THE Bishop of the Maori Anglican Church, the Most Revd Don Tamihere, who is one of three Archbishops of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, has anointed the newly elected Maori Queen, Te Arikinui (Paramount Chief) Kuini (Queen) Nga Wai Hono i te Po.
The monarchy, held by the hereditary succession of the high chief of a large central North Island tribe, is for the Maori tribes that recognise this leadership.
Thousands of people attended the enthronement and thanksgiving service earlier this month, during which Maori church leaders contributed prayers, readings, and blessings, the Anglican Church reported on its website last week. This included invited representatives from Anglican, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Ratana Churches, and the Salvation Army.
The Tumuaki (kingmaker) of the Kiingitanga (the Maori king movement), Hone Taamihana, crowned the Queen by holding a Bible above her head as prayers were said. The Bible was used in 1858 to crown the first Maori King. She was then anointed with sacred oils by Archbishop Tamihere.
She succeeds her father, the late Kiingi Tuheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, who died late last month. Immediately after her enthronement, the Queen boarded a traditional ceremonial waka (canoe) to accompany his body to his final burial place down river from Turangawaewae Marae at Mount Taupiri.
ANGLICAN TAONGAThe new Maori Queen, Nga Wai Hono i te Po
Speaking afterwards, Archbishop Tamihere said: “She is humble and wise beyond her years. She has her people and all of her ancestors behind her. May God bless her reign as she seeks to lead her people to kotahitanga [unity].”
In his sermon, he had said: “We cannot build our kotahitanga on bitterness and resentment. We cannot build our kotahitanga on the steeping of racism in this country. . . The only way that we can build kotahitanga amongst us is to shift ourselves to a politic of love. . .
“The love that I speak of is a love that must transcend the temporary, must transcend the hurt and the harm that has come our way, must become something that will last us a lifetime, and, something even more enduring than that, this must be a love that is eternal.”
Archbishop Tamihere was the lead signatory of a letter, signed by more than 300 Christians, which requests that the New Zealand government do not take the Treaty Principles Bill any further. The Bill, which is being introduced by ACT, a libertarian partner of the national coalition government, states that the government has the right to govern all New Zealanders.
The letter says: “The proposed Bill is inconsistent with Te Tiriti o Waitangi [The Treaty of Waitangi] in that it does not recognise the collective rights of iwi Maori [the Maori people] or guarantee their relationship with the Crown. It would undermine what Te Tiriti guarantees, and what decades of law, jurisprudence, and policy have sought to recognise.”
It continues: “We note with deep concern the harmful impacts the Bill may cause to Aotearoa New Zealand’s social cohesion.”