Māori Religious Movements

Kiingitanga flags

Rātana band member

Music represents a major part of the Rātana church, and one of the most striking associations with the church are the Rātana Brass bands (Nga Reo). People may think there is only one Rātana brass band but in fact there are 7 bands. Each has its own identifying colour and uniform and is named after a prominent personality in the Rātana church. The first band Rātana Morehu Silver Band began in 1932 and was often referred to as Te Reo Hiriwa. Some of Rātana’s bands include: 1. TE REO o te Arepa (Ratana Pa) 2. TE REO o Te Omeka (Mangakahia / Auckland) 3. TE REO o Te PiriWiriTua (Kaikohe) 4. TE REO o Te Hamuera (Napier, Taupo, Turangi) 5. TE REO o Te Ratana Te Tua-Toru (Tauranga).

Te Kooti Memories

In this 1909 article Sergeant-Major Walter Christie, of Wellington gives his impressions of Te Kooti who he met on the Chatham Islands, where Te Kooti was a prisoner. He credited Te Kooti with considerable influence over other Māori prisoners and reckoned him shrewd, intelligent and a “pretty clever chap”. He was those things and much more. To his followers Te Kooti, was a leader, an expert in guerrilla warfare, a visionary prophet and the founder of the Ringatū ("upraised hand") faith. But to some Pakeha colonists, he was seen as a “bloodthirsty wretch”. One of Te Kooti’s extraordinary feats was his escape from the Chatham Islands after being exiled there in 1866.

The Tohunga under tapu

This photograph is by the New Zealand Tourist Department and the text has been extracted from James Cowan's book The Maori. What is going on here? Well, it’s all related to the concept of tapu. The woman is attending to a tohunga (priest) who is either temporarily tapu or is so tapu others are required to feed him. The tapu renders him unable to eat therefore he must be fed by someone else, hence the feeding stick. In some circumstances the stick was replaced by a kōrere or feeding funnel. Kōrere were ornately carved instruments used to feed pureed food or liquids to tohunga under tapu or those who were being tattooed (and therefore also under tapu).

Page one from Ko te Katekihama III

This is page one from Ko te Katekihama III or, Church [of England] Catechism in Maori, Kerikeri, 1830. The Lord's prayer was first published in Māori in 1820, and the first Māori edition of the New Testament was printed in 1837. In 1868 the first complete Māori Bible was printed. It is claimed that by 1845 around half of the adult Māori population could read some Māori.

Arrest and charges in 1881

After his arrest in 1881 at Parihaka Te Whiti and Tohu’s first trial took place in New Plymouth at the police court. According to a local newspaper at the time Te Whiti was charged with, “wickedly, maliciously, and seditiously contriving and intending to disturb the peace of Her Majesty's subjects, and to incite and move to hatred and dislike of the persons of Her Majesty and the Government, and by inciting numbers of Her Majesty's subjects to insurrection, riots, tumults, and breaches of the peace, and to prevent by force and arms the execution of the laws of this realm, and the preservation.”