We are maturing as a nation by embracing and progressing our use of te reo and tikanga Māori
Friday, 4 February 2022
Ngarimu Blair is the deputy chair of Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei iwi.
OPINION: Waitangi Day, a significant pou (post) in the history of Aotearoa, is a timely opportunity to reflect on the more than 180 years since representatives of the British Crown and more than 500 Māori chiefs signed Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
The event marked the planting of a seed that has since flourished into the nation that is now Aotearoa New Zealand. It heralded massive disruption, change and loss for Māori.
For some it is a time to celebrate, for Māori we commemorate, but for many, it is a day off and a chance at another long weekend to take in more of what has been incredible weather this summer.
In 1840, my ancestors, my Ngāti Whātua ki Tāmaki people, had complete dominion over their lands and waterways.
**READ MORE:
* Rāhui not a tool to be used for political agenda
* Making up for generations of language loss
* 'Aotearoa New Zealand': What if it went to a vote?
* How about a mihimihi, introducing yourself, in te reo Māori?
**
The central business district of Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland) of today, was back then pristine foreshore, a mix of bare land and native bush. Our settlements were the only communities on its shorelines and our waka the only vessels to traverse its waters.
We were self-sustaining, confident in our knowledge, protective of each other and the whenua, waters and resources which sustained us.
Whakapapa connections nurtured relationships and partnerships, fostering manaakitanga (hospitality) and kotahitanga (unity) within our iwi and with other neighbouring iwi, Kawerau a Maki in the west, Ngāti Pāoa to the east and Waiohua to the south. It was a time of tikanga (customs), the lore of tohunga (experts), and the wisdom of chiefs and kaumātua (elders).
It is because of this massive loss and change that Waitangi Day inspires a different response for Māori to other New Zealanders. We continue to yearn and hope for the partnership that was offered, but it remains strongly resisted and elusive.
So while there is much to lament, I want to acknowledge some aspects of Aotearoa and our shared experience that has given me cause for some gratitude and hope.
It has felt to me that last year, and in recent years in general, there has been a maturing in our national appreciation and desire to embrace and appreciate many things associated with te ao Māori (the Māori world), including the use of te reo Māori, the Māori language.
When watching the nightly TV news for example, some evenings it seems like a contest between the networks to see who can speak the most reo, and who can introduce the most new words.
Today, from across the many faces and shades of people who now call Aotearoa home, you are as likely to be greeted with kia ora or mōrena, as hello. Many now use their pepeha to introduce themselves, so we better appreciate and understand who they are and where they come from.
For most, there is an appreciation and welcoming of this change, but for others, there is a growing concern and resistance to the embracing and use of te reo Māori. For some, it is the difficulty they experience in pronouncing Māori words, and for others, it is a general resistance to change. For a dwindling few the use of te reo jars with an embedded belief that Māori and Māori things add no value.
It is a reminder that while the intention is good, the pace to introduce the language and to speak te reo should be done in a way that brings as many people along as is possible.
I resent that my grandparents were forced to speak only English and were punished for using te reo, which led to its near extinction. My tamariki attend kura kaupapa Māori (Māori language medium schools) and are disbelieving their parents did not grow up fluent as they now are. They take te reo for granted, which is how it should be, though we are constantly guarding against complacency and contempt for those who have yet to commit to speaking our native tongue.
Language recovery is already a long and emotional roller-coaster without organised opposition to its adoption. Though just as English was imposed on Māori, neither should te reo be imposed on anyone. However, it should be freely available to anyone who wants to learn it.
In time most will accept change and take on more te reo Māori, embracing it as their own.
The language and many other aspects of te ao Māori are taonga (prized), that have been passed down over many generations, nurtured and refined over thousands of years to now be embraced and accepted by many across Aotearoa.
Tangihanga is not just a Māori word for funeral but a grieving process often admired by our Pākehā friends who enter the process. The haka, while overused from time to time, and better delivered by those who have spent some time refining their delivery, is a wonderfully unique and incredibly powerful way for Kiwis in all our varieties to show our pleasure, our despair, our tautoko (support), our unity, our all.
To bless a site, be it after a tragedy, for example allows the intrinsic spirituality of te ao Māori, providing often moving and very appropriate ritual and protocol for those events when there seems no comparable Western option. At the location of a great tragedy, to clear the area and raise its tapu (sacredness), the gentle lament of a karakia and cleansing feels so very right and appropriate. Rāhui is another uniquely Māori practice that has seen growing appreciation and acceptance across Aotearoa.
There is also a growing understanding of the benefits and change of empowering Māori to help our own, of acknowledging the benefit of allowing Māori-led solutions to the many challenges which are disproportionately a burden for our people. Much of it due to the consequences of loss and deprivation for our people following the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
So yes, there continues to be a massive cause for lament from Māori, however, we as a nation continue to make some progress in appreciating the benefits and riches that come from encompassing more of the principles of te ao Māori.
May 2022 be a year of greater progress and embracing of those things which bring us together and add benefit and value to us all.