Te Maunga
Mana of a mountain
Whenua matatuhi we connect our korero through the mountains as a pathway to the eternal paepae of our Pa. Through woven generations of whakapapa we navigate our lands beneath the stars forever reading the earthly environment.
Whakapapa acknowledges the mountains as sacred ancestors whose spirits are alive. Reciting from the mountain down to the Pa the people call on its whenua for spiritual guidence and protection.
Sacred providers and protectors to the people the maunga lifeforce is real in Maoridom.
Mountain magic
As children we would slide down the hills thrilling at the speed and strength of our mountain.
Stories were told of our taniwha Pekehaua roaming the mountain bush and caverns as an enemy of Maori.
His spirit returned after death as a guide and talisman for the tribe.
The mountain and the keeper
Ngongotaha mountain with its caverns and bush is a sacred ancestor for Te Arawa.
Stories passed down told of an old tohunga who guarded the mountain's spiritual gateway to the spirit universe.
Guarded by the old man the way remains hidden except through dream.
Patupairere
Our mountain Ngongotaha have stories of fairylike people and the battles of wit they had with Maori settling in the area. Many other tribes saw patupairere as trouble makers with magic abilities but the tribes of Rotorua embrassed them within our marriages for their bloodlines to the land.​​
Those descendants who live around Rotorua were known for their white or red hair and pale skin. ​​
Patupairere practises were more aligned to nature and spirit than our own.​​
Mountain medicine
Plant life and stream waters are gathered in the bush on the mountain and used for both physical and spiritual healing by our tribes below.
To Maori the environment we live in has spirit that can help or hinder the healing process of the body.
The bigger the mana the more power to heal so being at one with natures oldest spirits connects us to our mahi when healing is the outcome.
Many take special containers to fill and protect the living resources of mountain medicine.
Mountain water
All our tupuna streams come down from our mountains or bubble up through the hot pools of Rotorua.
Stream waters bark and leaves gathered up the mountain offered more untouched wairua than those family patches closer to the settlements. The surrounding environment gave peace and nature's sounds to weave with our karakia before harvesting water.
Karakia during the picking of natural resources like stream water ensured the mountain spirit was captured like a medicine itself for healing.
Tohunga today humble themselves before their mountains to invoke mana and wairua before healing and teaching. Water is the medium of our Poutama ways so when we cleanse ourselves in preparation stripping away the pakeha spirit world we live in.
