Wai ora

Water is the basis for all life. It is taonga, something to be cherished and looked after. For Māori, wai holds mauri – a spiritual life force. To keep the mauri intact, we need to look after the water. Māori have classifications for wai that describe its qualities, properties and uses.

The following resources provide information about wai, its mauri and the different ways Māori use and classify wai. The videos highlight the special connections between tangata whenua and their local awa.

• Te mana o te awa – article

• Whakatauki – article

• Ngā karangatanga matua mō te wai māori me ngā ika wai māori – article

• Māori Views of the Waikato River – PDF

• Wai words – activity

• Importance of water for Ngāti Hauā – video

• Awa and iwi – video

• Hekeiterangi Broadhurst – video

• Hoturoa Kerr – video

• Karaitiana Ripaki-Tamatea – video

• Linda Te Aho – video

• Mamae Takerei – video

• Miriama (Tilly) Turner – video

• Rahui Papa – video

• Rangitiaho Mahuta – video

• Turanga Barclay-Kerr – video

• Wiremu Puke – video

Transcript

REVEREND HAKI WIRIHANA

Water for my iwi – people – is very, very important, because water is life in its all entirety. We are born from water and nd we all have a responsibility to look after our water, in our rivers, in the artesian bores that we bore for water in, from Papatūānuku and also what we get from the heavens. Water, yes, it’s a taonga. And also we need water for our plant life, for our māras [gardens] so that our food can grow. Healthy water is our sustenance.

A lot of our people take people down when they’re sick. They take them down and they baptise them, and they use the water as a spiritual healing for the sick body. The other part of the spirituality is looking after the water itself.

To keep the mauri in the water, we must keep it clean. Also letting our farmers and all those around the rivers and that, and using the water to understand about how they must keep the water clean and not let the effluent and everything go into the rivers. Hoki mai te mauri i te awa. Hoki mai te mauri i te awa. Haere mai te wairua o te orangatanga e tāngata.

Acknowledgements

Reverend Haki Wirihana
Ngāti Hauā Iwi Trust
Ngāti Hauā Mahi Trust
AS Wilcox and Sons Limited
Sandra and Rod McKinnon
Footage of Te Wairere Falls, Bortocal. Released under Creative Commons licence CC BY 3.0
Drone footage of Karapiro Dam, Bruce Casey
Footage of karakia near tī kōuka (cabbage) tree, Ākina Foundation
Drone footage of McKinnon’s farm and shots of effluent spreader, filmed by AF Productions and Paul Sutherland Photography. Copyright Yardmaster
Footage of Ngatamariki Power Station, Chris Sisarich