|
|
Maori Cultural Heritage and ProtocolsWe strictly adhere to Maori Cultural Protocols, especially when visiting a Marae (Maori meeting place) on our Auckland Maori Tours and our Interactive Maori Culture Experiences. Ceillhe Tewhare Teneti Hema Sperath, Director of TIME Unlimited Tours, is a direct descendant of 2 Maori Chiefs that signed the Treaty of Waitangi – New Zealand’s founding document – on 6th February 1840. Please read below for more details about Patuone and Tamati Waka Nene.
Patuone Information:
"Our ancestral canoe is Ngatokimatawhaorua. This highly tapu canoe originally came to the Hokianga, a famous harbour in northern Aotearoa and the cradle of Maori settlement in Aotearoa, as the Matawhaorua, under the captaincy of Kupe. It then returned to Rangiatea (Ra'iatea in present-day French Polynesia) where it was refitted, enlarged and accompanied by another ancestral canoe, Mamari, captained by Ruanui, returned to Aotearoa under the captaincy of Nukutawhiti. In those times, over 800 years ago, Ra'iatea was beset by over-population, conflict and war and this is why our tupuna left to seek new lands. The full name of the Hokianga is Te Hokianga-Nui-a-Kupe (The Place of Kupe's Great Returning).
Ceillhe is by descent a member of Ngapuhi, her tribal nation grouping, Ngapuhi being the largest in Aotearoa. All Ngapuhi of significance trace descent from a key ancestor, Rahiri and his first-born son, Uenuku (whose mother was Ahuaiti) and his second born son, Kaharau (whose mother was Whakaruru). Ceillhe traces descent from both Uenuku and Kaharau, famous fighting chiefs of Ngapuhi.
Ceillhe's hapu (sub-tribal nation groupings) are Ngati Hao and Ngati Hau. Ngati Hao provides her line of descent from the famous fighting chief, Patuone (c.1764-1872), older brother of Nene (Tamati Waka Nene, c1770-1871). Ngati Hau provides her line of descent from another chief and chiefly line, Hautokowera the founding ancestor of Ngati Hau. Ceillhe is a great-great-great-great granddaughter of Patuone.
Unlike other tribal nations which have distinct hierarchy, Ngapuhi is a nation of chiefly equals. Since all of the major chiefly lines of Ngapuhi trace descent from Rahiri, Uenuku and Kaharau, the mana of these chiefly lines is very powerful and none is subservient to any other.
Patuone and Nene were amongst the first to sign Te Tiriti o Waitangi on 6 February 1840. Through sleight of hand, the British used the English version, known as the Treaty of Waitangi, which failed to translate the Maori version correctly, as the founding document of modern New Zealand. It is only in recent years that the great losses arising from this sleight of hand have begun to be addressed."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Text by: Dr Benjamin Pittman PhD(UTS), MFA(Hons) Auck., MHPEd(UNSW), BFA(Auck), DipTchg(NZ), DipSecTchg(ASTC), DipAPC(CISyd), Justice of the Peace for NSW #129064
Please check out our pages on:
• Biodiversity & Sustainability
• Sustainable practices
• Biodiversity conservation
|