Rangiwewehi
The chief
Rangiwewehi wairua rises through the wharenui carvings to speak through the paepae when great occasions for the tribe are celebrated.
His mana and wairua amongst the people of Awahou remembered through chants of old. Rangiwewehi iwi today remember his family connections back in time to Te Arawa settlement around the motu.
The Other side
Our protocols and customs steem back in time to much older Te Arawa settlements who migrated inland from Maketu centuries before we called Awahou home.
The spiritual realm of Rangiwewehi like many tribes saw this world as alive on another universal plane where life in death carried on.
In old times Maori believed the old universe of the dead could impact this living world so they created sacred chants and prayers of protection.
A vow
If you are not Rangiwewehi you will never find us.
An echoing chant from the other side by the women stolen from Mokoia Island after the seige during the early 1800s.
Women captured were taken to the north by an infamous warring tribe. They were sought for their beauty and healing knowledge a great prize to others.
Afterlife
Those taken lamented to the earth of Mokoia Island they would one day return and take their place with the families left behind.
My grandfather and his father were amongst many from Rangiwewehi who came from arranged marriages with specific tribal wives from the north to help bring that vow to fruition.
Past Present and Future exist at one time
Overlooking Mokoia Island Rangiwewehi sleep their eternal sleep. They are awakened from the spirit world by our incatations customs and rituals passed on orally and visually.
Beneath our lands the old whenua of our Pa stirs to the wairua of travelling feet as we make our way home.
Death is part of life
Death awakens the urupa with the karanga of old chants passed forward by those on the other side.
Rangiwewehi's own wairua and mana opens for the hapu whanau and iwi during the time of death the most sacred of rituals.
The echoes of familiar bloodlines and memories weave humble passage through Hawaiikinui to open the eye of Rangiwewehi.
Opening the door
Rangiwewehi brings the old past into the present with whakapapa weave and waiata to karanga the final journey of those who return back to Hawaiikinui.
A gate of truth opens from spirit doorways on the other side entering carved totems and family photos present. They awaken to watch and influence proceedings.
The wharenui photos of the dead are displayed in whakapapa order alongside carved ancestors setting out boundaries for spirits awakened by the occasion.
The old practises of tangihana make way for new. Families distanced from the whenua commemorate by returning a photo back to the land of birth.
The four winds
The karanga of great women call up the winds of Tawhirimatea to witness the tangihana.
The god of weather sends sorrow in the form of rain and lightening at the loss of great spirits to the tribe.
Returning home like the wind allows us to reconnect our wairua with the land and awa of our birth.
Clear waters
Bathing in the Rangiwewehi awa is a natural step for our families today as we celebrate life away from the pakeha world.
Reunions of whakapapa around the motu were times of remembering and renewing our ties to each other.
The sacredness of returning to papakainga lands raised te wairua of each individual reflecting an inner soul rejuvenated.
