(D2) Te Ao Māori

What is Te Ao Māori?
The Māori world-view” or “Māori perceptions and experiences of the world"
Here are some words and concepts gleaned from Henare (1988) Nga Tikanga me Nga Ritenga o te Ao Māori:

  • Ngā Paiaka o Te Māoritanga - The Roots of Māoritanga:  the land and people covenant has formed as a source of identity for the tangata whenua, the people that are of the land and indeed are the land (p8)
  • The whenua is the nourisher of Māori people, reflected in the use of 'whenua' for placenta, and in the custom of returning the placenta to the land (p8).  They have then included a paragraph from Tikao 1921, in Mead 1984b:222 which explains the reason for returning the whenua (placenta) to the whenua (earth) rather than burning it as Pakeha did.  They believed it was against the mana of the child and would destroy its mauri (life-force).  It must have been horrific for the pakeha to burn the placenta and thus destroy the child's mauri.  How do we, as teachers, preserve the mauri of the students we teach?  
  • Hawaiki Pamamau - Ancestral Polynesia - the ancestors brought with them technology, systems of social relations, values, religion, economic thinking, and a descent system.  They also came with a distinct language that was already some thousands of years old. (p10)  They were navigators, canoe builders, fishers and gardeners.   How do we honour and value what the tamariki bring to our classroom?
  • Te Whanau, Te Hapu, Te Iwi, Te Waka.  Māori identity is found in three closely bound entities - whanau, hapu and iwi (p11).  Recently te waka and Being Māori have also emerged.  How can you use these identity markers as non-Māori in order to connect with Māori?
  • Te Whanau - a group of up to three or four generations that lived together guided by kaumatua and kuia.  This was the fundamental social unit that was 'food-producing, residential and land-holding' (p12).  It had it's own authority structure and was the group that made the day-to-day decisions.   Te Hapu - larger grouping of whanau that were all closely related and who lived on the iwi land apportioned to them.  Te Iwi - larger grouping of hapu.  Alliances of hapu who remained together as a mutually interdependent political unit (p12).  Te Waka - the canoe on which the ancestors came. How do we get to know the whanau, hapu and iwi the tamariki come from and incorporate that knowledge into our classroom?
  • Whanaungatanga are the kinship rights and obligations that underpin the concepts listed above.  These serve to strengthen each member, the family and the wider groupings.  Belonging to whanau (whanaungatanga) and the desire to unite individuals with one another is a very strong basic cultural value.  Before the arrival of the European, Māori only considered themselves in term of whanau, hapu, iwi and waka.  How do we recognise the whanau, hapu, iwi and waka of ourselves and all tamariki in our classrooms?
  • Tauiwi is a term used for people who are not Māori.  Comes from the term tau - to stay or to settle.
  • Te Wairuatanga - Māori religion that underpins the Māori way of life.  'Every act. natural phenomena and other influences were considered to have both physical and spiritual implications (p15).'  All associated with the belief that the supernatural forces have a role in governing and influencing the way people interact with each other and the environment.
Other concepts:
  • Mana - wellbeing and integrity,
  • Tapu and noa - tapu is the prestigious force of the spiritual powers (Shirres, 1982:146), noa is freedom from tapu and normality,
  • Tika - the right way of doing things,
  • Utu - reciprocal responses, 'obtaining equivalent value for services or gifts and the righting of injustices for the balancing of social relationships (p21).',
  • Rangatiratanga - authority,
  • Waiora - the seed of life and 'absolute foundation of life, existence and total wellbeing of a person (p22),
  • Mauriora - life principal, belief of the people,
  • Hauora - the breathing of the spirit of the atua at the moment of creation and also at birth (p24),
  • Kotahitanga - solidarity

 Henare, M. (1988). Nga tikanga me nga ritenga o te ao Maori: Standards and foundations of Maori society. Report of the Royal Commission on Social Policy, Wellington.

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