TUATUA I TE OROORO

A KARAKIA FOR PEACE
"Tuuaatuaa i te orooro"

He hohou rongo
.
Tuuaatuuaa. I te orooro, i te oromea, i tukitukia ai koe, i taitaia ai koe, oi kiri Tangaroa.
Tere te nuku nei, tere angaia. Tuutaria ki tenei maanuka, tuutaria ki teenei ngahoa. Kaapiti hono.
Purua too taringa kia turi, kia hoi. Kei whakarongo koe ki te koorero iti. Ko te koorero iti, ko tahu-hunu, ko tahu-rere, ko te hau-aitu.
Rere mai te maramara koi hopiri, koi hotau. Rere mai te mangamanga, koi hopiri, koi hotau. Torotika! E tuu te maota, hee!
Tuutakina i te iwi. Tuutakina i te toto. Tuutakina i te kiko. Tuutakina i te uaua. Tuutakina kia uu. Tuutakina kia mau.
Teenei te rangi ka tuutaki. Teenei te rangi ka ruruku. Teenei te papa ka wheuka.
E Rangi e, awhitia. E Papa e, awhitia. Naau ka awhi, ka awhi. Naau ka aaka, ka aaka. Naau ka toro, ka toro. Tupu he toka whenua, tupu he toka Mata-te-raa.
Na wai i hoomai? Na te pakanga i hoomai. Na te riri i hoomai. Na ngaa taangata i hoomai. I hoomai ki a wai? I hoomai ki te kikokiko. Kei te kikokiko, kei te tini honohono, he manawa ka irihia nei e Tuu-matauwenga.
E Tuu-ka-riri, e Tuu-ka-nguha, e Tuu-ka-aaritarita! E tuu i te korikori, e tuu i te whetaa, e tuu i te whaiao, e tuu i te ao maarama.
Ko maiea. Maiea ngaa atua. Maiea ngaa patu. Maiea ngaa taangata. Ko maiea.
A karakia for binding peace.

Come forth, from the rubbing backwards and forwards. You have been battered, you have been knocked about, by the skin of Tangaroa. Move swiftly, swiftly and straight ahead.
Bind it [peace] tight to this maanuka, to this new shoot. You are bound tight.
Plug your ears. Be deaf. Be unmoved. Don't listen to small talk. It is small talk that sparks off apprehension, that sparks off dread, that makes you start with fear.
Fly together, chips and shavings. Stick fast together. Hold fast together. Fly together, bits of branches. Stick fast together. Hold fast together.
Stretch straight upwards. Look, the young green tree stands.
Join the bones together. Join the blood together. Join the flesh together. Join the sinews together. Join them so they will be firm. Join them so they will hold fast.
It is the heavens which join. It is the heavens which bind together. It is the earth which strengthens and supports. Heavens, embrace us. Earth, embrace us. What you embrace, is indeed embraced. What you cherish is truly cherished. What you stretch out and join stays stretched out and joined.
It grows, a rock of the land, a rock like Mata-te-raa.
Where did it [the binding, the strength] come from? It came out of the war. It came out of the fighting. It came from the people.
Who was it given to? It was given to the flesh. The flesh, the many peoples bound together, their spirit is lifted up by Tuu-matauenga.
Angry Tuu, raging Tuu, Tuu burning up inside! Stand firm in the waving. Stand firm in the brandishing. Be established in light. Be established in full daylight.
We emerge with all acknowledged and satisfied. The atua are satisfied. The weapons are satisfied. The people are satisfied. We emerge with all acknowledged and satisfied! "Tuuaatuaa i te orooro" is a karakia for peace which WiremuTe Rangikaheke used to open his account of Maori religious traditions written for Governor Grey in 1849.
Here I analyze it as an example of an individual karakia which, though not part of any complex ritual, is highly formalized, speaking the 'words of the ancestors', using traditional ideas and symbols, and following the traditional structure of the karakia of the major rituals.
What follows is an edited transcription and translation of the karakia.
Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke

Wiremu Maihi Te Rangikaheke, born about 1815, was a Te Arawa tribal leader who belonged to the Ngaati Kereruu hapuu of Ngaati Rangi-wewehi. He was the author of many of the manuscripts in Grey's New Zealand Maori Manuscript collection, being responsible for over 800 pages of these manuscripts. Most of Te Rangikaheke's writings, including manuscript 81, were written for Governor Grey. In general, his purpose in writing the manuscripts was to give a comprehensive and chronological account of the past, to connect this past to the present, and to claim mana and land for his tribe. He explicitely aimed to ensure the accuracy and comprehensiveness of his account of history.
His specific purpose in writing manuscript 81 was to give Governor Grey an ordered account of Maori religious ideas and observances.
The text of the karakia, written in clear and neat handwriting, has its own distinctive orthography, an orthography expressing a spoken, rather than written, text. Full stops indicate breaks in the recital of the karakia, not necessarily the ends of sentences. Paragraphs, marked by a new line, probably also indicate breaks in the recitation of the chant. Capitals mark emphasis. Te Rangikaheke rarely uses 'wh', an indication that he learnt to write before 'wh' was first printed, which was in 1844.
The following is the text in Te Rangikaheke's own orthography :
He Hohou Rongo.

Tuatua i te orooro i te oromea i tukitukia ai koe i aitaia ai koe Ooi Kiritangaroa: tere te nuku nei tere angaia tutaria ki tenei manuka, Tutaria ki teenei ngahoa kapiti hono. Purua to taringa kia turi kia hoi kei whakarongo koe ki te korero iti ko te korero iti ko tahu-hunu ko tahu-rere ko te hau-aitu. Rere mai te maramara koiho piri koiho tau, rere mai te mangamanga, koi ho piri, koi ho tau torotika e tu te maota hee;-
tutakina i te iwi, tutakina i te toto tutakina i te Kiko tutakina i te uaua tutakina kia uu tutakina kia mau tenei te rangi ka tutaki tenei te rangi ka ruruku tenei te Papa ka weuka. e rangi e awitiia e papae awitiia nau kawi kawi nau ka aka ka aka nau ka toro ka toro, tupu he toka wenua tupu he toka mata-tera. na wai i ho mai na te Pakanga i ho mai, na te riri i ho mai, na nga tangata i ho mai, i ho mai kia wai i ho mai ki te kikokiko kei te kikokiko kei te tini honohono he manawa ka irihia nei e Tuu-matau wenga. e Tuukariri e Tuukanguha e tuu karitarita e tu i te korikori e tu i te wetaa e tu i te waiao e tu i te Aomarama ko mai ea, maiea nga atua, maiea nga patu, maiea nga tangata Ko Maieea.
Other Versions

There are several other versions of this karakia.
When Governor Grey was farewelled at the end of 1853, this was one of the karakia included by the Te Arawa people in their address, Te Rangikaheke being their spokesperson.
In the published version of the address, only the first part of the karakia, from Tuuaatuuaa to ka ruruku, is given. And in this, the section beginning Rere mai te maramara is left out, as well as the lines Tuutaria ki teenei ngahoa. Kaapiti hono. The translation given by Davis is a very free translation, beginning 'O cause the troubled wave to sleep, and silent keep the sea'. Probably the whole karakia was recited by Te Rangikaheke for Davis's translation includes the phrase: 'And wave his tuft of green'.
This phrase could be a translation of E tuu i te korikori. E tuu i te wheta, 'Stand firm in the waving. Stand firm in the brandishing', part of the final section which does not appear in the published version of the address.
The purpose of the section of the karakia, or more likely the whole of the karakia, included in the address to Governor Grey was, as indicated by the translation, to calm the seas and provide for a safe journey for the Governor.
A similar karakia was published by Takanui Tarakawa and later by Grace and Stafford. Tarakawa describes his version as a karakia recited by Houmaitawhiti in his farewell address to his people as they set out on their journey across the seas.
The Tarakawa version, followed by Grace and Stafford, gives an extension of two of the phrases. Where Te Rangikaheke's version has the very cryptic: Kaapiti hono, Tarakawa's version has:
Tupu te mahara, tupu ki roto. Kia honoa koe, e Tama, ki te hono tawhito.
'Let the thought grow, Grow within. Be bound, Oh Son, with the ancient bond.'
Also, an explanation is added to the phrase, Ko te hau aitu:
Kiihai te kanohi i titiro. Ko te taringa i whakarongo.
'The eye did not see. But the ear heard.'
These two additions suggest that Tarakawa felt a need to explain some of the formulas. Perhaps he felt that as the karakia dropped out of use some of the very cryptic sayings were no longer being understood.
Cowan and Grace give another karakia which has similarities with the first section of Te Rangikaheke's karakia. It begins
Teenei toka nuku. Cowan states that he received it from a direct descendent of Ngatoro-i-rangi, the priest on the Te Arawa canoe. He adds that it was a ruruku or 'firmly-binding' karakia, recited by Ika, one of the chiefs on the canoe, to save the canoe from destruction.
Another version, entitled simply: He karakia, 'A karakia', is given in an undated Grey manuscript written before 1854, GNZMMSS 70:763-5. It is a variation that appears to have been influenced by Western Christianity. There is no reference to Tuu in the final section, nor is there any reference to warfare. Instead the final section speaks of aroha, 'love', as the source from which we come and there is also a reference to te raakau, 'the tree', which could be a reference to the cross of the Christian. The section beginning Rere mai te maramara is replaced by a section referring to the coming forth of the children of Rangi and Papa. We do know that Te Rangikaheke was responsible for part of GNZMMSS 70, so perhaps he himself made these changes to the karakia he wrote down in GNZMMSS 81:1, in 1849.
The karakia itself

The karakia Tuuaatuuaa i te orooro , like the karakia for the major rituals, is highly conventional. The formulas it uses are all conventional, as are the images and symbols it refers to and the structure it follows. To recite this chant is, therefore, to recite the 'words of the ancestors', rather than the words of any individual. Moreover, a comparison with other karakia shows that it is not a new composition, but a combination of several karakia taken from different rituals. So it is not surprising to find that there is no mention of an author.
The first section is part of a canoe ritual. It is an awa moana, a karakia recited for calming the sea, when the canoe is to begin a journey.
The next section shows that the karakia is from Te Arawa. It quotes a saying of their ancestor, Houmaitawhiti: Purua too taringa, 'Plug up your ear'. Shortland's Maori Manuscript 3:37, includes this command to plug up the ears and not listen to small talk as part of Houmaitawhiti's farewell address to his people before they set out on their journey to Aotearoa:
Kei whakarongo koutou ki te koorero iti a te tangata, araa, a Tama-te-Kapua. Purua o koutou taringa, kia turi, kia hoi.
'Don't you listen to the small talk of the man, that is, of Tama-te-Kapua. Plug up your ears so that you will be deaf, will be unmoved'.
The section beginning Rere mai te maramara, uses the karakia recited by the patupaiarehe, the spirits of the forest, to renew the tree that Rata had cut down for his canoe. Because Rata neglected to carry out the appropriate ritual before beginning to cut down the tree, the patupaiarehe bound it together again by means of this karakia. There are several versions of this story and the chant.
The binding karakia of the patupaiarehe is followed by a second binding karakia beginning: Tuutakina i te iwi, 'Join together the bones'. This is part of a ritual recited for the members of the war-party on their return from battle, for the healing of any wounds they had received. There are several of these karakia for binding up the wounds received in battle, including a Chatham Islands version.
The final section, beginning Na wai i hoomai?, 'Where do you come from?', is also part of the ritual for a war-party. It is a karakia recited on their return home. The references to the korikori and the wheta, the 'waving' and the 'brandishing', are references to the whaangai hau rite. In this rite the hair of the victims was tied to the end of the warriors' taiaha, 'spears'. These were lifted up, waved about, brandished, as an offering to Tuu-matauenga.
Several other karakia for the whaangai hau rite on the return home from battle are found in the different manuscripts and published sources. The references to atua and to the ancestors are all conventional. There are references to Tangaroa, to Rangi and Papa, and to Tuu-matauenga. As in all the other karakia, Tangaroa is linked with the sea, and Tuu is linked with warfare. As well the karakia refers to the story of Rangi and Papa and their being bound together because of their love for each other.
To recite this karakia was, therefore, to participate in the Maori model of the universe and to accept the Maori belief in the power of the atua. So Rangi and Papa were called upon to give the strength of their embracing to the bones, blood, flesh and muscle in order to knit these together again, while Tuu had to be acknowledged before the rite could be completed. Also, to recite the quotation from Houmaitawhiti's address to his people, calling on them not to listen to small talk, was to share in the traditions of the Arawa people.
There is indirect reference to the two dominant symbols of Maori ritual, the symbols of the rod and the offering of food. The canoe itself, te ara o Taane, 'the pathway of Taane', is the rod set up at the beginning of the karakia, while the 'waving' and 'brandishing', spoken of in the concluding section, is a reference to the whaangai hau, 'feeding the hau' rite for the war-party.
The pattern followed for this karakia for peace is, therefore, the pattern that is followed for each of the major rituals. There is first the reference to the pathway, in this case the canoe. This is followed by the pure, the loosing and binding, and the ritual is completed by the whakanoa, the freeing of the subject of the ritual from all restrictions once the subject of the ritual has been confirmed in its tapu and the atua have been ritually acknowledged and satisfied. It is this pattern, or structure, which gives the karakia its overall unity even though it is made up of sections taken from different rituals.
The term tuuaa, used to open the karakia, is the term used to open some of the ritual karakia for birth. It is also used to begin karakia chanted to control the weather. I suspect that there is some relationship between the use of this term at the beginning of some of the rituals, the setting up of the rods in their mounds, and the tuuaahu, the place set aside for special rituals. Possibly the term tuuaa refers to the forming of the mounds of earth and the setting up of the rods as pathways for the spiritual powers and the ancestors. The sacred places referred to by the term tuuaahu, are themselves, at least sometimes, mounds of earth where the rods are set up as pathways between the earth and the heavens.
As mentioned, the canoe itself, the subject of the first section of the karakia, can be regarded as the pathway that is set up. That the canoe can be regarded as a pathway is clear from the words of some of the karakia used in its ritual.
This is followed by the command not to listen to small talk. I suggest that the command to close one's ears and not to listen to small talk is similar to the 'loosing' from all that is dangerous, which is referred to in the second section of the major rituals.
The 'binding' is expressed both by the section beginning Rere mai te maramara, 'Let the chips fly together', and taken from the story of Rata, and by the section, beginning Tuutakina i te iwi, 'Bind the bones together', for binding up the wounds received in battle. In this section the 'binding' is a binding with the strength binding Rangi and Papa together before their separation by Taane. As the child is told to go to Taawhiri for his strength, as the strength of Taane and Tangaroa is called upon for the canoe and the strength of Tau and Rongo to wrap around the kuumara, so the strength of Rangi and Papa is called upon to bind up the wounds of battle.
The final section, beginning Na wai i hoomai?, as already noted, is taken from the rite carried out when the war party returned home. It is a whakanoa rite. By it the people acknowledge that their victory comes from Tuu. Once they have made their offering to Tuu, the people, now confirmed in their tapu, can emerge into te ao maarama, 'the world of light'.
From the analysis of this karakia, therefore, it can be seen that even minor karakia follow the same pattern as those used for the major rituals. The karakia are the ritual chants of the Maori. Highly conventional, they are the voice of the people, using the 'words of the ancestors'. As expressions of the Maori model of the universe, they are a means by which all taking part in the ritual can participate, according to their belief, in the whole movement of creation i te kore, ki te poo, ki te ao maarama, 'from the nothingness, to the night, to the full light of day'.
In the reciting of these karakia, the work of a people rather than of any one person, we are not lost as individual persons, but are able to find oureselves in the greater reality of our people. Then, with the atua and ancestors acknowledged, we are free to emerge into this world of light.
Ko maiea. Maiea ngaa atua. Maiea ngaa patu. Maiea ngaa taangata. Ko maiea.
'We emerge with all acknowledged and satisfied. The atua are satisfied. The weapons are satisfied. The people are satisfied. We emerge with all acknowledged and satisfied.'
My own Christian understanding.

On a different level of understanding, thia karakia is a call for all peoples to be one, and one with the cosmos. I also see it as a call for all Christians to be one.
Understanding it as a call for Christians to bind together, I see the canoe as the church, which constantly needs to be pounded and shaped by the seas. The church, too, needs to plug up its ears to small talk. It constantly needs to be reformed and made new, not just the old patched up, but made new and standing straight up, like the young green tree after all the chips and shavings have been put together again. We also need to bind up each other's wounds. The love of Rangi for Papa is the love of Io, God, for God's creation and we should have the same love, aroha based on a common commitment to tika, to what is right, for Io and for each other.
Then, one in the flesh and blood of Jesus through the Eucharest and one with all people because of our bond with Jesus, it is our one heart we offer, with all the sufferings of people whose tapu has been violated. We will then emerge, out of the darkness often caused by our own violence, into te ao marama, full daylight.
Ko maiea. Maiea ngaa atua. Maiea ngaa patu. Maiea ngaa taangata. Ko maiea.