Mana Whenua

I’m looking out the window at the harakeke and tī-rākau swaying in the wind and am reminded of the whakatauki, “whatu ngaro ngaro te tangata, toi tū te whenua – people may perish but the land still remains.”
Power lines are down, road signs have been blown over but the land remains…
koru hand painted rocks
I’ve always known harakeke to be a resilient plant, to withstand the strength of the most fierce wind, rain, cold, dry and still its roots hold strongly to the earth. The land will always remain…
I am also reminded of our connection to the whenua and why we hold strongly our own roots to the earth – I am the land and the land is me…
Ka tukuna atu te kohatu mauri nei ki tāwahi hei kaitiaki hei oranga mō ngā tāngata whenua o te ao. Ngā mihi ki a Leonie Pihama, i tono mai ki a au. Māna te kohatu nei e kawe hei te wiki e tu mai nei…
Me te kupu whakamutunga ki a Matua Huirangi Waikerepuru – nāna i whakamohio mai ki a au i te tikanga o te mauri. Ko te mauri mai i te maunga tae atu ki te moana kei roto i te kohatu nei… just as the life giving waters flow from the mountain to the sea and so this rock carries those stories of that journey and is now going on another journey…
Arohanui,
Jo x

One thought on “Mana Whenua

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.