The Cherrytree
The afterbirths
The Cherry tree was a place where we ate and played above hidden in branches while our mothers and kuia played cards on their blankets below.
The joyful noises of laughter, stories and knowledge were mixed with the freedom of youthful dreams.
Awahou had two giant cherrytrees spaced apart on family land. Buried beneath were very old afterbirths from our tupuna long ago when old Jacob was a boy.
The mana of a tree
Those seeking spiritual guidiance gather around a tree and karakia directly to this lifeforce to ask for help and guidance.
The tree and roots beneath choose whether to answer human prayers so we use touch and sound to draw forward te wairua. We are connected through our way of life and beholden to those older than ourselves.
Many of the old karakia were directed to Tane our god of forests and trees. He was the bringer of light separating sky and earth so we could walk the land. He was father and husband to our women.
Birthing
Watched only by nature body and spirit birth a new soul. The wairua and mana of a baby is heightened by the connection between womb and nature.
My nanny sought the mana of our cherrytree to give birth to her many children alone. She was from the north so Papa's land was strange to her.
My mum held my hand in another country and commenced karakia when I went into labour with my youngest daughter as there were no trees near.
Big medicine
Known chants can draw energy from the tree to revitalise our spirit.
Reciting whakapapa is like directing a spiritual thread backward down from a leaf on a tree branch to its roots. The closer you get to the mauri the greater the healer.
We seek bark and roots to weave the healing properties of a tree for big mahi. People who are sick travel to find Maori healing from earth and water.
A village of trees
Descended from great tohunga my northern nannies practised old ways of korero where the tree was a conductor to speak with tupuna.
Tohunga create karakia influenced by their surroundings. Healers use the tree for medicines and peace of mind.
Canoes are chosen trees transported through weaving and carving into living ancestors we give name to.
The harp of a tree
As the soil is nurtured by blood so our wairua is nurtured by the sounds of life.
We weave geneology with sound and name to access the greatest or relevant branch or root source.
We karakia and sing the same waiata our mothers sang before burying newborn afterbirths.
