Tapu

Tapu may refer to:

See also

Tapu (Polynesian culture)

Tapu,tabu or kapu is a Polynesian traditional concept denoting something holy or sacred, with "spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition"; it involves rules and prohibitions. The English word taboo derives from this later meaning and dates from Captain James Cook's visit to Tonga in 1777.

The concept exists in many societies, including traditional Fijian, Māori, Samoan, Rapanui, Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Tongan cultures, in most cases using a recognisably similar word, though the Rotuman term for this concept is "ha'a".

In Māori tradition

In Māori and Tongan tradition, something that is tapu is considered inviolable or sacrosanct. Things or places which are tapu must be left alone, and may not be approached or interfered with. In some cases, they should not even be spoken of.

In Māori society the concept was often used by tohunga (priests) to protect resources from over-exploitation, by declaring a fishery or other resource as tapu (see rāhui).

There are two kinds of tapu, the private (relating to individuals) and the public tapu (relating to communities). A person, object, or place that is tapu, may not be touched by human contact, in some cases, not even approached. A person, object, or place could be made sacred by tapu for a certain time.

Tapu (Ottoman law)

Tapu (also Tabu) was a permanent lease of state-owned arable land to a peasant family in the Ottoman Empire. The term was also used to indicate the title deed that certified tapu rights.

In Palestine, the Turkish word "tapu" was pronounced "tabu" by the Arabs.

The family head acquired the usufruct of the land and was able to transmit this right to his male descendants upon his death. In return, he pledged to cultivate the land on a continuous basis and to meet a series of fiscal requirements and obligations to fulfill specific services to the state or to the sipahis.

Tapu is the basis of the Ottoman agrarian system revolving around family-scale units called çifthane.

See also

References

External links

İNALCIK & QUATAERT, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1914, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-521-34315-1