The Rātana movement ( mi, Te Haahi Rātana) is a church and pan-''

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori culture, Māori society. In Māori-language, Māori roughly means "people" or "nation", and is often translated as "tribe", or "a confederation of tribes". The word is both singular and ...

'' political movement founded by

Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana (25 January 1873? – 18 September 1939) was the founder of the Rātana religion in the early 20th century in New Zealand. He rose to prominence as a faith healer. Beginnings Rātana was of the Ngati Apa and Ngā Wai ...

in early 20th-century New Zealand. The Rātana Church has its headquarters at the settlement of Rātana Pā near

Whanganui Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...

. In 2001 the total number of New Zealand residents that were affiliated with the Rātana church was 48,975.According to the NZ Census 2001, In the 2018 New Zealand census, 43,821 people identified with the religion.

Symbols

The main symbol (''tohu'') of the church is a five-pointed star and crescent moon, the ''whetū mārama'' (which means both "star and moon" and "shining star"), which is worn on the lapels of ''mōrehu'' (the scattered remnant, Rātana followers) and at pivotal points on church buildings. The golden or blue crescent moon (symbolising enlightenment) can face different parts of the coloured star: blue represents Te Matua (The Father), white is Te Tama (The Son), red is Te Wairua Tapu (The Holy Spirit), purple is Ngā Anahera Pono (The Faithful Angels) and gold/yellow is Te Māngai (The Mouthpiece (of Jehovah), Ture Wairua), although this colour is sometimes substituted for the colour pink, representing PiriWiriTua (The Campaigner (of Political Matters), Ture Tangata). ''Te Whetū Mārama'' represents the kingdom of light or ''Māramatanga'', standing firm against the forces of darkness (''mākutu'').

''Ture Wairua'' (spiritual mission)

The Rātana Church is made up of the ''Ture Wairua'' (spiritual laws) and the ''Ture Tangata'' (physical laws). The spiritual laws are itemised as the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit (in Maori, Te Matua, Te Tama me Te Wairua Tapu), and Ngā Anahera Pono (the Holy and Faithful Angels) and also adding Te Māngai (God's Word and Wisdom) to prayers. Its central book is the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...

, although the Blue Book, written in Māori and containing prayers and hymns (many composed by Rātana), is used in all church services. On 8 November 1918 Rātana saw a vision, which he regarded as divinely inspired, asking him to preach the

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

to the

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 severa ...

, to destroy the power of the '' tohunga'', and to cure the spirits and bodies of his people. Until 1924 he preached to increasingly large numbers of Māori and established a name for himself as the "Māori Miracle Man". At first, the movement was seen as a Christian revival, but it soon moved away from mainstream churches. On 31 May 1925, ''Te Haahi Rātana'' (the Rātana Church) was established as a separate church and its founder was acknowledged as the bearer of ''Te Mangai'' or God's Word and Wisdom. On 21 July 1925, the constitution of the Rātana Church was accepted by the Registrar-General and a list of 'apostles' (ministers) who were authorised to conduct marriages was published in the ''New Zealand Gazette''. Hostile attitudes have caused the church to be guarded towards its teaching and founder.

''Ture Tangata'' (secular movement)

In 1924 a group including Rātana journeyed to Europe to unsuccessfully present a petition to

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Q ...

and the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide Intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by ...

on land confiscations and the Treaty of Waitangi. Later trips were made to the U.S. and Canada. These trips were not without controversy. The New Zealand Government acted to prevent the petition being presented to the monarch, and the visit to Japan on the way back from Europe created allegations of disloyalty and of flying the Japanese flag over the church settlement of Rātana Pā. When the Rātana temple (''Te Temepara Tapu o Ihoa'' (The Holy Temple of Jehovah)) which Rātana saw as embodying in its architecture deep Biblical truths (especially the two magnificent bell towers) was opened on 25 January 1928 by Japanese Bishop Juji Nakada (with whom Ratana and party had stayed in 1924), Rātana declared his spiritual work was complete and church apostles and officers would take on the work. He now turned more to political work for Maori in New Zealand.

''Koata'' (political movement)

As early as 1923, Rātana had declared an interest in party politics, and his eldest son

Haami Tokouru Rātana Haami Tokouru Ratana (21 July 1894 – 30 October 1944) was a New Zealand politician and president of the Rātana Church. He joined Eruera Tirikatene in parliament as the second Rātana Independent Member of Parliament (MP), elected for the Wes ...

had stood for the Western Maori electorate as an independent candidate. Now Rātana was determined to capture the Māori electorates to give a voice for his movement. In January 1928, Rātana called himself ''Piri Wiri Tua'' and called on four followers to be the quarters of his body and rule the land. The "first cut" was

Paraire Karaka Paikea Paraire Karaka Paikea (1 June 1894 – 6 April 1943) was a New Zealand Māori politician. Early life Of Te Uri-o-Hau and Ngāti Whātua descent, Paraire Karaka Paikea was born in Otamatea, in the Kaipara area of Northland. An ordained Met ...

in the north, Haami Tokouru Rātana in the west, Pita Moko in the east, and Eruera Tirikatene in the south. Moko was later replaced by

Tiaki Omana Tiaki Omana (18 December 1891 – 24 June 1970), also known by the English name Jack Ormond, was a New Zealand rugby union player and politician. He won the Rātana Movement's fourth Maori electorate of Eastern Maori in 1943 from Āpirana Ngata ...

, in the "second cut". The covenant signed by the men promised they would not rest, and their wives separately agreed that they would go barefoot and in rags to represent the Rātana movement. All four went on to capture the Maori seats between 1932 and 1943. Rātana candidates stood in the 1928 and 1931 general elections and in the 1930 by-election in Western Maori following the death of

Maui Pomare The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...

, but they did not succeed. The first Rātana movement MP was Eruera Tirikatene, elected in a by-election for

Southern Maori Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, an ...

in June 1932. He was followed by

(known as Toko) in Western Maori in the 1935 general election. In the 1938 election, the third Māori electorate of Northern Maori was captured by

, and the last ( Eastern Maori) was won by

in the 1943 election. The Rātana Independent Members of Parliament were the first to represent a political party in which most party members were Māori. Major aims of the movement were statutory recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi, righting the confiscation grievances of the Māori people, and equality in social welfare for Māori.

Alliance with the Labour Party

Following the formation of the

First Labour Government The first MacDonald ministry of the United Kingdom lasted from January to November 1924. The Labour Party, under Ramsay MacDonald, had failed to win the general election of December 1923, with 191 seats, although the combined Opposition tall ...

in 1935, the two Rātana MPs agreed to vote with Labour. This alliance was formalised with the Rātana movement joining the Labour Party in a meeting between Rātana and Prime Minister Michael Savage on 22 April 1936. The Prime Minister was given four symbolic gifts: a potato, a broken gold watch, a pounamu hei-tiki, and a huia feather. The potato represented loss of Māori land and means of sustenance, the broken watch represented the broken promises of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the pounamu represented the

mana According to Melanesian and Polynesian mythology, ''mana'' is a supernatural force that permeates the universe. Anyone or anything can have ''mana''. They believed it to be a cultivation or possession of energy and power, rather than being ...

of the Māori people. If Savage could restore these three, he would earn the right to wear the huia feather to signify his chiefly status. The gifts were regarded as so precious they were buried with Savage at his state funeral in 1940. The four Māori electorates were held by Rātana-affiliated members of Labour for decades: until 1963 for the Eastern Maori electorate, 1980 for Northern Maori, and 1996 for Western and Southern Maori electorates. Not all Labour Party Māori MPs have been members of the Rātana Church, but all Māori electorates were held by Labour MPs who had at least been endorsed by the church until Tau Henare won Northern Maori in the 1993 New Zealand general election. In both the parliaments of 1946–1948 and 1957–1960, the formation of a Labour Government depended on the votes of the Rātana Movement members. Rātana movement Members of Parliament have included Tapihana Paraire Paikea, Haami Tokouru Rātana,

Matiu Rātana Matiu Rātana (16 December 1912 – 7 October 1949), son of Tahupotiki Wiremu Rātana, was a New Zealand politician and president of the Rātana Church. Political career A younger brother to Haami Tokouru Rātana Haami Tokouru Ratana ...

, Iriaka Rātana, Koro Wētere,

Paraone Reweti Paraone Brown Reweti (17 November 1916 – 21 April 1996) was a New Zealand politician and Rātana morehu. Early life Of Ngāti Ranginui ancestry, Reweti came to Parliament from a position as an executive member of the Mount Maunganui Watersi ...

, Matiu Rata, and Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan. Mita Ririnui, who held the Māori seat of Waiariki from 1999 to 2005 and was a List MP from 2005 to 2011, is a Rātana minister. Politicians usually attend the Ratana marae to take part in celebrations marking T.W. Ratana's birthday.

Church leaders

Tahupotiki Wiremu Rātana Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana (25 January 1873? – 18 September 1939) was the founder of the Rātana religion in the early 20th century in New Zealand. He rose to prominence as a faith healer. Beginnings Rātana was of the Ngati Apa and Ngā Wai ...

(1925–1939) *

(1939–1944) *

(1944–1950) *

Puhi o Aotea Ratahi Puhi o Aotea Ratahi (1898/1899–1966) was the fourth president of the Rātana Established Church of New Zealand and younger sister of the church's founder T. W. Ratana Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana (25 January 1873? – 18 September 1939) was th ...

(1950–1966) *

Maata "Te Reo" Hura Maata "Te Reo" Hura (also known as Maata Tawhirimatea) (16 January 1904 – 25 September 1991) was the fifth President of the Ratana Church of New Zealand. One of seven children of the founder of the church Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana and his wife T ...

(1966–1991) *

Raniera Te Aou Hou Rātana Raniera Te Aohou Rātana was the fifth president of the Rātana Established Church of New Zealand and the last surviving child of its founder Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana.Harerangi Meihana Rehimana Harerangi Meihana (31 March 1934 – 11 May 2022), also known as Harry Lang Mason, was the seventh tumuaki or president of the Rātana Established Church of New Zealand. His mother was Rāwinia Rātana, a daughter of the founder of the ...

(1998–2022)

References

External links

Te Haahi Ratana: The Official Website of the Ratana Established Church of New Zealand
by Arahi R. Hagger {{DEFAULTSORT:Ratana Rātanas Māori politics New Zealand Labour Party Māori organisations Māori political parties in New Zealand Māori religion Indigenous Christianity Political movements in New Zealand Christian denominations in New Zealand Christian political parties in New Zealand