KO TE WAA I PAPANUI A WAIAPU I TE TUTAE TANGATA ! One of my whanau members asked me in 2011 Brother how come you are getting married in an Anglican church ? You know we are staunch Catholics??? Fair point if you have read my last posting I explained my Catholic faith and its connection to my whakpapa as an uri o Te Heuheu Iwikau the third ariki of Tuwharetoa. In order to answer this question I need to park that korero to the side for a moment. The word WAIRUA for me has simple meaning ...WAI means the waters ...and RUA means two ...therefore I believe that wairua is the joining of two waters in my case my mothers waters are Rangitikei river and Lake Taupo, however my fathers waters are from the Tairawhiti ...East Coast. Waiapu is the river at the base of Hikurangi that flows to the moana of Tangaroa ...these are the waters of my father. His name is Te Kakapaiwaho Kururangi Tibble....I explained to my whanau last night that in Te Ao Maori ones name means everything it is ones spiritual umbilical chord that reconnects one to their whanau , hapu , iwi to the mountains and rivers and the marae and urupa of their homelands. This name Te Kakapaiwaho was in fact a fighting chief from Te Whanau a Apanui. My fathers grandmother Riparata Kururangi Tibble name my father. On his birth she took him in her arms and raised him to the rising sun and spoke her karakia to give her first born mokopuna special blessings. He was later to become an expert in Tairawhiti whakapapa, he was born on the 12th of December 1936 , was a policeman for forty years retired and became a well respected kaumatua for Manatu Maori. He passed on in 2004 so we his children and whanau will be at Paenoa urupa close to Rangitukia on the East Coast at New Year to celebrate his tenth anniversary. Rangitukuia is a special place around 1826 a fighting force from Nga Puhi the far north attacked the paa Te Whetu Matarau at Te Araroa , they captured the paa and took prisoner many of our tipuna. Piripi Mataakura was one of those people...he was taken to Kerikeri where his Nga Puhi Rangatira allowed him to learn the bible at the missionary school...few years later he was released and made his way back to Te Araroa to his kinsman in N Porou. He began preaching the bible and in 1840 when the first Pakeha missionaries arrived on the coast N Porou at Rangitukia in fact 1000 of his people were able to pray the our father prayer and recite quotations from the bible. Ka mau te wehi! Uncle Hone Kaa told me his pakeke would boast that it was Ngati Porou who taught Ngati Porou the message of Christ. John Tamahori gave an awesome sermon about N Porou Christianity beginning at Rangitukia at a place called Te Haatepe where Piripi Taumatakura started preaching. IUncle Api Mahuika told me at happened up the road past Tikitiki where the marae Tinatoka stands and the land is called Whakawhiti raw which is about the arrival of Christianity and the new light of Gods word. Piripi Taumatakura is the church there. KO TE WAA I PAPANUI A WAIAPU I TE TUTAE TANGATA ! My dad Waho used this proverb at new Years day 2000 we were gathered at Te Haatepe to celebrate 150 years since the arrival of Christianity to Rangitukia and the Waiapu region. Dad provided and explanation that there were so many people of N Porou praying Christian karakia that the Waiapu river was like a blocked drainpipe due to the 1000 people residing there in 1850...ka mau te wehi o nga korero o te kaenga. My father was staunchly Anglican up the coast. He would lead karakia and had no problem switching churches...when in Tuwharetoa on mums marae he recited Catholic karakia ...when in N Porou he would return to his Anglican karakia. He had been raised with his elders , on Saturday he was at the Ringatu church with his nannies , on Sunday he was back in Saint Marys Anglican church at Tikitiki. Ka mau te wehi , e rue nga reo , e rua nga tikanga hahi , kare he paku rarauraru na te mea kotahi tonu te kaihanga nana te range me te whenua i hanga ! HE TINO TAPU HE WHAI MANA TE INGOA TIPUNA MAORI I want to conclude this korero with an explanation of my dads name. TE KAKAPAIWAHO KURURANGI TIBBLE This is a chiefs name who was from Te Kaha an uri of Te Whanau a Apanui. Dads kuia Riparata bestowed this name on hime as her eldest mokopuna from Te Rauwhiro Tibble her son and his wife Mihikeita Ngata. Kakapaiwaho was killed at the battle of Toka a Kuku in 1836 at Te Kaha. He is I believe one of the poupou in Tukaki a meeting house at Te Kaha ...Te Whanau a Te Ehutu. At this important battle between N Porou and Whanau Apanui new rules for battle were instigated : 1: ME MUTU TE KAI TANGATA At this battle it was agreed that the traditional tikanga of kaitangata would cease. 2: ME KARAKIA I TE ATA I MUA I TE WHAWHAI , I TE AHIAHI ANO I MURI! Piripi Taumatakura would offer prayers in the morning before battle and in the evening after battle. 3: KA AHEI KOE KI TE TIKI ATU I O TUPAPAKU One was able to collect and return bodies of fallen warriors to their camps. In 2000 I visited my father Waho at his home in Newlands in Wellington and spoke to him about karakia Maori. I had been researching karakia Maori and had spent some time with my uncle Amster Reedy and expert in N Porou karakia tawhito. I showed my father a series of karakia i received from Amster...while Dad read them I dont think he ever learnt them because he believed in loyalty to those old people who taught him his taha karaitiana that had been imbued in his mind and spirit as a young child living with his nanny Rihi Milner. While I did hear him recite certain karakia Maori he was at heart tuturu Anglican. I have often reflected about his name and the significance of the history associated with that new tikanga agreed upon by his ancestors both N Porou and Whanau a Apanui ( he has whakapapa to both Apanui and Porou ) In his words Son the horse has bolted. I think his whakapono as an Anglican was also determined at birth in that he holds a warriors name who was a matyr for his people killed in battle at Te Kaha where the new Christian rules were established. MOE MAI E TAKU MATUA E WAHO...KEI TE TANGI TONU TE NGAKAU MOHOU HE TANGATA TU MARAE HE POU NO TE HAHI KATORIKA , MIHINARE HOKI, HE MOHIO KI TE WHAKAPAPA HE MOHIO KI NGA TIKANGA O MUA, HE TOKA TUMOANA MO TO WHANAU , HAPU , IWI HOKI. KORE RAWA O TOHUTOHU E WAREWARE ...KA HOKI KI ERA KORERO O TUAUKIUKI RAA .....KO AKU WAEWAE KEI TE NGUTUAWA O WAIAPU KEI TE TAKUTAI...KO TAKU UPOKO KEI RUNGA O HIKURANGI ....MOE MAI E HIKA KI RUNGA O PAENOA....HEI TE TAUHOU E TU MAI NEI .....E HIKA E KORO ....E OKI ! Anyway Dad met mum in 1955 they were married at Te Hiiri marae at Kakariki...by a catholic priest ...Te Rotohiko Jones recited mums Puhiwahine whakapapa and Hori Ngata recited Dads Ngata and Tibble whakapapa. If it was good enough for him as an Anglican to be married in a Catholic church I had no problems marrying my wife Te Okahurangi Waakain an Anglican church in Mangere in 2011. In fact the minister was Uncle Hone Kaa from Rangitukia .....Moe mai e te papa ki te ngutuawa e moe! KIMIHIA TE HOHONUTANGA O TO WHAKAPONO KI ROTO I TE HOHONUTANGA O TO MAORITANGA! WHANO WHANO ...TU MAI TE RIPEKA HAUMIE HUIE TAIKIE! KATUAREHE
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:34:51 +0000
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