HAKAPAPA OF WATER

In a recent article for Spin-Off, Tina Ngata of Ngāti Porou, described the hakapapa of water to help people understand the prevailing Māori perspective on the current freshwater debate.  Her discourse is too important to summarise, so I have taken the liberty of quoting her opening statements extensively, as follows:

“Our world, Te Ao Māori, is a hakapapa – one vast genealogical chart that connects us as siblings, mutually dependent upon all that surrounds us in this time, and across time.

“Water first manifests in this genealogy as Wainuiātea – the great expanse of water, the gathering of all waters – who was the first partner of Ranginui, the Sky Father. Freshwater first appears as a consequence of the parting of Ranginui, Sky Father, from Papatūānuku, Earth Mother. Their grief and yearning for each other presents as the teardrops (rain) of Ranginui and the sighs (mist) of Papatūānuku.

“We can therefore see freshwater as the inevitable consequence of atmosphere, upon which all life depends. It is brought about through the separation of land and sky, held in place through the Atua Tāne, in the form of trees.

“In this form, Tāne is known as Tāne-Toko-Rangi – Tāne who holds up the sky. However, one of his multitude of other forms is Tāne te Waiora – Tāne of the life-giving waters, of light, well-being and prosperity. It was the union of Tāne te Waiora and Hinetūparimaunga, the Atua of mountains, that brought about Parawhenuamea, personification of freshwater on land.

“That first sacred teardrop became Te Ihorangi, Atua of rain, parent of the hundreds of different forms of rain and snow that each had its own name, and also parent of Tuna, the freshwater eel. Once born, Tuna was given into the care of Parawhenuamea and Hinemoana, Atua of freshwater and saltwater.

“Hakapapa helped us to consider the consequences of our actions across multiple spaces and make sense of what was happening around us. Indeed, relationships – hakapapa – are regularly cited as a foundational principle of Te Ao Māori.

“Māori scholars have often reflected upon the severe impacts of the loss of Mana Atua upon our people’s well-being, upon our perception of the world around us and our place in it… What was once a relationship based upon connectedness and reciprocity between us and our non-human ancestors thereby shifts towards one of dominion over and ownership of assets.”

In closing, I note that the above shift is not only unhealthy and unhelpful, it is all too often matched by a shift in the longstanding relationships between whānau, hapū and iwi (humans related by hakapapa) from reciprocity towards rancour over who has rights and responsibilities over which wai.  In the meantime, the wai itself is degrading and dying right before our eyes.

It is way past time that we remembered or relearnt all of our hakapapa to each other, including to water, because ultimately, all life depends on it.