Whenu(a), Atua: Returning to Hine-te-iwaiwa through the maternal language of whatu

Whatu falls under the auspices of Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving the female goddess of Te Whare Pōrā Meaning Close House of weaving (Simmonds, 2014; Te Kanawa, 2008; Te Kanawa & Turi-Tiakitai, 2011; Te Rito, 2006). While much is written about the male gods in Māori cosmogony, far less was recorded about the role of their female counterparts (Mikaere, 2004). One source on traditional Māori parenting practices names Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving as the sister of the demi-god Maui Meaning Close Māui is the great trickster demi-god of Polynesian mythology.  (Jenkins & Mountain Harte, 2011); in another she is the daughter of Tane-nui-ā-rangi and Hine-rauāmoa, goddess of light and enlightenment (Te Kanawa & Turi-Tiakitai, 2011). Those literature sources that do speak of Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving tell of a goddess that embodies and celebrates all aspects of the feminine including, weaving, childbirth and menstruation (Murphy, 2013; Simmonds, 2014; Yates-Smith 1998).  

Despite the importance of Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving to the Māori feminine, there is little historical information or literature on this auspicious atua wāhine Meaning Close Maaori goddesses . This is an unfortunate and common occurrence in a colonised history that reifies atua tāne Meaning Close Male maaori gods and relegates the contribution of atua wāhine Meaning Close Maaori goddesses to brief historical references (Murphy, 2013; Simmonds, 2014; Te Awekotuku, 1991). Māori ‘myths and legends’ – particularly in children’s literature – reveal masculine imagery of heroic male figures such as Tāwhaki Meaning Close Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder. and Maui Meaning Close Māui is the great trickster demi-god of Polynesian mythology.  , juxtaposed against Māori female characters such as Mahuika Meaning Close Maaori goddess of fire. as the wizened old crone, or the ‘vengeful’ Hine-nui-i-te-pō Meaning Close  Maaori goddess of night (Mikaere, 2004). When we reclaim our atua wāhine Meaning Close Maaori goddesses from colonial storying that rendered their knowledge invisible (Te Awekotuku 1991; 2003), we are restor(y)ing and reaffirming our connection to a powerful whakapapa Meaning Close Ancestry or family lineage of wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women knowledge.  

 
Wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women Māori creative scholars Ngahuia Te Awekotuku (2003), Aroha Yates-Smith (1998), Rose Pere (1991), Te Raina Ferris (2009) and Robyn Kahukiwa (1995) have undertaken critical work to centre wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women Māori knowledge, More recently, Mana Wāhine scholarship from Ngāhuia Murphy (2013), Donna Campbell (2019) and Naomi Simmonds (2014) reclaim the crucial role of atua wāhine Meaning Close Maaori goddesses and Māori maternities. These wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women , like those in this exhibition - are simultaneously academics, tikanga Meaning Close Reason, meaning, right way of doing things, custom proponents, researchers, artists and activists all working in complex and multiple Mana Wāhine ways.

 
The resilient aho threads of Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving – from whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft to the monthly rhythms of menses, childbirth and the rhythmic waxing and waning of the moon – remind wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women Māori of the sacred nature of our bodies. Through Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving , wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women as the givers of life, reflect the unique genealogical relationship that we have to the whenua, to Papatūānuku Meaning Close Earth mother from whom all living things descend (Murphy, 2013). Wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women Māori are the aho Meaning Close Weft that bind together whakapapa Meaning Close Ancestry or family lineage and whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta and keep these threads vital and healthy for our continued physical, spiritual and cultural survival (Smith, 2020). 

Hine-te-iwaiwa Meaning Close The spiritual guardian of weaving is said to have gained her knowledge of weaving in Te Whare Pōrā (Pere, 2006; Te Rito, 2006) a ritual space where initiation into the teachings of rāranga Meaning Close Weaving and whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft took place. Te Whare Pōrā, as a ‘house’ of learning the knowledge and skills of whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft , suggests a physical structure. While one historical reference (Buck, 1949) describes Te Whare Pōrā as a built structure, others suggest that entering Te Whare Pōrā was to enter into a certain consciousness, a “state of being” (Puketapu-Hetet, 2000, p. 24) or optimal readiness to receive and retain new knowledge - “when one is dedicated to pursuing the knowledge of weaving in its totality, then one is in Te Whare Pōrā” (Puketapu-Hetet, 2000, p. 24).  

Modern living presents challenges to wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women kaiwhatu Meaning Close Cloak weaver of the modern-day Te Whare Pōrā as we contend with a different kind of ‘busy’ living than our ancestresses (Smith, 2017). What was once an essential skill to create clothing and valuable possessions for trade and gifting, whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft is now seen by some as ‘arts and crafts’ and commercialised for the modern marketplace. Whereas creativity was once fostered in a collective language rich environment, urbanisation and de-culturation have isolated wāhine Meaning Close Woman, women from the practices and language of Te Whare Pōrā. Thankfully the Māori maternal elements of whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft that keep our toi practice grounded to the whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta are embedded in its terminology.  

The maternal language of whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft exists within its fibres. Whenu Meaning Close Hand twisted single strand lengthwise or warp , a contraction of the term whenua, are the many strands or vertical warp threads that make up the body of a kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing (Smith, 2017), and can be described dualistically as both placenta and land – one is the essential connector that sustains the child within the mother’s womb while the other continues to nurture the child once they are born (Maihi, 2011). Present in other indigenous cultures, for example the Navajo (Lamphere, 2007) and Oiwi Hawai’i (Green & Beckwith, 2009), paying special attention to the umbilical cord and whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta placental afterbirth is a traditional Māori birthing practice that remains vibrant. A baby’s whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta (placenta) is returned to the whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta (land) as a means of connecting that child to Papatūānuku Meaning Close Earth mother . The ritual act of burying whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta reinforces a Māori connection to the land as tāngata whenua Meaning Close Local people, indigenous people – quite literally as people of the land.  

The term aho has multiple meanings. Aho is one name for the middle section of the umbilical cord that sustains our babies in utero, physically connecting baby to its mother who supplies all the nutrients and oxygen required to grow. The term aho also refers to those ‘strands’ that are twined together in whatu aho rua Meaning Close Double weft twining or whatu patahi Meaning Close Single-pair weft-twining , to form the body of the kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing . Aho Meaning Close Weft is defined as line, genealogy and cord, the umbilical cord which connects the baby to its mother (Williams, 1997).  

Aho are understood as vital connectors to the past and the future. These connecting threads act as “tangible and substantive links between ancestors or tīpuna and their living descendants” (Henare, 2005, p. 121) and the means through which the kaiwhatu Meaning Close Cloak weaver enables ancestral energy to ‘live on’ in the present. This abstract idea moves aho Meaning Close Weft from ‘metaphorical’ connectors to tangible instantiations of ancestral efficacy or those aho Meaning Close Weft threads that bind and connect us to our past and will continue into the future. 

The aho Meaning Close Weft are vital elements of the kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing without which creating whatu kākahu Meaning Close Garments would not be possible. If the aho Meaning Close Weft that connects the mother to the baby is not strong and healthy the wellbeing of the child is at risk. Similarly, if the aho Meaning Close Weft of the kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing are not strong or are poorly twined, the kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing may not hold together and could eventually fall apart. Like the aho Meaning Close Weft of a kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing , the aho from the mother to the child must be healthy and strong to ensure survival. The word aho Meaning Close Weft evokes ideas of linking generations of whakapapa Meaning Close Ancestry or family lineage or ancestral lineage layer upon layer with a continuous and unbroken thread (Henare, 2005; Salmond, 1991).  

The term kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing or kahu Meaning Close Cloak is another whatu Meaning Close Hand twisted single weave-weft term rich with maternal whenua Meaning Close Land, earth, placenta language. A kahu Meaning Close Cloak or kahukahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing is one Māori name for the amniotic sac or foetal membrane that envelops the unborn child (Henare, 2005; MacAulay & Te Waru-Rewiri, 1996). The whare kahu was a temporary shelter constructed in some tribal areas for giving birth (Best, 1929) and adds to the rich idea of the kahu Meaning Close Cloak , or whare kahu, as both birthing house and a place of protective nurturing. Ngāhuia Murphy (2013) says that the birthing houses of her Tuhoe iwi were called whare kahu and acted as dedicated, protective spaces that “shielded the imminent mother as her body opened up to act as a doorway between the worlds” (p. 119). Henare confirms the connection between the word kahu Meaning Close Cloak and kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing noting the whare kahu – literally translates as ‘foetus house’ – and kahu referring to the amniotic sac surrounding the foetus (Henare, 2005, p. 218). Consider for a moment that, as mothers, we quite literally ‘cloak’ our children in a protective (kā)kahu before they are born, and this protective and nurturing kākahu Meaning Close Garment or clothing continues to be metaphorically woven and influenced by us, as mothers, once our children enter the world. 

Historically, kākahu or woven textiles surrounded children from the moment they entered the world. Elsdon Best (1929) recounts examples of basic woven kākahu being laid between the legs of the birthing mother to receive the child while more finely adorned garments were used to wrap the newborn child when presented to their people. Kākahu were often gifted to the newborn, depending on the child’s lineage, to enhance the mana of the child and of the people from whom it was gifted, in this way strengthening relationships and connections. 

The whenua-maternal-atua language of whatu reminds us that our children are embraced within a protective (kā)kahu before they enter the physical world and as mothers and kaiwhatu we hold those aho lovingly in our hands, aho that connect back to the past knowledge and beauty of our Hine te iwaiwa, Papatuanuku and other tupuna wahine in our whakapapa. As we weave back we also weave forward in to the future as we continue to re-weave and reclaim elements of Te Whare Pora frayed but never severed by colonisation including a renewed commitment to revitalise the reo and knowledge of Te Whare Pora. In this essay I argue that revitalising our toi practice absent of its reo is to only do half the job and leave us all with the perpetual wero (challenge) of how we individually and collectively honour the reo (terminology) embedded in each of our toi practices. Tihei Whatuora!