koha
1. (noun) gift, present, offering, donation, contribution - especially one maintaining social relationships and has connotations of reciprocity. In the modern context, in many tribes the koha is laid down on the marae by the visitors' last speaker in the form of money collected prior to going onto the marae at the pōhiri, but not all tribes agree with this practice. Such koha would be intended for the marae and to be reciprocated at some time in the future, but koha given quietly to a leader in person (kōkuhu) would be intended to defray the costs of the hui. Some tribes prefer to call such donations whakaaro or kohi, because of the conotations of tapu associated with the words takoha or its shortened form of koha. In traditional Māori society the koha often took the form of food which was usually delivered directly to the place where the food was prepared and would not be presented on the marae. If the koha took the form of a valuable cloak, ornament or weapon, the way the gift was presented indicated whether the gift was intended to be returned at some future time, or not.
Ko te koha e tukuna ana ki runga i te marae, mō te marae ake, arā, mō ngā raruraru o te marae. Ko ngā koha e hoatu ā-tinana ana ki te tangata nāna te hui, ka haere hei āwhina i ngā raruraru o taua hui (TWK 39:4). / Koha presented on the marae is for that marae, that is, for the needs of the marae. Koha given in person to the person holding the gathering goes to help defray the costs of that gathering.
See also takoha
Synonyms: tāpaetanga, whakahere, whāngai hau, tuku, kōparepare, hākari, tuari, onāianei, whakaari, whakawhiwhi, whakahiku, tāpae, perehana, whiu
