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whāngai hau

1. (noun) ceremonial offering of food to an atua - a rite of presenting the hau to the atua with an offering or incantation.

Ka hiahia te tangata kia mate tōna hoariri, nā me tiki ia i tētahi wāhi o te kahu, tētahi o ngā huruhuru rānei o te māhunga o taua tangata, tētahi mea noa atu rānei kua pā ki te tinana o taua tangata, arā, o tōna hoariri, ka mutu ka mauria taua mea ki te tohunga hei whāngai hau; ā (ki te mea ka rahi he utu māna) ka karakiatia taua mea e te tohunga, kātahi ka werohia te tangata rā e ngā atua o te tohunga, ka nohoia rānei tōna tinana e aua atua, ka mate hoki ia, ka hemo rawa atu, arā ki te kore ia e kite i tētahi tohunga kaha rawa kia ripaia tōna mate; kātahi ka hoki mai ki te kai i a ia ngā atua o te tohunga nāna nei i mākutu te tangata e mate ana,— he mea tāiro hoki (TWMNT 14/12/1875:294). / A man, wishing to destroy his enemy, had to procure a portion of his garment, one of the hairs of the head of that person, or anything which had been in contact with the person's body, that is his enemy, and then it is taken to the tohunga with an offering of food, and (if the payment is considered sufficient) the tohunga would perform certain incantations over it, and then the man, pierced by tohunga's atua, his body is invaded by those atua, and he becomes sick and dies, unless he were able to procure the services of a more powerful tohunga to ward off his illness; in which case the tohunga who had bewitched the man would die because it would cause him to be destroyed by his own atua.

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Synonyms: tāpaetanga, koha, whakahere, tuku

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