Hauhauism

In the period of adjustment, during which their own religious beliefs were being abandoned and some Christian ones were being accepted, the Maori people created cults which provided an outlet for repressed fears and tensions. The best known of these was Hauhauism. This movement marked one of the first efforts of any Polynesian peoples to incorporate elements of Biblical teaching into their own traditional religious beliefs. Although it combined Maori and Christian customs it was not an advanced doctrine. Its appeal was simple and direct. It promised eternal salvation from the Pakeha and it could well have become a national religion involving some degree of political unity had its prophecies been fulfilled more successfully. The goal, if realised, of total destruction of Pakeha and Maori non-Hauhau believers would have seen all Maori dead rising from the grave and confronting the prophet and founder, Te Ua Haumene. All sick and crippled Maori people would have been cured and knowledge of all the best in European culture taught to the Maori. These were the teachings of Te Ua, who gained prestige during 1863 when claiming to be inspired by the Angel Gabriel and performing apparent miracles. Other commandments led to his founding the Pai Marire religion. He urged peaceful methods but, after the battle of Ahuahu in 1864, the cured heads of slain Europeans were sent to distant tribes to gain support for the movement.

Scholars differ over the word Hauhau but it occurs in the expression Rire, rire, hau, hau and its use came from that context. Hau also refers to wind, and Te Ua believed that Jehovah sent the angels upon the four winds to enter the bodies of the believers by streamers attached to the pole of worship. Hauhau gradually replaced Te Ua's original term Pai Marire, by which it was known in the early stages of its existence.

The act of worship centred on the Niu pole on the village marae. It was 15–80 ft high, straight, and crossed by yardarms with two curved knobs representing the gods Ruru and Riki. Rope streamers descended from the pole on the top of which was a flag. After assembling in military order, the followers marched clockwise round the pole to the accompaniment of chants of mixed nautical, military, and Biblical origin. With the increase in pace of marching, giddiness and emotional fervour caused people to stumble and impede the flow round the pole. This marked the end of a service of which there might be several each day.

Conversion was done through visiting a Hauhau village, being spoken to in “Hebrew”, and being told to gaze at the pole. After conditioning, the converts joined in the march and became Hauhaus. Some accounts say that scoffers at the service later began to tremble and eventually joined in. Protection in battle was believed possible by raising the right hand and repeating incantations which caused bullets to miss the faithful; any failure in the charm was attributed to lack of faith. Hauhauism brought people together against a common enemy and aided the development of an efficient military force. It introduced certain Christian beliefs into Maori life and by making the people conscious of religion it paved the way for its influential successor, the Ringatu religion.

One who rejected Pai Marire teachings was Te Whiti-o-Rongomai who settled at Parihaka in 1868 and devoted himself to a study of the Maori Bible. He became influential as a prophet and leader with a firm belief in passive resistance. Peace through self-sacrifice and goodwill by always showing hospitality were features of Te Whiti's teachings. He identified Maori with Jew: “Kenana (Canaan) was our first Hawaiki; our last Hawaiki was Rangiatea.” His movement was noted for its pacificist principles, its reliance on ancient Maori culture especially the poi dance and its symbol of the white feather worn in the hair. Followers of Te Whiti, although not numerous today, still meet at Parihaka on the eighteenth of each month.

Ringatu

The Ringatu faith owes its existence to Te Kooti Rikirangi of the Rongowhakaata tribe of Poverty Bay. His arrest following the battle of Waerenga-a-hika led to his deportation without trial to the Chatham Islands. There was a period in his captivity when Te Kooti studied the Bible very closely. Basing his studies on the Psalms, the Books of Joshua and Judges, he compiled numerous prayers containing scriptural verses and held religious services twice daily. Te Kooti's personal mana and Biblical interpretations converted the Hauhau prisoners to the new faith called Ringatu, after the upraised hand part of the old Hauhau ritual which, however, was retained as an act of homage to God and not as a means of averting bullets.

On 30 June 1868 Te Kooti's followers seized the schooner Rifleman and escaped to New Zealand where they landed at Whareongaonga, south of Poverty Bay. The pursuit of Te Kooti continued in various parts of the central North Island until 1883 when he was pardoned. During his lifetime the Ringatu movement grew in numbers and his prophecies claimed attention. His death at Ohiwa in 1893 fulfilled one of his prophecies concerning his own death which was to be by accident.

The Ringatu movement contains nothing of the fanatical Hauhau approach to worship. By contrast it is gentle and dignified with a lack of public demonstration which marked its predecessor. There are few church buildings as services are held in tribal meeting houses; there are no robes of office or stipendiary clergy; there are no articles of faith or written tradition. The church's leader or poutikanga, the mainstay or support, is elected every two years together with an executive of 12 members. They hear all grievances within the church, keep a record of all members qualified to perform marriage services, and report back to the general assembly of church members. Each parish has a tohunga whose speciality is church law while others called takuta engage in faith healing. The ordinary tohunga are men who follow their daily occupations and spend their evening hours studying and memorising scriptures. The reliance on memory alone is the main feature of the Ringatu ceremony as all chants and hymns are memorised while most prayers are extempore.

The evening of the eleventh of each month sees the first of seven services which are held during the period of the meeting. A bell rung by a church policeman summons the people to the service which does not commence until all are inside. Each service has a particular topic and everything builds up to the love feast held on the morning of the twelfth. This meal is lavish and is regarded as a love feast to God. It is followed by the most important service of the series, the communion. A final service is held before the people return home after breakfast the next morning. The Ringatu church is still influential in the Bay of Plenty. It is of interest historically for its rejection of Hauhauism and its acceptance of Christianity.

Prior to the First World War a cult derived indirectly from the Ringatu movement evolved in the heart of the Urewera country. Rua, a son of Kenana who was a follower of Te Kooti, claimed to succeed the latter as a spiritual leader and prophet. He lived at Maungapohatu where he built a temple, extracted contributions from his followers, and maintained several wives. His influence was most marked in the Bay of Plenty region, but it was police action which resulted in the diminution and final collapse of this influence. A breach of law over liquor led to his arrest at Maungapohatu in 1915. During this operation the police party exchanged shots with Rua's armed followers who were determined to protect their prophet. After a term of imprisonment Rua did not attempt to revive his movement in any militant form and he was content to conform to Government policy.

Ratana

The Ratana church owes its existence to the influence of Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana who came into prominence in 1920 as a faith healer. Visions and a feeling of destiny followed the cure of a child after days of prayer. His fame spread rapidly and Maori people travelled from all over New Zealand to be healed by Ratana who gave them something more than mere hope of physical well-being. At that time there was need of a moral stimulus following the end of the war and the beginning of economic uncertainty. The Maori people were in a mood to respond to leadership on a national scale and Ratana provided a means by which their frustrations could be channelled into some kind of creative outlet. By December 1920 Ratana was able to build a temple at Ratana pa to the opening of which 3,000 Maoris attended from all parts of New Zealand. At first the movement cooperated with Christian churches but gradually a separate church evolved with ritual that was unique. In 1925 the Anglican bishops of Auckland, Wellington, and Waiapu were so opposed to the Ratana movement that they threatened to excommunicate any Anglican who belonged to it. The process of growth in ritual had led to the introduction of Holy Angels into the formula of healing and the inscriptions of the church. The names Jesus and Christ had been omitted and Ratana the Mangai or mouthpiece (of God to men, and men to God) was glorified, particularly in the closing of prayers: “For the mouthpiece is our leader, now and forever, Amen”. The Pakeha hymn and song tunes first used by the church gave way to Ratana hymns exalting the movement and the Mangai rather than helping to spread Christian truths.

A system of church officials evolved with apostles as important pillars of the movement. They conducted services and were registered as officiating ministers within the meaning of the Marriage Act. Below them were the disciples who stood in for the apostles where necessary. Spiritual nurses were helpers who cared for the sick and ministered to their spiritual needs but did not encourage the use of medicine. The rejection of medicine was one point of criticism by medical and lay people who blamed Ratana for unnecessary deaths because of lack of medical care. This argument was countered by Ratana who stated that lack of faith and contact with unbelieving Pakehas were the causes of relapses and death.

The movement took on nationalistic leanings and attention was given to the Treaty of Waitangi and the wrongs affecting the Maori people. From such an attitude it was a short, inevitable step to the field of politics. In 1922 Ratana supported his son as a candidate for Western Maori but it was not until 1931 that the first Ratana candidate was successful. Since then the Ratana movement has identified itself with Labour Party politics and has virtually controlled the four Maori seats in Parliament. In recent years the number of Ratana adherents has declined significantly but their influence in politics is still considerable.

Recent Trends

Apart from cults evolved by the Maori people themselves, all the main Christian denominations show fluctuations in the number of their adherents over the past 30 years. The Anglican church had the greatest proportion in 1956, amounting to just over 32 per cent of the total Maori population, but it has shown a recent decline while the next largest sect, the Roman Catholic, stood at nearly 16 per cent in 1956. Both the Methodist and Mormon faiths comprise about 7 per cent of the Maori population and both have shown a slight but steady increase over the 30-year period. The Mormon church has a large number of youthful followers and the vigorous policy of that church seems to appeal to young Maoris. Young missionaries from the United States engage in community projects, sports activities, and church social meetings. Their work seems more closely attuned to the outlook of the younger section of their following. The most spectacular of their efforts are the erection of a great carved meeting house at Nuhaka and a fine, multi-purpose school at Tuhi-karamea, near Hamilton. Although all the religious faiths have done sound social work, the Presbyterian and Methodist – and more recently, Baptist and Brethren – Maori missions have worked quietly and successfully without much publicity. All, however, are helping in a difficult period for the Maori people when their future may be more with urban societies than in rural, partly tradition-directed communities.

by John Bruce Palmer, B.A., Curator, Fiji Museum, Suva.

• New Zealand Wars and the Pioneering Period (2 vols.), Cowan, James (1955)
• Pictures of Old New Zealand, Cowan, James (1930)
• The Upraised Hand, Greenwood, W. (1942)
• Journal of the Polynesian Society, Vol. 62 (1953), “The Doctrine of Hauhauism”, Winks, Robin.