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Taua
A taua is a war party in the tradition of the Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand. Contemporary knowledge of taua is gleaned from missionary observations and writings during the Musket Wars of the early 19th century and the later New Zealand wars. The reason to gather a taua may be for reasons of seeking revenge ( utu) or seeking compensation for an offence against an individual, community or society (muru). Composition A taua was typically composed of males, although there were occasions when women fought as well. The party was led by a chief ( rangatira), and would be made up of around 70 warriors. This number was the general capacity of a “waka taua” (a war canoe), however sometimes waka would be designed to carry up to 140 warriors, and such canoes were called "Te Hokwhitu a Tu". During the height of the musket wars the number of warriors rose to about 2,000 and the group travelled mainly on foot around the North Island coast. The most comprehensive written accou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waka Taua
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 wak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musket Wars
The Musket Wars were a series of as many as 3,000 battles and raids fought throughout New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands) among Māori between 1807 and 1837, after Māori first obtained muskets and then engaged in an intertribal arms race in order to gain territory or seek revenge for past defeats. The battles resulted in the deaths of between 20,000 and 40,000 people and the enslavement of tens of thousands of Māori and significantly altered the '' rohe'', or tribal territorial boundaries, before the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The increased use of muskets in intertribal warfare led to changes in the design of pā fortifications, which later benefited Māori when engaged in battles with colonial forces during the New Zealand Wars. Ngāpuhi chief Hongi Hika in 1818 used newly acquired muskets to launch devastating raids from his Northland base into the Bay of Plenty, where local Māori were still relying on traditional weapons of wood and stone. In t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori People
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori. Initial contact between Māori and Europeans, starting in the 18th century, ranged from beneficial trade to lethal violence; Māori actively adopted many technologies from the newcomers. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s, and massive land confiscations, to whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ngāpuhi
Ngāpuhi (or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland region of New Zealand and centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2018 New Zealand census, the estimated population of Ngāpuhi is 165,201. This compares to 125,601 in 2001, 102,981 in 2006, and 122,214 in 2013. It is formed from 150 hapū/subtribes, with 55 marae. Despite such diversity, the people of Ngāpuhi maintain their shared history and self-identity. Te Rūnanga ā Iwi o Ngāpuhi, based in Kaikohe, administers the iwi. The Rūnanga acts on behalf of the iwi in consultations with the New Zealand Government. It also ensures the equitable distribution of benefits from the 1992 fisheries settlement with the Government, and undertakes resource-management and education initiatives. History Foundations The founding ancestor of Ngāpuhi is Rāhiri, the son of Tauramoko and Te Hauangiangi. Tauramoko was a descendant of Kupe, from ''Matawhaorua'', and Nukutawhiti, of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tapu (Polynesian Culture)
Tapu is a Polynesian traditional concept denoting something holy or sacred, with " spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition"; it involves rules and prohibitions. The English word '' taboo'' derives from this later meaning and dates from Captain James Cook's visit to Tonga in 1777. The concept exists in many societies, including traditional Māori, Samoan, Kiribati, Rapanui, Tahitian, Hawaiian, and Tongan cultures, in most cases using a recognisably similar word (from Proto-Polynesian '' *tapu''), though the Rotuman term for this concept is "ha'a". In Hawaii, a similar concept is known as " kapu". Outside Polynesian The root also exists outside Polynesian languages, in the broader Austronesian family: e.g. Fijian ''tabu'', Hiw (Vanuatu) ''toq'' ‘holy, sacred’, Mwotlap ''ne-teq'' ‘cemetery’… François (2022). Whether Polynesian or not, all modern forms go back to a Proto-Oceanic etymon reconstructed as *''tabu'' . As for cognates outside Oceanic, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Haka
Haka (; plural ''haka'', in both Māori and English) are a variety of ceremonial performance art in Māori culture. It is often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted or chanted accompaniment. Haka are performed to welcome distinguished guests, or to acknowledge great achievements, occasions, or funerals. Haka have been traditionally performed by both men and women and for a variety of social functions within Māori culture. Kapa haka groups are common in schools. The main Māori performing arts competition, Te Matatini, takes place every two years. New Zealand sports teams' practice of performing a haka before their international matches has made haka more widely known around the world. This tradition began with the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team tour and has been carried on by the New Zealand rugby union team (known as the All Blacks) since 1905. Although popularly associated with the traditional ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dawn
Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's horizon. This morning twilight period will last until sunrise (when the Sun's upper limb breaks the horizon), when direct sunlight outshines the diffused light. Etymology "Dawn" derives from the Old English verb ''dagian'', "to become day". Types of dawn Dawn begins with the first sight of lightness in the morning, and continues until the Sun breaks the horizon. This morning twilight before sunrise is divided into three categories depending on the amount of sunlight that is present in the sky, which is determined by the angular distance of the centre of the Sun ( degrees below the horizon) in the morning. These categories are ''astronomical'', ''nautical'', and ''civil dawn''. Astronomical dawn Astronomical dawn begins when the Sun i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweet Potato
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 ''I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Te Rarawa
Te Rarawa is a Māori iwi of Northland, New Zealand. The iwi is one of five Muriwhenua iwi of the far north of the North Island. Rūnanga and marae Te Rarawa has 23 foundation marae: *Korou Kore Marae, ''Ahipara'', represents the hapū of Ngāti Moroki. *Mātihetihe Marae, ''Mitimiti'', represents the hapū of Te Tao Māui and Te Hokokeha. *Morehu Marae, Ōhaki Marae and Taiao Marae, ''Whāngāpe Harbour'', represent the hapū of Te Uri o Tai. *Motutī Marae, ''Hokianga Harbour'', represents the hapū of Ngāti Te Maara, Te Kaitutae, Ngāī Tamatea, Te Waiariki, and Ngāti Muri Kāhara. *Ngāti Manawa Marae, ''Panguru'', represents the hapū of Ngāti Manawa, Waiāriki and Te Kaitutae. *Ōwhata Marae, ''Ōwhata Harbour'', represents the hapū of Ngāti Torotoroa, Tahukai and Te Popoto. *Ngāi Tūpoto Marae, ''Motukaraka'', represents the hapū of Ngāi Tūpoto and Ngāti Here. *Rangikohu Marae , ''Ōwhata Harbour'', represents the hapū of Ngāti Kuri rāua ko Ngāti Wai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tohitapu
Tohitapu also known as Tohi or Toi-Tapu (died 14 July 1833) was a rangatira (chief) of the Te Roroa iwi (tribe) of Northland, New Zealand, and a tohunga and Māori warrior. An account told by a Ngāpuhi informant to British ethnographer John White of the visit of Marion du Fresne to the Bay of Islands in 1772 describes Tohitapu as participating in the massacre when du Fresne and 26 men of his crew were killed and cannibalised. Spiritual leader As a Tohunga o Tumatauenga (expert in weapons or war party chaplain) he was acknowledged by the Ngāpuhi of the Bay of Islands as a spiritual leader who possessed the ability of communicating between the spiritual and temporal realms through karakia (prayers), pātere (chants) or performing waiata (songs). On 28 November 1832, the Revd. Alfred Brown witnessed Tohitapu practicing as a Tohunga to foresee the success of Tītore’s second muru (war expedition) to Tauranga, which followed the Girls' War in the Bay of Islands.Smith, S. P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tohunga
In the culture of the Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teachers and advisors. "A tohunga may have also been the head of a whanau but quite often was also a rangatira and an ariki".Mead, S. M. (1997). ''Landmarks, bridges and visions: Essays''. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press. (p. 197). The equivalent and cognate in Hawaiian culture is ''kahuna'', tahu'a in Tahitian. Callings and practices There are many classes of tohunga (Best 1924:166) including: *Tohunga ahurewa: highest class of priest *Tohunga matakite: foretellers of the future * Tohunga whakairo: expert carvers * Tohunga raranga: expert weavers *Tohunga tātai arorangi: experts at reading the stars *Tohunga kōkōrangi: expert in the study of celestial bodies (astronomer) *Tohunga tārai waka: expert canoe builders *To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
