MARAE A whakapapa of the Maori marae Adrian John Te Piki Kotuku Bennett A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury Page | 3 Acknowledgements Ka tangi te titi Ka tangi te kaka Ka tangi hoki ko ahau Tihei Mauri Ora! Although there are so many, many people to thank for their often tireless help, first of all I would like to thank Carolyn Barry for the endless patience she showed, for her understanding and her support on what has proven to be a more difficult process than I had ever originally expected. My chief supervisor, Professor Howard McNaughton deserves special accolades for putting up with the difficulties I no doubt presented as a supervisee and for his indefatigable editing. I would also like to thank my secondary supervisor, the ever accomplished Dr Deidre Brown for her valuable input and suggestions. Over time I have been the privileged recipient of several awards and scholarships without which, much of my research may not have been possible, and certainly need to thank a number of people who have helped. I would like to thank all the members of staff at the University of Canterbury Scholarships office, without the support of which I might never have actually completed this task. I would like to thank all the Fulbright New Zealand staff for their help and support before and during my Fulbright exchange year in the United States, especially Jenny Gill, the former Executive Director. In the United States, I would particularly like to thank my supervisor Dr Jeff Collmann, Ambassador Richard Teare – former Director of the Center for Australia and New Zealand Studies at Georgetown University and Grace Tompkins for making my time in the US so much easier. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Board of the Ngati Whakaue Trust for taking an interest in my research, and the Board of the Te Maori Taonga Trust for also believing in the importance of my work to all Maori. I am also very grateful to the BRCSS for their assistance in the final months of my PhD, and to Professor Richard Bedford for his help during the process. I would also like to extend my appreciation to Dr Peter Murphy, Dr Brian Harmer, Professor Lalita Rajasingham and the late Dr Ken Harris for their kind words when I needed them. During my research I have had the pleasure to meet a huge number of people and have found that museums in particular have bent over backwards to provide assistance, or to offer access to their collections. Thus I would like to thank, Professor Roger Neich at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Dr John Terrell at the Field Museum in Chicago, Dr Michael Gunn at the St Louis Art Museum, Dr Adrienne Kaeppler at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC, the patient staff at the British Museum, Dr Ingrid Heerman and Ulrich Menter at the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Roger Page | 4 Fyfe at the Canterbury Museum and the many others who have helped me in the many other institutions I have visited over the past few years. Finally, special thanks to my three examiners, Dr Michael Gunn, Dr Karen Stevenson and Dr Amiria Salmond, for their time and for their valuable insights into the many ways my original thesis might be improved, the clear result being a better work certainly than it had been. At the same time I must thank all the people I have come in contact with, during the course of visits to many marae, throughout New Zealand. All your help has been a boon to my research, in more ways than I can count. Ui mai koe ki ahau he aha te mea nui o te Ao, maku e ki atu: he tangata, he tangata, he tangata! Ask me what is the greatest thing in the World, I will say to you: it is the people, it is the people, it is the people! Page | 5 Abstract: A whakapapa of the marae Whakapapa, a Maori word, is often abstracted to the English language as the word genealogy. Whakapapa however has a more subtle and comprehensive meaning in Maori. In that language it has complex connotations of genealogical lines, yes, but also the history of the people involved and perhaps most importantly, the inter-relationships between those people. Degrees of consanguinity are all important when establishing relationships within Te Ao Maori – the Maori world. Marae, the basis of this thesis, is another Maori word. A marae, at its simplest, might be referred to as an agglomeration of separated, functional buildings on an area of reserved land, usually deemed to be sacral to some extent. Marae have an ancient history both in New Zealand Maori culture, but really originating at least in part, in the older cultures from which our Maori culture was eventually derived, from other, earlier settled, Pacific Islands. This thesis then is a genealogy, a sort of cultural history of marae, but is based on the idea and Maori sense of the whakapapa and so partakes of the nuances involved. It is these additional complexities that are referred to by the use of the word whakapapa in the title of this thesis. This thesis investigates the lineage of the marae, tracing it back to legendary roots, but it also examines the relationships between the components of the marae and also the place the marae has established within Maori (and other) communities. Beyond the historical forms of the marae that this thesis investigates are the other aspects that delineate what a marae really is. It is not simply a group of buildings at all, although this is a common non-Maori understanding of its disposition. A marae is a tapu or sacred space, and within or nearby that space are buildings whose form, function and meaning have only come to their present conjunction in (written) historic times. What makes the marae is the combination of the people and the ritual that is involved on a marae, the marae space and lastly, the physical buildings. The buildings, particularly carved houses, have additional meaning that they lend to the thread of the story. They themselves represent the whakapapa of the marae, and specifically of the hapu (or sub-tribe) who inhabit that marae. They do this by direct representation, but also by analogy and by spiritual means that are little dealt with in most literature. Ancestors in Te Ao Maori are deemed to exist within the very fabric of the building and have a renewed or continuing existence that is created in the first instance by a melange of ritual and belief. Page | 6 This thesis discusses both the usage of ritual to create such physical interjacence, utilised in modern times within whare (houses), and the continued use of regular ritual on marae for human functions. It is only together that a complete modern marae is created. With any of these elements missing the marae form is truncated or lessened and diminished in some ways. So, marae which have been recreated in preserved forms, such as those in museums, are discussed at length in this thesis, by contrast with marae in regular usage for ‘traditional’ purposes. In essence then, this is an investigation of the marae, but in terms, manners and ways, which have not always been fully or comprehensively dealt with before. Page | 7 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 3 Abstract: 5 A whakapapa of the marae 5 Table of Contents 7 Chapter One: Introduction 9 Tihei mauri ora – In the beginning; AN OUTLINE OF THIS THESIS: Peopling the Pacific; The marae in New Zealand; Whakairo – carving; Nga marae – marae (plural); Te marae – the marae; A whakapapa of Maori marae; The end of the beginning Chapter Two: Te Whare Whakaohonga – The Awakening House 33 Introduction; THE HOUSE IN MYTH AND LEGEND: Maui fishes land out of the ocean; The origin of carving; TANGATA WHENUA: Strangers in a strange land; Transitions - the archaeology of Te Ao Maori; Forming the pa; Reforming the waka; Conclusions Chapter Three: Te Ara Hou - Approaching the Modern Marae 67 Introduction; FIRST IMPRESSIONS - FIRST EUROPEAN DEPICTIONS OF MAORI: Mana, utu, tapu, noa; Whare size; Whare construction; Waka; Carving; Kainga, pa – villages, fortifications; Ritual greetings and wero; Summary; KAENGA, PA AND MARAE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: Making the marae; Nineteenth century marae; Depopulation, patronage and the pa; Apirana Ngata and the new marae; Conclusions Chapter Four: Nga Marae – Marae 107 Introduction; REFINING THE MODERN MARAE: Descriptions; The traditional marae; Whare nui; Whare kai; Whare paku; Kohanga reo; Paepae; Churches; Other subsidiary buildings; THE URBAN MARAE; Maori land and the Land Court; THE CONSERVED MARAE: Presentation of the Sleeping House (turangawaewae); How the display conveys messages; Does the house continue to have the same meanings?; Conclusions Chapter Five: Nga Whare Whakairo – Carved Houses 143 Introduction; WHAKAIRO: Tetahi Whare whakairo – A carved house; The meaning of the whole house; WHARE: Tohunga Whakairo Rakau - the wood carving expert; Preparations before carving; Constructing the house – deconstructing the house; WHAKAIRO – CARVINGS: Pare – lintels; Poupou; Epa and Amo; Tekoteko, Pou tahuhu, Pou tokomanawa, Pou tuarongo – figures carved in the round; Other representation; The whare as a kinship unit; Conclusions Chapter Six: Tikanga O Nga Marae - Ritual on the Marae 191 Introduction; DEFINING THE HUI: Tangi, Kawe mate and Unveilings; Weddings, 21st Birthdays, Anniversaries; Church gatherings; Kingitanga hui – King Movement gatherings; Opening of marae buildings; Welcoming dignitaries; Semi-hui: conferences, committee meetings, socials; Tourist hui; DEFINING THE POWHIRI: Gathering; Wero – challenges; Karanga – calls; Haka powhiri – (war) dances; Mihi and whaikorero – speeches (of welcome);