Ngā Tangihanga

E aweawetia kahatia e te Pakanga Tuarua o te Ao ō tātou whakaaro mō te “wā pakanga”.

E whakakitea ana e ngā hōtaka pouaka-whakaata he whāmere e pānui ana i ngā niupepa i runga i te ngākau pōuri, e noho ngātahi ana rānei i te taha o te waerehe e whakarongo ki ngā rongo o te whawhai; he taitamariki tāne e kaikaha ana ki te whawhai, he werawera nō ngā rae o ngā tāngata e mahi tahi ana kia hinga te hoariri. Engari, kīhai te nuinga o ā rātou mahi i panoni. He pātai nui tō tā mātou kaupapa rangahau nei: i pēheatia e te pakanga ngā kaiora o ngā tāngata Māori e mahi ana i ā rātou mahi, ā, ka taea e rātou, kāore rānei, ō rātou utanga ki te whānau, ki te marae, ki te hāhi hoki? 

Hei tauira te tangihanga. Hei whakanui, hei whakahōnore hoki i te mana o te tangata kua mate ngā tini tāngata e haere atu ana ki te tangihanga, heoi, hei whakakaha hoki i ngā whakawhanaungatanga ā-whānau, ā-hapū, ā-iwi hoki. He mahi nui hoki te tangihanga mā te tāngata whenua e whāngai ana, e manaaki ana i ngā ope manuhiri. I pēheatia tēnei e te rironga atu o ngā taitamariki ki te whawhai ki tāwāhi, ki te mahi rānei ki ngā tāone, mehemea kāore rātou i te hau kāinga ki te mahi hāngī, ki te mahi i roto i te kīhini? 

Ko te penehini te mea tuatahi i raihanatia, mai i te tīmatanga o te pakanga. Mehemea kāore te kaupapa e whaitake ana mō te penehini, kāore i whakaaetia. I te 8 o Hepetema 1939, i te wiki tuatahi o te pakanga, ka puta mai he kōrero nō ngā niupepa mō ‘a Maori, who confided to an officer assisting in the administering of the regulations that he required benzine for his car, which he maintained for the purpose of conveying members of his communities to tangis. Needless to say, the permit was not granted.’[1] Nā konei, ka kitea he tino rerekē ō te Māori whakaaro mō te tangihanga ki ō te Pākeha. I taua marama, ka tāia hoki e Te Waka Karaitiana he kōrero “Mō te Hunga Whiwhi Moto Ka”, i whakamāramatia ai i roto i te reo Māori ngā rekureihana e pā ana ki te penehini.[2] I te matenga o Tema Pouwharetapu Kewene i te tau 1943, he rangatira hira ia nō Tainui, tokomaha ngā manuhiri, engari ‘owing to transport restrictions, the attendance was not as large as it would have been in normal times’.[3]

Ahakoa i kōpaka te penehini, ka tokomaha tonu ngā manuhiri i tae mai ki ngā tangihanga o ētahi rangatira whakahirahira. Tua atu i te Pirimia-rīwhi me te ope kaitōrangapū, e 8000, neke atu rānei, ngā tāngata i haere ki te tangihanga o Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana i Rātana Pā i te marama o September 1939.[4] Mate ana te rangatira tōrangapū o Te Tai Tokerau, ko Tau Hēnare, i te marama o Hānuere 1940, neke atu i te 1000 i mine mai ai. Nā te nui o te waipuke, ka haere mā rāro te mahi a te tāngata Māori ki taua hui.[5] I te tau 1940 hoki, he ope nunui nō Waiariki, nō Urewera, nō Waikato, nō Tauranga, nō Ōpōtiki i ahu atu ki te tangi o Te Naere Hokotuku o Te Arawa.[6] I mate a Paraire Karaka Paikea i te tau 1943. Koia te Mema o te Tai Tokerau, ko tētahi kaihautū o ngā mahi whakahōia i ngā tāne Māori, ko te minita hoki o ngā mahi Māori e pā ana ki te pakanga. Nā tōna minitatanga, ka āwhinatia ngā mahi tangihanga e te kāwanatanga me te tauā hōia. Utaina ana te tūpāpaku ki Ākarana mā runga tereina, ā, kawea ana i te taha o ‘an army convoy of 35 vehicles, carrying about 450 people’. Nui atu i te 1000 ngā tāngata i tae mai, he tāngata hira, Māori mai, Pākehā mai.[7]

Nā te whakakorenga hoki o ngā tangihanga i te Tai Tokerau i te tau 1941, ka kitea hoki he āhua kē ō te whakaaro māori, ō te whakaaro Pākehā. I taua tau, ka puta mai te wehi kei pāngia te hapori e te kiriuhi uakakā (meningitis), ā, i whakakorea ngā tangihanga katoa ahakoa te kaha pīrangi o te iwi Māori ki te poroporoaki ki ngā mate. Nō te marama o Mei, i te whakaritea e tētahi pāpā he tangihanga i Kohukohu hei whakanehu i āna tamāhine tokorua kua mate. Ahakoa ngā mahi a te pirihimana o reira ki te ārai i te 50 Māori i tae mai, ‘they insisted upon carying [sic] out the Maori custom of staying with the dead’. I tohe hoki te pāpā kia wehe atu rātou. Ka mutu, ka hāmenetia ia e te kōti. E £200 te tino whāina mō taua momo “hara”, engari £10 tōna whiu. [8] I te marama o Hūrae, ka tāia e te Tākuta Āpiha o te Ora he pānuitanga reo-rua i roto i Northern Advocate e mea ana ‘ko nga Hui Maori katoa, nga tangi me era atu ahua huihuinga ka whakakorea tuturutia i roto i te takiwa Katoa o te Bay of Islands taea noatia te putanga mai o tetahi atu panui’.[9]

Nā te pakanga i kōpaka ai ētahi taonga, pērā me ngā mea o tāwāhi, engari kīhai ngā momo kai i tino raihanatia kia uru mai a Hapanihi me Amerika ki roto i te whawhai, ā, ka inoia a Aotearoa kia whakaratongia ngā kai mō Piritane, mō ngā hōia Marikena hoki.[10] I te tau 1943, ka meatia mai e te Bay of Plenty Times kīhai i taea e tētahi kāmupene miraka he pata te tuku atu mō te tangihanga o tētahi o ōna kaipāmu Māori. He tikanga tawhito tēnei, engari ‘no provision has been made in the regulations for a contingency of this kind’.[11] I kitea hoki he amuamu nā ngā Pākehā i roto i ngā niupepa mō ngā tangihanga Māori, arā, kua tukuna nuitia te huka me te tī ki a rātou.[12] I whakahē mai tētahi kaituhi, ko “Pakeha” te ingoa, ‘The Maoris of our district held a tangi over the week-end and were allowed 15lb of tea and 70lb of sugar for the event’, engari, he iti ngā mea i tukuna ki tētahi whāmere Pākehā hei whakanui i te mārenatanga, arā, ‘½lb of tea, 1lb of butter, and 1lb of sugar for 40 guests. The moral is: Don’t have a wedding breakfast: hold a tangi.’[13] Ko tā “Maori” whakautu, he rite ngā raihana mō te mārenatanga Māori, ahakoa e 300 ngā manuhiri, engari ‘the Maoris of the district gave each a little sugar, tea and butter and the problem was solved.’[14] 

I kaha rawa ngā whakahē a ngā Pākehā mō te tangihanga o Paikea. Ko tā rātou, kua whakakorea ngā motukā kura mō ā rātou tamariki i te Nōta, hei penapena i te penehini me te rapa. Ka waiho mā ngā taraka kirīmi hei kawe i ngā tamariki, engari, e toru rā i te wiki tō rātou haere. Tua atu i ngā taraka o te tauā hōia, e 200 karani penehini i tukuna ki tētahi kāmupene pahi ‘to run a free service to convey passengers’ to the tangihanga’.[15] 

Kua mārama nei, nā ngā taonga kōpaka me ngā tikanga raihana i kino ai te ngākau whakatoihara o te iwi Pākehā ki ngā tangihanga Māori. Engari, kIhai i taea ngā mate te whakamutu, ā, ka tohe tonu te iwi Māori ki te mau tonu ki ā rātou tikanga tangihanga, ahakoa ngā raruraru i puta mai i te wā pākanga.

NOTES

[1] Auckland Star, 8 Hepetema 1939.

[2] Te Waka Karaitiana, Hepetema 1939.

[3] New Zealand Herald, 26 Pēpuere 1943.

[4] New Zealand Herald, 25 Hepetema 1939.

[5] Northern Advocate, 15 Hānuere, 1940.

[6] New Zealand Herald, 15 Āperira 1940.

[7] New Zealand Herald, 13 Āperira 1943.

[8] Northern Advocate, 14 Mei 1941.

[9] Northern Advocate, 7 Hūrae 1941.

[10] Tirohia J.V.T. Baker, Chapter 17 “Living and Working in a War Economy”, War Economy, Wellington: Historical Publications Branch, 1965.

[11] Bay of Plenty Times, 16 Noema 1943.

[12] For example, Northern Advocate, 5 Oketopa, 1945.

[13] New Zealand Herald, 22 Māehe 1943.

[14] New Zealand Herald, 28 Māehe 1943.

[15] New Zealand Herald, 17 Āperira 1943.