ruahine
1. (verb) to become elderly, grow old - of a woman.
I a Te Puea ka ruahine haere, ka pupū ake te wehi o te rangatahi i a rātou e mātakitaki ana i a ia e whakahaere ana i ngā take a te marae (TTR 1996:52). / As Te Puea grew older the young ones were in awe of her while they were watching her directing the affairs of the marae.
3. (noun) woman of importance used in certain ceremonies for the removal of tapu, e.g. house openings - normally this would be the eldest female from a family of rank.
I te patunga i ngā tautīaki, me te paepae-tapu-nui-a-Tāne tae noa ki te pikitanga a te ruahine i te paepae-tapu-nui-a-Tāne; me te whakatuwheratanga o te tatau; me te pikitanga i te paepae poto a te ruahine: kāore i te eke ngā karakia e hāngai ai te piki i ngā paepae e rua me te whakatuwhera o te tatau (TTT 1/5/1930:2055). / From the striking of the upright posts beneath the front bargeboards of the meeting house and the sacred threshold of Tāne including the climbing over of the sacred threshold of Tāne by the ruahine; the opening of the door; the climbing over of the door sill by the ruahine; the ritual chants used were not appropriate for stepping over the two thresholds and the opening of the door.
Ngā Ruahine-rangi
1. (personal noun) tribal group south of Mount Taranaki, often shortened to Ngā Ruahine.
(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 89;)
E hia kē hoki ngā mea i tautapatia i taua wā engari ko Ōraukawa o Ngā Ruahine te mea i āta whāia rawatia (TTR 1990:353). / Many such nominations were made at that time, but Ōraukawa of Ngā Ruahine was a more serious candidate.
hurihanga takapau
1. (noun) ritual performed when warriors return from battle and require the tapu on them to be removed - included the kindling of two fires. One fire, the ahi horokaka was where the priest ate a kūmara and at the ahi ruahine a woman also ate a single kūmara. It was the woman who removed the tapu. This ceremony was accompanied by karakia. The warriors involved did not eat the kūmara.
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
