufficiently observed in the early studies".<ref name="Eliade">{{cite book|last1=Eliade|first1=Mircea|title=Patterns in Comparative Religion|date=1996|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln|isbn=978-0-8032-6733-6|page=22|edition=2nd}}</ref> "With regard to these theories founded upon the primordial and universal character of ''mana'', we must say without delay that they have been invalidated by later research".<ref name="Eliade2">{{cite book|last1=Eliade|first1=Mircea|title=Myths, Dreams and Mysteries: The Encounter Between Contemporary Faiths and Archaic Realities|date=1992|publisher=Peter Smith|location=Magnolia, Massachusetts|isbn=978-0-8446-6625-9|page=127}}</ref>

Holbraad<ref>Holbraad, M. (2007). "The power of powder: multiplicity and motion in the divinatory cosmology of Cuban Ifá (or mana again)" In ''Thinking Through Things: Theorising Artefacts Ethnographically'', Henare, A. Holbraad, M. and Wastell, S. London: Routledge. pp. 199–235</ref> argued in a paper included in the volume "Thinking Through Things: Theorising Artefacts Ethnographically" that the concept of mana highlights a significant theoretical assumption in [[anthropology]]: that matter and meaning are separate. A hotly debated issue, Holbraad suggests that mana provides motive to re-evaluate the division assumed between matter and meaning in social research. His work is part of the [[ontological turn]] in anthropology, a [[paradigm]] shift that aims to take seriously the [[ontology]] of other cultures.<ref>Heywood, P. (2017). "[https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/ontological-turn Ontological Turn, The]" in ''The Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Anthropology''. (Accessed: 7/11/2021)</ref>

==See also==
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* ''[[Aṣẹ]]''
* ''[[Barakah]]''
* ''[[Chakra]]''
* [[Magic charm|Charm]]
*''[[The Force]]''
* ''[[Guṇa]]''
* [[Kami]] in [[Shinto]]
* ''[[Manitou]]''
* [[Melanesian mythology]]
* [[Mysticism]]
* [[Occult]]
* [[Philippine shamans]] or ''Babaylan''
* ''[[Prana]]''
* ''[[Qi]]'' or ''Chi''
* [[Quintessence (classical element)|Quintessence]] or [[Aether (classical element)|Aether]]
* [[Ritual]]
* [[Scientific skepticism]]
* [[Taboo]]
* [[Talisman]]
* [[Väki]]
* [[Wind Horse]]
* ''[[Yorishiro]]'' in Shinto
}}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book|last1=Codrington|first1=Robert Henry|author-link=Robert Henry Codrington|title=The Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folk-lore|date=1891|publisher=Clarendon Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-486-20258-7|page=118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiMHAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22The+Melanesians%22+%22Studies+in+Their+Anthropology+and+Folklore%22&pg=PA119|language=en}}
* {{Cite journal| last = Keesing| first = Roger|author-link=Roger Keesing| title = Rethinking mana| journal = Journal of Anthropological Research| volume = 40| pages = 137–156| date = 1984| issue = 1| doi = 10.1086/jar.40.1.3629696| jstor = 3629696| s2cid = 224832247}}
* [[Claude Lévi-Strauss|Lévi-Strauss, Claude]]; Baker, Felicity (translator). 1987. ''Introduction to the Work of Marcel Mauss''. {{ISBN|0-415-15158-9}}.
* [[Marcel Mauss|Mauss, Marcel]]. 1924. ''Essai sur le don''.
* Meylan, Nicolas, ''Mana: A History of a Western Category'', Leiden, Brill, 2017.
* {{cite journal|last=Mondragón|first=Carlos|title=Of Winds, Worms and Mana: The traditional calendar of the Torres Islands, Vanuatu|journal=Oceania |date=June 2004|volume=74|issue=4|pages=289–308|doi=10.1002/j.1834-4461.2004.tb02856.x|jstor=40332069}}
* van der Grijp, Paul. 2014. ''Manifestations of Mana: Power and Divine Inspiration in the Pacific''. Berlin: LIT Verlag.

==External links==
* [http://www.allenvarney.com/av_mana.html Allen Varney: Mana in the Real World]
* [http://www.maoridictionary.co.nz/index.cfm?wordID=3424 mana, Te Aka Māori–English, English–Māori Dictionary]

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