kawakawa
1. (noun) kawakawa, pepper tree, Macropiper excelsum - a small, densely-branched tree with heart-shaped leaves. Found throughout the North Island and as far south as Banks Peninsula. Used for ceremonies, including removing tapu, for medicinal purposes, and as a symbol of death.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 124-125;)
Tīparetia tōu rae ki te rau kawakawa (TWMNT 8/2/1876:34). / Adorn your forehead with kawakawa leaves.
2. (noun) dark to rich green variety of greenstone - resembles the leaves of the kawakawa shrub.
Heoi, whakamanawanui tonu, ka kitea ngā kōwhatu pounamu i konei e Hine-ahu. Nō te tangihanga o Hine-ahu, koia te tangiwai. Nō te nui o tōna rangatiratanga, koia te kahurangi; mō tōna tīparetanga ki te kawakawa koia te kawakawa (JPS 1914:8). / Nevertheless, they went on with stout hearts, and then Hine-ahu discovered some greenstone. Because of her lamentations it was called 'tangiwai'. Because of her rank the kahurangi greenstone was so named; and from her making of headband of kawakawa leaves the kawakawa greenstone variety was named.
pare kawakawa
1. (noun) mourning wreath (for the head), chaplet - garland of greenery worn by women at tangihanga.
tā i te kawa
1. (verb) to strike with a branch of kawakawa, perform the kawa ceremony - when dedicating a new building or canoe.
Ko ia tētahi o ngā tohunga i tonoa kia haere ki te tā i te kawa o Rauru, he whare whakairo i Te Whakarewarewa (TTR 1994:89-90). / He was one of the tohunga invited to open the carved house, Rauru, at Whakarewarewa.
See also tānga o te kawa, kawa, kawa, kawanga whare, tā
tānga o te kawa
1. tapu removal ceremony, striking with a branch of kawakawa, performing the kawa ceremony - when dedicating a new building or canoe.
Nāna i whakahaere ngā mahi taka kai mō te whakatuwheratanga o te whare nui i Waitangi i Pēpuere o te tau 1940, ā, tomokia ana hoki e ia te paepae, i te tānga o te kawa o taua whare (TTR 2000:41). / She organised catering for the opening of the meeting house at Waitangi in February 1940 and crossed the threshold first in the tapu removal ceremony of that house.
See also tā
Synonyms: tāinga o te kawa
tāinga o te kawa
1. (noun) tapu removal ceremony, striking with a branch of kawakawa, performing the kawa ceremony - when dedicating a new building or canoe.
Ā te Poutū-te-rangi o tērā tau te tāinga o te kawa o tō tātou tipuna whare (HKK 1999:14). / The tapu removal ceremony of our ancestral meeting house will be in March next year.
See also tā i te kawa
Synonyms: tānga o te kawa
tangihanga
1. (noun) weeping, crying, funeral, rites for the dead, obsequies - one of the most important institutions in Māori society, with strong cultural imperatives and protocols. Most tangihanga are held on marae. The body is brought onto the marae by the whānau of the deceased and lies in state in an open coffin for about three days in a wharemate. During that time groups of visitors come onto the marae to farewell the deceased with speech making and song. Greenery is the traditional symbol of death, so the women and chief mourners often wear pare kawakawa on their heads. On the night before the burial visitors and locals gather to have a pō mihimihi to celebrate the person's life with informal speeches and song. In modern times, on the final day the coffin is closed and a church service is held before the body is taken to the cemetery for burial. A takahi whare ritual is held at the decease's home and a hākari concludes the tangihanga.
(Te Pihinga Study Guide (Ed. 1): 80-82; Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 56-57; Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 109-112;)
Ka mōhio ana te iwi kāinga he tūpāpaku tō rātau, ka haere katoa mai rātau ki te marae ki te tangi. Ka mutu ana tā rātau nei tangi, kua wātea rātau ki te whakapai i ngā moenga o roto i te wharenui mō ngā ope whakaeke, ā, ki te taka kai anō hoki mā aua ope. Ko tēnei te mahi a te iwi kāinga - he mahi i ngā mahi e pā ana ki tēnei mea ki te manaaki tangata. Ko te mahi a ngā koroua he whaikōrero, he mihi ki ngā ope whakaeke. Ko te mahi a ngā kuia he karanga i ngā ope whakaeke, ā, he tangi. Kāore kē he āwangawanga o te whānau pani ki te manaaki i te manuhiri. Ko tā rātau mahi he noho i te taha o te tūpāpaku tae noa ki te rā e ngaro ai te tūpāpaku ki te kōpū o Papatūānuku...Ka hemo ana te tangata ka uhia ia ki te tapu...Ka haria ake ana te tūpāpaku ki te marae, ka whakatakotoria ki roto i te wharemate...Kātahi ka tīmata te whakaeke mai o ngā manuhiri o ētahi atu wāhi ki te tangi, ki te mihi, ki te poroporoaki ki te tūpāpaku. (RR 1974:20-21). / When the home people know that they have a body of a deceased person they all come to the marae to mourn. When their weeping is finished they are free to prepare the beds in the meeting house for the visiting parties and to prepare food for those groups. This is the task of the home people - carrying out the tasks of providing hospitality. The job of the elderly men is making speeches and greeting the groups coming on. The task of the elderly women is calling on the visiting groups, and weeping. The bereaved family do not have to worry about hosting the visitors. Their task is to sit beside the body right up until the deceased disappears into the womb of Papatūānuku...When a person dies he/she becomes tapu...When the body is taken to the marae it is laid out in a wharemate...Then the visitors of other places begin to arrive to weep, greet and make farewell speeches to the deceased.
See also wharemate, kirimate, whānau pani, pō mihimihi, poroporoaki, pare kawakawa, takahi whare
Synonyms: tangi
2. (noun) sound, playing.
I runga i tana kōhatu a Hinemoa e noho ana i te tangihanga mai o te kōauau a Tūtānekai i Mokoia (TTT 1/6/1927:599). / Hinemoa was sitting on her rock when Tūtānekai played his flute on Mokoia Island.
Synonyms: pureitanga
kawanga whare
1. (noun) house-opening ceremony - the formal pre-dawn ceremony to open a new building, especially a meeting house. Because the newly carved house has been made of timber from the forests of the atua, Tāne-mahuta, and because there are carved figures of ancestors around the walls of the meeting house, the tapu on the house has to be lifted so that the building can be used by everybody. The tohunga recites karakia outside the building and the building is named. There are three karakia used, the first about Rātā, an early ancestor who was a carver and builder of canoes, and the birds of the forest which have to be appeased. The second karakia is to lift the tapu from the building and the tools used, and the third is an appeal to the atua to make the house stable and firm, to avert accidents and to make it a pleasant dwelling place. Then the tohunga and a ruahine (an older woman of rank and past child-bearing age), or a young girl, enter the house treading over the door sill, called takahi i te paepae tapu. Traditionally they would carry a cooked kūmara as well. Everybody follows the tohunga into the house as he moves around from the left side (facing out) of the house to the right. The tohunga strikes each of the carved figures with kawakawa leaves, as he moves around the house.
(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 170-171;)
See also kawa whakaara, kawa waere, kawa whakahoro, kawa tuainuku, kawa ahoahonga, kawa ora, kawa whakaotinga, kawa
