Manaia
Guardian
(The two figures on the outside of the external doors.)
One interpretation of Manaia is that it is derived from the word mana (authority, influence, jurisdiction, and prestige). Manaia can mean to contain mana, or to cause something to have mana.
The Manaia is described in many ways. The word doubles as the word for lizard and some say it is a beaked and ornamental figure. Others say its origins are in the human profile, or that the Manaia relates to a distant avian (bird) cult. The bird is thought to be an omen-carrier or intermediary between man and the spirits.
The Manaia is the most widely used and developed element in Mäori art. It is presented and contorted in innumerable ways, twisting and taking on an infinite variety of forms and filling an infinite variety of spaces. Yet the eye must always be present.
Whatever the origins, the Manaia serves to reinforce and acknowledge the spiritual state and express the mana, power, charisma and the aura of the chiefly person.
Rangi-nui
räua ko Papa-tü-ä-nuku
Sky Father and Earth Mother
There are many different accounts of the story of Rangi and Papa. One account says they had 70 sons. Another story tells how one of their sons, Täne, separated his parents, propping up Rangi the Sky Father to allow light to come between them.
Papa is the foundation or the flat surface. She is the earth, which stretches out beneath her husband Rangi. She is also the first woman in Mäori mythology.
The genealogies that trace the history of the world usually begin with Rangi and Papa, coming down through the generations to the present day.
As the primal parents, this whakairo (carving) symbolises from who we descend - the common origin of humankind.
Nä Rangi-nui, nä Papa-tü-ä-nuku,
ka puta te ira tangata ki te whaiao,
ki te Ao Märama.
Te
Hekenga
The migration
This is the story of Kupe and Ngahue.
Kupe was an early Polynesian explorer, most say the first to arrive in Aotearoa from Hawaiki. He was accompanied on his voyage by Ngahue.
Kupe spent a lot of his time around the coast of Te Whanganui-ä-Tara (the Wellington coastline). Several names in different parts of Te Üpoko o Te Ika (Wellington) and in the northern parts of Te Waipounamu (the South Island) were given by Kupe, or commemorate events from his journey to Aotearoa.
It is said that nearly 400 years after Kupe and Ngahue arrived in Aotearoa, a large number of people from Hawaiki decided to migrate here.
This whakairo (carving) of Kupe and Ngahue symbolises the coming of all people from Polynesia across the ocean to Aotearoa.
Whakapapa
Genealogy
This whakairo (carving) symbolises connectedness, people relating to one another and to their environment.
Ko au te awa, Ko te awa ko au.
I am the river and the river is me.
The two ancestors represented in this carving are Tawhao and Tuhianga. Tawhao is the son of Kakati (Tainui) from his first marriage to Ururangi. Tuhianga (ancester of Toa Rangatira*) is the son of Kakati from his second marriage to Kurawakaimua. Through Tawhao and Tuhianga, Ngäti Toa Rangatira have lineage to all migratory waka and their descendants.
*Toa Rangatira is the eponymous ancestor of Ngäti Toa Rangatira.
Ngä
Hau e Wha
Four winds
This saying can also be interpreted as ‘the four corners
of the globe’.
The whakairo (carving) represents the migrations of all nations to Aotearoa.
E ngä mana, e ngä iwi, e ngä hau e wha, nau mai haere mai.
Welcome all nations.
Ähuatanga
e turu
Three dimensions
Te Hinengaro, Te Tinana, Te Wairua.
Mind, Body and Soul.
Mäori see the physical realm or ‘life form’ as immersed and integrated with the spiritual realm. This belief in the supernatural influences the way Mäori interact with each other and their surroundings.
The whakairo (carving) is encouraging people in their progress on a difficult task.
Porirua
Two tides
The name Porirua originated from Parirua – Pari meaning ‘flowing of the tide’ and rua meaning ‘two’. The two tides are the tides to Pauatahanui and Porirua harbours.
This whakairo (carving) depicts the flowing of two tides and also the two taniwha who are kaitiaki (custodians) of our waters. The taniwha are Te Awarua o Parirua and Mukakai.
Legend has it that Te Awarua o Parirua, the taniwha who lives in the Porirua harbour, created the distinctive shape of Te Mana o Kupe ki Aotearoa (Mana Island).
Mukakai appears mainly in the Cook Strait and has been seen by members of Ngäti Koata, Ngäti Toa Rangatira and Raukawa tribes. Mukakai is a ‘Tohu’ or sign indicating bountiful fishing.