Story: Whāngai – customary fostering and adoption

Rewi Maniapoto and whāngai son, 1879

Rewi Maniapoto and whāngai son, 1879

Ngāti Maniapoto chief Rewi Maniapoto (right) wears a cloak and holds a patu (club), while his adopted son Ngāmotu Pateriki wears European dress and also holds a patu. As is often the case with whāngai adoptions, Ngāmotu was related to Rewi – he was the son of his relation Ngāmotu.

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Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 1/2-092107
Photograph by Elizabeth Pulman

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page:

Basil Keane, 'Whāngai – customary fostering and adoption - The custom of whāngai', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/31026/rewi-maniapoto-and-whangai-son-1879 (accessed 29 March 2024)

Story by Basil Keane, published 5 May 2011, updated 1 Jun 2017