April 05, 2022
Weave your own coffin natural approach
A Tūhourangi-Ngāti Wāhiao whānau has set aside part of its whenua for natural burials.
Lynnette Walmsley says the idea came from efforts to revegetate the 54-hectare block at Horohoro southwest of Rotorua.
Rather than just plant trees, they could plant themselves.
Trustees have reserved about 5 hectares for the urupā and set the tikanga, such as making graves a metre deep rather than six feet under.
“We will not be embalmed, We will be in waka that are organic and biodegradable, and some of us are choosing to learn to weave kōpaki, which is like a woven whāriki. Others may choose a plain wooden coffin. Others may choose a shroud,” Ms Walmsley says.
There won’t be stone monuments, but whānau can put up biodegradable structures above the grave and also plant a tree beside or on top of it.