BACK IN THE DAY
An elaborate form of Mäori marriage known as pakuwha involved negotiations between whänau before the handing over of the bride to her new whänau. This form was for those who were higher up the hierarchy of Mäori society, and would involve tono or tomo, meetings between the two families, discussions of whakapapa and an exchange of gifts, before the marriage was agreed upon. The wedding itself would be celebrated with a feast, umu kotore. Kaumätua and geneaologist Teone Taare Tikao (1850-1927) says there was a similar tradition among Ngäi Tahu of tapui or betrothal of the children of rangatira. He says these involved negotiations between the parents and sometimes other whänau, and once a betrothal was settled, elopement was the only way out, which usually led to war between the families. According to Tikao, a successful marriage, discussed and approved by all parties was said to be ätä korerotia i runga i te takapau wharanui (thoroughly discussed on the wide-woven sleeping mat), and was the best kind of marriage, as it was not followed by quarrelling. Marriage was used widely by Ngäi Tahu as a way of making alliances between tribes and families. Two arranged marriages in the late 18th Century are said to have cemented ties between Ngäi Tahu and Ngäti Mämoe. The first was between Rakiihia of Ngäti Mämoe and Hinehäkiri, the cousin of Ngäi Tahu’s leading chief, Te-hau-tapunui-o-Tü. The second marriage was between Honekai, the son of Te-hau-tapunuio-Tü, and Kohuwai, the daughter of Rakiihia. These marriages were arranged at Kaiapoi and confirmed at Taumata in Otago. Following the wars with Ngäti Toa in the early 19th Century, peace was reinforced between Ngäi Tahu and the northern iwi through a series of arranged marriages. These took place through into the 20th Century, when in 1921, Ngäi Tahu chief Taiaroa’s great grand-daughter, Leah (Ria) Moheko Taiaroa was persuaded into an arranged marriage with Te Rauparaha’s great-grandson, Te Rauparaha Wineera. This was despite the fact she was in love with, and about to be married to, a local Päkehä farmer. The story of the arranged marriage is well-known among Taiaroa descendants and was also retold in In Sight of the Lake and Sound of the Sea, a local history of the Te Waihora (Ellesmere) district. Ngäi Tahu’s kaitiaki whakapapa Dr Terry Ryan recalls the late Aunty Leah telling him when her wedding was about to happen, the cake had already been baked and decorated and was on display in the grocer’s shop in Leeston, one of her uncles decided she should actually have an arranged marriage with Ngäti Toa. Leah and Te Rauparaha Wineera were put in a boat and sent out onto the waters of Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) to “have a talk”. “I couldn’t swim, so in the end I decided I’d better marry him,” Leah told Terry. So the wedding went ahead and a grand reception was held at Taumutu’s Awhitu House. The ties between Ngäi Tahu and Ngäti Toa were reaffirmed by the marriage, and the couple settled near Ngäti Toa’s Takapuwahia marae north of Wellington and went on to have 14 children.
te Karaka RAUMATI 2008
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