Pai Marire

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The Pai Marire movement was the first independent, organised Māori church in New Zealand, founded by Te Ua Haumene during the 1860s.

The Prophet or Founder was born in Taranaki, NZ, in the early 1820s. Around 1826 he and his mother were captured and enslaved by a rival tribe. His captors raised him taught him to read and write in Māori and it was during this time that he first read the New Testament and he was eventually baptised in the Wesleyan mission at Kawhia in 1834. In the 1840s he returned to Taranaki and continued his study of the Bible.

During the 1850s he became involved with the leaders of the developing Māori movement to oppose further sale of land to Pākehā government and he became a supporter of the King Movement

The 1860s found him fighting with the Waikato War against the European government and acting as a chaplain to the Māori soldiers. By the early 1860s Te Ua was part of a runanga (local board of management) which administered local government and also ensured that the boundary of the land (Aukati) which was covered by the Mana of the Māori King was undisturbed.

During this period the cornerstones of Te Ua's religious teaching were set:

  • The right of Māori to defend the boundaries of their territory,
  • A belief in national salvation of the Māori (from the white settlers) and
  • A deep suspicion that the missionaries were aiding and abetting the loss of Māori Land.

This came to head when in September 1862 the British steamer Lord Worsley beached itself at Te Namu in south-west Taranaki; this area was within the Aukati. Te Ua was caught between a compassionate feeling for the passengers and the Kingitanga law which required that trespassers be put to death[1]. His problem was resolved on the 5th September 1862 with a vision in which the Angel Gabriel announced to him that the last days (mentioned in the Book of Revelation) were at hand and that God had chosen Te Ua as a prophet who would cast out the Pākehā (white settlers) and restore Israel (the Maori) to their birthright in the land of Canaan (Aotearoa / NZ).

Vast energy was set in place by his visions and miracles and by January of the following year his church had been established, a focus had been provided for worship (a mast or niu) and a book Ua Rongo pai (the Gospel according to Ua) had been written which set out both the ethical teachings of the church and its organisation.

The goal of Te Ua's religion of Pai Marire, 'the Good and Peaceful' was to create a peaceful society in which righteousness and justice obtained. But it was inevitable that, given his belief in the rights of Māori to hold land which the settler Government was determined to take, that conflict between the two groups would arise and indeed it did.

Fighting began on April 6, 1864 a government patrol was ambushed near Ahuahu in Taranaki, it was slaughtered and the soldiers' heads taken in the traditional manner. In December 1864 two followers of Te Ua were sent from Te Ua to visit Hirini Te Kani at Gisborne. They were instructed to travel peacefully but ignored this instruction and as they travelled they exhorted the Māori to strong action against the Pākehā, especially missionaries. At a place called Opotiki, the Anglican Missionary C. S. Volkner, who had sided with the government in the land wars, was ritually killed on the 2nd March 1865.

Thus the difference between Pai Marire and the Hauhau: the Hauhau sprang out of the same faith, the same concerns for the treatment of the Māori but saw the resolution of the problems between Māori and Pākehā as requiring the use of force, whereas Pai Marire was essentially non-violent. Eventually Te Ua was taken into custody by Government troops, still preaching the peaceable kingdom of God; he was taken to Auckland (then the capital of New Zealand) and was held under a lenient custody at the home of Governor George Grey. In June of 1865 he was allowed to return to Taranaki where in October 1866 he died at Oeo.

Te Ua's concerns were:

  • Opposition to the alienation of Māori land,
  • opposition to the destruction of the Māori way of life, including the very successful Māori capitalistic ventures of the 1820s and 1830s which the Pākehā first rendered non-viable and then stole from the Maori.
  • As well he was convinced (as many, both Māori and Pākehā, were at the time) that the Māori were descendants of the Israelites and so God's promises made to the ancient Jewish people also applied to the Maori.

Although the Government attempted to suppress Pai Marire, it has never completely died out, although it has returned to non-violence. Every census down to the present day has shown a core of support in the Waikato area who state it as their religion.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ in the event, they were allowed to leave

[edit] References

  • Clark, P. (1975) Hauhau: The Pai Marire Search for Maori Identity. Auckland University Press/Oxford University Press. This is by far the best reference; earlier studies by Babbage and Winks are riddled with errors.
  • Cowan, J. (1922) The New Zealand wars. New Zealand Government Printer.
  • Head, L.F. (1992) The Gospel of Te Ua Haumene. Journal of the Polynesian Society vol 101:7-44. Complete text of Te Ua's own copy, now in the Grey Collection, Auckland Public Library.
  • Lyall, A. C. (1979) Whakatohea of Opotiki. AH & AW Reed.