Post by Dave Homewood on Jun 15, 2012 22:59:52 GMT 12
I came across this by pure chance and liked it so much I decided to post it here. This is from an article in the Auckland Star newspaper, dated 15 April 1922.
It was talking about an old Maori language newspaper in the 1800's called the "Hokioi". I noted that this would have made a great nickname for a wartime Lancaster or Stirling in No. 75 (NZ) Squadron. Why? Because this is from the article....
"The "Hokioi" is some mysterious bird of tapu and omen often mentioned in Maori song and tradition; "two fathoms long are its pinions; its wing's make a booming noise; it lives in the open space of heaven, the companion of the crashing thunder." (A description very appropriate to the pakeha's war-bird, the aeroplane.)"
.... [Snip]....
" The "Hokioi," say the Maoris, only flew by night, and was very seldom seen, and then only by the tohungas. These allusions call up in one's mind Blackmore's description of the moorland birds in "Lorna Doone": "Vast lonely birds that cried at night and moved the whole air with their pinions, yet no man ever saw them."
Great stuff. I had never heard of a Hokioi before and reckon that sounds a lot like a Lancaster.
It was talking about an old Maori language newspaper in the 1800's called the "Hokioi". I noted that this would have made a great nickname for a wartime Lancaster or Stirling in No. 75 (NZ) Squadron. Why? Because this is from the article....
"The "Hokioi" is some mysterious bird of tapu and omen often mentioned in Maori song and tradition; "two fathoms long are its pinions; its wing's make a booming noise; it lives in the open space of heaven, the companion of the crashing thunder." (A description very appropriate to the pakeha's war-bird, the aeroplane.)"
.... [Snip]....
" The "Hokioi," say the Maoris, only flew by night, and was very seldom seen, and then only by the tohungas. These allusions call up in one's mind Blackmore's description of the moorland birds in "Lorna Doone": "Vast lonely birds that cried at night and moved the whole air with their pinions, yet no man ever saw them."
Great stuff. I had never heard of a Hokioi before and reckon that sounds a lot like a Lancaster.
