traditional knowledge conference 2008 te tatau pounamu

teenager; I thought I was getting paid back for being naughty. It took 25 years to understand, andaccept, medical proof she died of cancer and not my teenage behaviour. I lived her death once againwhen I discovered this.We refer to our connection to the land as, “Ko Papatūānuku e takoto nei” (“Earthmother lying herebefore us”). Papatūānuku embodies the earthly elements of our universe. She is the eternal mother andis separated from our celestial father, Ranginui (Skyfather). She lies below us, he above us, and we existin the space they have permitted between. We are their children as were our ancestors before, as will beour grandchildren who are yet to come.It is said that when we die we will return to her. We will return to the earth. However, none of ourtraditions says she has left us, none of our stories says she is separated from us. In fact they say theexact opposite. We acknowledge her presence repeatedly. Our traditions and daily exchanges revere herand acknowledge her omnipresence.What our stories do talk about is the pain and anguish Papatūānuku and Ranginui feel at theirseparation from each other, but not ours from her. In fact our narratives say she chose to be with us atthe expense of losing her husband to the heavens. Daily we are reminded of their heartache. Our storiessay the early morning mists are their intimate exchanges. We honour the decision they made to create aworld and space for us, albeit separated from each other, by reciting their names in union in ourceremonies and ritual exchanges.Ko Ranginui e tū iho nei(Ranginui who looks down from the heavens)Ko Papatūānuku e takoto nei(Papatūānuku lying here before us).The notion of motherloss for Māori is incomprehensible. We do not have a cultural knowledgebank to deal with cultural motherloss. My iwi ecology defines my consciousness and informs myteachings and knowledge. What I hear daily from my elders, as they live and nourish our rituals andceremonies, is the presence and link to our mother, not the separation and loss of a mother. When wefragment and tease out our worldviews, when we individualize concepts, they become artificial. Ourworld is unbalanced. Motherloss is a non-Māori concept. We feel loss and we experience it for the lossit is, but it belongs to a complete consciousness and is not separate.However, the notion of losing a mother and the impact that would have on iwi consciousness andworldview is not underestimated. The honouring we bestow on Papatūānuku reinforces the importanceand significance of the role a mother plays. In fact I propose that Papatūānuku is the pivotal character inthe puni kuia I have already spoken about. This is the cluster of female relatives that every mother has aduty to create around her daughter in order that she will never feel abandoned of a mother’s love.Literally, the essential spirituality of Papatūānuku and being beyond death ensure that she, of all, will bemother to her daughters forever. What my traditions have effectively done is create commandingenvironmental laws and authority. We can never know what it would be like to lose our motherPapatūānuku. To experience that loss is to lose the world.Last week Molly Pardoe from Tūranganui ā Kiwa was honoured as a Member of the New ZealandOrder of Merit. She created an annual event we have called Survivor Idol. It is similar to New ZealandIdol and American Idol in that it is a talent show with judges. But apart from that it is an entirelyTūranganui ā Kiwa, home-grown, innovation and response. Contestants, primarily young people, areasked to write and perform original compositions dealing with “anti drink drive” messages. It is an antidrink drive campaign aimed at youth. It has been hugely successful.Her latest project is occurring in our local girls’ high school. She is creating relationships betweengrandmothers and students. She places grandmothers with female students. Some of the first exchangesare sitting and weaving together. This allows trust and rapport to develop. This is the tradition ofcreating female love around daughters. It is about creating the potency of love and being loved. It is145