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Ngāti Raukawa


by Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal

Raukawa is an aromatic plant which Māhinaarangi used as perfume for her nightly rendezvous with her Tainui lover, Tūrongo. They named their son, the ancestor of Ngāti Raukawa, after the plant. Their marriage bound together important Tainui and East Coast families and even today, some 20–25 generations later, their courtship is recounted on marae.

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Main image: The raukawa plant

The raukawa plant


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