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Tainui (canoe)
In Māori tradition, ''Tainui'' was one of the great ocean-going canoes in which Polynesians migrated to New Zealand approximately 800 years ago. In Māori tradition, the ''Tainui'' waka was commanded by the chief Hoturoa, who had decided to leave Hawaiki because over-population had led to famine and warfare. The crew of the ''Tainui'' were the ancestors of the iwi that form the Tainui confederation. Crafting The Tainui waka (canoe) was made from a great tree, at a place in Hawaiki known then as Maungaroa, on the spot where a stillborn child had been buried. According to Te Tāhuna Herangi the waka was named after the child who had been called Tainui. The canoe was made by Rakatāura, an expert boat builder in the tradition of Rātā, or according to Wirihana Aoterangi by Rātā himself. It was built with three adzes (''toki''): ''Hahau-te-pō'' ('Chop the night-world') to chop down the tree, ''Paopao-te-rangi'' ('Shatter the heavens') to split the wood, and ''Man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rakatāura
Rakatāura, also known as Hape, is a legendary Polynesian navigator and a progenitor of many Māori iwi. Born in Hawaiki, Rakatāura was the senior tohunga (priest/navigator) who led the ''Tainui'' migratory canoe to New Zealand. Rakatāura is associated with stories involving the Manukau Harbour, the Te Tō Waka (the Ōtāhuhu Portage) and the Waikato. Many place names in Tāmaki Makaurau (modern-day Auckland) and the Waikato region reference Rakatāura, or are described in oral traditions as being named by Rakatāura. Oral history Rakatāura was born in Hawaiki, and was the eldest member of the senior line of his hapū. He received the name Hape, due to his inward-turning feet. Rakatāura was the senior tohunga (priest/navigator) of the ''Tainui'' migratory waka, and in some traditions, is identified as the shipbuilder of the vessel. In Waiohua oral tradition, Rakatāura / Hape travels supernaturally to New Zealand, ahead of the ''Tainui'' crew. In this version, Rakat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kawhia
Kawhia Harbour (Maori: ''Kāwhia'') is one of three large natural inlets in the Tasman Sea coast of the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located to the south of Raglan Harbour, Ruapuke and Aotea Harbour, 40 kilometres southwest of Hamilton. Kawhia is part of the Ōtorohanga District Council and is in the King Country. It has a high-tide area of and a low-tide area of . Te Motu Island is located in the harbour. The settlement of Kawhia is located on the northern coast of the inlet, and was an important port in early colonial New Zealand. The area of Kawhia comprises and is the town block that was owned by the New Zealand Government. The government bought it from the Europeans in 1880 "not from the original Māori owners, but from a European who claimed ownership in payment of money owed by another European". History and culture Early history The Kawhia Harbour is the southernmost location where kauri trees historically grew. Kawhia is known in Mā ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cubit
The cubit is an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. It was primarily associated with the Sumerians, Egyptians, and Israelites. The term ''cubit'' is found in the Bible regarding Noah's Ark, Ark of the Covenant, Tabernacle, Solomon's Temple. The ''common cubit'' was divided into 6 palms × 4 fingers = 24 digits. ''Royal cubits'' added a palm for 7 palms × 4 fingers = 28 digits. These lengths typically ranged from , with an ancient Roman cubit being as long as . Cubits of various lengths were employed in many parts of the world in antiquity, during the Middle Ages and as recently as early modern times. The term is still used in hedgelaying, the length of the forearm being frequently used to determine the interval between stakes placed within the hedge. Etymology The English word "cubit" comes from the Latin noun "elbow", from the verb "to lie down", from which also comes the adjective " recumbent". Ancie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pei Te Hurinui Jones
Pei Te Hurinui Jones (9 September 1898 – 7 May 1976) was a Māori political leader, writer, genealogist, and historian. He identified with the Ngāti Maniapoto iwi. As a leader of the Tainui confederation of iwi and of the Kingitanga movement, he participated in negotiations with the New Zealand government seeking compensation for land seizures, served on several boards, and authored a number of works in Māori and English, including the first history of the Tainui people. Early life Pei's mother, Pare Te Kōrae was descended from the Ngati Maniapoto iwi. His father, David Lewis, was a Pakeha storekeeper at Poro-o-Tarāo of Jewish descent. They had two sons, Michael Rotohiko Jones ('Mick'), born 1895, and Pei, who was born in Harataunga, Thames/Coromandel, on 9 September 1898. Lewis did not return to New Zealand after the Second Boer War. Pare Te Kōrae remarried to David Jones, of Nga Puhi, and both sons adopted their step-father's surname. They moved to Te Kawakaw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karakia
Karakia are Māori incantations and prayers, used to invoke spiritual guidance and protection. With the nineteenth-century introduction of Christianity to New Zealand, Māori adopted (or wrote new) karakia to acknowledge the new faith. Modern karakia tend to contain a blend of Christian and traditional influence, and their poetic language may make literal translations into English not always possible.Karakia , Otago University website. Retrieved 23 July 2019. In modern Māori society, performances of ''karakia'' frequently open important meetings and ceremonies, both within a Māori context (such as tribal , [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kumara (vegetable)
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the bindweed or morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable. The young shoots and leaves are sometimes eaten as greens. Cultivars of the sweet potato have been bred to bear tubers with flesh and skin of various colors. Sweet potato is only distantly related to the common potato (''Solanum tuberosum''), both being in the order Solanales. Although darker sweet potatoes are often referred to as "yams" in parts of North America, the species is not a true yam, which are monocots in the order Dioscoreales. Sweet potato is native to the tropical regions of the Americas. Of the approximately 50 genera and more than 1,000 species of Convolvulaceae, ''I. batatas'' is the only crop plant of major importance—some others are used locally (e.g., ''I. aquatica'' "kangkong"), but many are poisonous. The genus ''Ipomoea' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hakawai (mythology)
Hakawai, also Hokioi in the North Island, was to the New Zealand Māori people, a mythological bird that was sometimes heard but not usually seen. It is now associated with the nocturnal aerial displays made by ''Coenocorypha'' snipe. Mythology In Māori mythology the Hakawai was one of eleven tapu (sacred) birds of Raka-maomao, a god of wind. The Hakawai lived in the heavens and only descended to the earth at night. It was considered to be a gigantic bird of prey and was described (as the Hokioi) by a Ngāti Apa chief, to the Governor of New Zealand Sir George Grey, as: Hearing the Hakawai was considered to be a bad omen, traditionally presaging war. Ornithologists in New Zealand have wondered whether the myth related to a real bird, whether extinct or still living, with some claiming that the myth was inspired by the now extinct Haast's eagle (''Hieraaetus moorei''). Although mention of the Hakawai occurred in Māori mythology throughout New Zealand, since European sett ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adze
An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in hand woodworking, and as a hoe for agriculture and horticulture. Two basic forms of an adze are the hand adze (short hoe)—a short-handled tool swung with one hand—and the foot adze (hoe)—a long-handled tool capable of powerful swings using both hands, the cutting edge usually striking at foot or shin level. A similar tool is called a mattock, which differs by having two blades, one perpendicular to the handle and one parallel. History Africa The adze is depicted in ancient Egyptian art from the Old Kingdom onward. Originally the adze blades were made of stone, but already in the Predynastic Period copper adzes had all but replaced those made of flint. stone blades were fastened to the handle by tying and earl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rātā (Māori Mythology)
In Māori mythology, accounts vary somewhat as to the ancestry of Rātā. Usually he is a grandson of Tāwhaki and son of Wahieroa. Wahieroa is treacherously killed by Matuku-tangotango, an ogre. Rātā sets out to avenge the murder, travelling to the home of Matuku, where a servant of the ogre tells him that Matuku comes out to devour people each new moon, and that he can be killed at the pool where he washes his face and hair. Rātā waits till the ogre comes out and is leaning over with his head in the pool. He grabs him by the hair and kills him. Matuku's bones are used to make spears for hunting birds. Rātā searches for his father's bones so that he can afford them the proper respect. He learns that the Ponaturi have the bones in their village. He must build a canoe to get there. He goes into the forest, and fells a tree, and cuts off the top. His day's work over, he goes home, and returns the next morning. To his surprise he finds the tree standing upright and whole. Once ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waka (canoe)
Waka () are Māori watercraft, usually canoes ranging in size from small, unornamented canoes (''waka tīwai'') used for fishing and river travel to large, decorated war canoes (''waka taua'') up to long. The earliest remains of a canoe in New Zealand were found near the Anaweka estuary in a remote part of the Tasman District and radiocarbon-dated to about 1400. The canoe was constructed in New Zealand, but was a sophisticated canoe, compatible with the style of other Polynesian voyaging canoes at that time. Since the 1970s about eight large double-hulled canoes of about 20 metres have been constructed for oceanic voyaging to other parts of the Pacific. They are made of a blend of modern and traditional materials, incorporating features from ancient Melanesia, as well as Polynesia. Waka taua (war canoes) ''Waka taua'' (in Māori, ''waka'' means "canoe" and '' taua'' means "army" or "war party") are large canoes manned by up to 80 paddlers and are up to in length. Large waka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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