POTIKI TUAKANA TAONGA

“So long as kaumatua held the tensions between tohunga, tuakana and potiki in balance, the wellbeing of hapu remained robust.” Haare Williams speaking this week at Kaiaua, Firth of Thames.

Pa transformed the landscape into visible expressions of mana o te whenua by building impressive palisades and gateways. While these fortresses were great feats of earth-carved works of engineering, art and sculptures, they stood out as practical statements of strength and manifestations of mana over the land.  These represented unity, strength, infinity and spirituality (holiness) and social interactions. Maungakiekie is an example of tribal dominance over Auckland.

Three domains of protection: 

(1)     The domain of nga atua, the gods of te whare wananga o Tane, atua (deities) were accessed by tohunga ahurewa (high priest) via tuahu (sacred altar) and asked to provide kin group with bountiful harvests, safety, knowledge, spirituality and empowering wisdom 

(2)     The domain of marae-atea is where the complimentary, but different manifestations of tapu/noa, war/peace, host/visitor, male/female, senior/junior were skilfully woven and held together by kaumatua

(3)     The third domain of taonga representing the wairua of key ancestors, enabling rangatira during life crises to bind together the kin group as a singularly powerful entity, taonga is also an emblem of peace and trust

Rangatira (chief) possessing chiefly status, was imbued with mana and the authority conferred by the people, capable of making final decisions, power over life and death, a community worked to maintain the mana of the rangatira (chief) and hence mana of hapu

Tohunga (priestly leader, specialist and scholar) is a level of leadership within the tribe with access to atua (deities), a person regarded with awe and circumspection 

Tuakana is the first born of the chief the natural heir to the position of rangatira as senior of a set of siblings, has to be protective the position, younger siblings become a threat; potiki on the other hand is not hampered by sibling tensions (refer to Maui, the last born of Taranga).

Potiki is the entrepreneurially-minded class of Maori leader allowed to be on the ‘wild side’, ‘wilfully naughty’, and as ‘haututu’ such a child was looked on as potential leaders.  They were often brought up by grandparents.

Kaumatua held heritage and change in balance.  Potiki challenged heritage and sought change through feats of courage and rascality. While kaumatua represented heritage ways through the provision of customary tikanga (stability), upcoming potiki carried a propensity to challenge older siblings, parents or even elders. Tribal narratives are littered with stories of adventurous potiki who attempting to prove worthy of leadership, met a similar fate as Maui; the cost of life in the pursuit of immortality.

So long as the kaumatua held the tensions between tohunga, tuakana and potiki in balance, the wellbeing of hapu (kin group) remained robust.

Only through the marae forum of leadership (tangata whenua or ahi ka) could manuhiri (outsiders or visitors) gain legitimated access to tribal resources.  To attempt otherwise was to transgress boundaries and therefore provoke a crisis. 

But that is exactly what poitiki class of Maori leaders would do; challenge the boundaries of heritage and authority or the conservatism in their eagerness to explore new opportunities.  More often than not, a life-crisis would erupt, challenging the checks and balances of heritage versus opportunity. 

 

When the dust of war settled, it is on the marae that kaumatua again negotiated peace through tuku rangatira (gifting land rights), taumau (marriage alliances), moko taura (child adoption) and presentations of taonga (tribal heirlooms) beyond the tribe.  Boundaries are reaffirmed and taonga travel through the generations as solemn symbols of peace and trust. (eg Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi Te Waharoa personal mere to Cameron). 

It is during the tangihanga that the power of taonga becomes apparent.  Appropriately used, taonga assisted in ameliorating tribal tensions and the obligations being experienced by loss.  Taonga act as here (binding together) collapsing time so the ancestors they represent can be present guiding the wairua in its return to spiritual homelands.

A note about the most celebrated potiki of all.

Maui is potiki the last born of Makea Tutara and Taranga. He was potiki the youngest of a set of siblings, a trickster hero found in all myths. While the Greeks alluded to Homer, so it is with Maui a central and formative element in Maori and Pasifika cultures. These narratives bring out the search for immortal life, the distaste for incest, respect for elders and the recognition that sexual intercourse is a prerequisite for new life.  The conflict between the individual and group is brought out when he challenges the authority of elders. Because he is potiki, he is given freedom.  He is the representative free male and through him we are shown tikanga (the right way to do things).  The belief in mana is brought out in the rituals. It is Maui who rises up against overwhelming odds by ‘breaking’ the rules.  Maui potiki introduces the theme that trickery and deceit are acceptable if desired social goals are achieved.  He is also the benefactor of all human kind.  In Te Ika a Maui, he outwits his older brothers who could not overcome their greed for land. Maui’s final encounter with Hinenui Te Po was foretold, so the story justifies the Maori predictive powers of omens, prophecies and dreams.  His encounter with Hinenui Te Po provides a rationale for death the ultimate penalty, a warning for going too far.

The platform is there for junior children to step up provided they show intelligence, wit, boldness and cunning determination they too could rise and become rangatira.

Our world, for a start anyway can be seen through a prism of two worlds; Te Ao Maori, and Te Ao Pakeha, our two worlds in unity - Nga Ao E Rua. 

Haare Williams

Kaiaua 28 September 2014

Vocabulary

Haututu – wilfully naughty, inventive, creative

Hinenui Te Po – guardian of the spirits, death

Kaumatua – elderly male and female

Pakeha -denotes non-Maori, of European ancestry, a New Zealander

Maori - from tangata maori, ordinary, common people

Taonga – living treasures

Tauiwi – ‘just landed or recently landed’, also means ‘visitor’

Tikanga – doing what is right, the opposite is he (wrong doing)

Ihi – power, possibility, potentiality, spine tingling,

Wehi – fearfulness, awe, reverence

Wana – artistry (as in haka)

Mana – personal chiefly charisma, integrity, authority, trust

Wairua - living spirit, sacredness of life in all things