Some of Māoridom’s most esteemed holders of traditional knowledge have held what’s only the second national gathering of tohunga in modern times.
Organiser Pou Temara says the hui at Te Whare Wananga o Awanuiarangi was called by Sir Hirini Moko Mead, who also called the first such hui in 1985 to prepare for the return of the Te Maori exhibition from the United States.
Since that time there has been a revival of many old practices.
The hui included 12 tohunga who have been initiated in the traditional way and about 20 of their students, but in the past every hapu would have had a tohunga looking after its well being.
“The rangatira worked in collaboration with the tohunga and it was the rangatira who made the advice of the tohunga, put it into practice, so there was always this collaboration between the intellectual tohunga of the hapu and the rangatira,” Professor Temara says.
he tohunga can range in age, with some like Ngati Kahungunu’s Jeremy Tatere Macleod being the problem solver, baptising childen in the Maori way and also leading his iwi’s revival in language and culture.
