Maori Times, Maori Places: Prophetic Histories (review)

This book is the result of long-term field research among the followers of a Christian Māori movement in the Whanganui region on the North Island of New Zealand. They refer tothemselves as the Māramatanga movement, meaning literally "lightness" or "clarity," while also evoking the connotation of lucidity or discernment. The contemporary Māramatanga movement shares its name with the following of Mere Rikiriki, the famous prophetess of Parewanui, who was responsible for introducing the New Testament into Māori beliefs at the beginning of the twentieth century. In addition, she is known as the aunt of Wīremu Rātana, who was seen as "mouthpiece" or mediator for Jehovah and became nationally recognized as Māori prophet and founder of a movement that is politically highly influential until today.

Mere Rikiriki was mainly active as afaithhealer.Onher deathshepassed her gifts and talents on to Hori Enoka Mareikura, under whose auspices she also requested that her rā wairua (commemorative celebration day) be observed. As visionary, seer, and healer, Mareikura became acknowledged head of the Māramatanga movement during the second decade of the twentieth century. Mareikura and his following saw Māramatanga as distinct from the Rātana movement, since he focused mainly on spiritual activities such as the removal of tapu from sacred places, while Rātana became more involved in political activities such as the struggle for the recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi.

The current movement finds its origin in the death of Mareikura's granddaughter, Lena Ruka, who died suddenly at the age of sixteen in 1935. After her body had been laid in the coffin she began to communicate to her family. Her wairua (spirit) initially addressed the mourners through her mother's body, but in the course of time she has channeled her messages also through other persons. Lena's soul or spiritual essence has continued to contact and guide her extended family over the past seventy years, during which she became known as TeKarere oTeAroha, or "TheMessenger of Love." Te Karerehas offered her family, their relations, and friends guidance from the transcendent world by conveying knowledge and inspiration in the form of messages, epigrams, chants, songs, and dreams. This enduring and growing corpus ofknowledgehascausedthe members of the Māramatanga movement to believe that they are guided and guarded by spiritual forces. The privilege of direct communication with the supernatural world has reassured them time and again that they are being offered succor by forces that supersede the human in a changing and often disconcerting world.

This book offers a detailed ethnohistorical account of the development of the Māramatanga movement against the background of the colonization of New Zealand and the religious influence of the Catholic mission. The focus is mainly on genealogical relationships among the adherents of the movement in the context of a regional history of the Whanganui district. In addition, the author elaborates at great length on memorable events in the history of the movement, such as an ascent of Mount Ruapehu, New Zealand's largest volcano, which marked the transfer of leadership across generations in 1962. The mission to the mountain was like a pilgrimage, which culminated in the placement of a painting of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour at the summit, thus contesting government control over resources that Māori treasure as part of their natural and cultural heritage. The mission to the mountain also involved an interesting inversion of a well-known Catholic symbol, which Māori now consider as a source of strength and sustenance that will lead to Māori rather than European redemption.

Other case studies in this book record the Māramatanga tradition ofpilgrimages toWaitangi, where in 1840 a treaty was signed between the British colonizers and a number of Māori chiefs, and the mission undertaken by elders of the movement to repatriate...