(Te Ao Wairua)

Names: Māori religion, Te Ao Wairua (“the world of spirit”), Tikanga Māori (sacred law/custom).
Scope: Polynesian religion of Aotearoa, rooted in Eastern Polynesian cosmology, still vital in marae protocols, rituals, and cultural practices.
Nature: Polytheistic, genealogical, and animistic — gods (atua), ancestors, and natural forces integrated with daily life.

Origins: Carried by Polynesian voyagers from Hawaiki ~1000 years ago.
Precolonial: Religion organized around tribal whakapapa (genealogy), ritual specialists (tohunga), and tapu (sacred restrictions).
Colonial era: Suppressed by missionaries; Tohunga Suppression Act (1907) outlawed traditional specialists.
Modern: Strong revival of rituals, karakia (prayers), and recognition of atua in Māori identity.

Oral traditions: Whakapapa genealogies, chants, haka, waiata (songs).
Early ethnographers: Sir George Grey, Elsdon Best.
Archaeology: Pa sites, greenstone (pounamu) carvings, ritual implements.
Contemporary practice: Karakia in government and marae; Matariki (new year) revival.

Supreme forces:
- Io (in some traditions) as ultimate creator.
- More widely: Sky Father (Ranginui) and Earth Mother (Papatūānuku).
Primary atua (children of Sky and Earth):
- Tāne (forests, birds, creator of humans).
- Tangaroa (sea, fish).
- Tūmatauenga (war, human struggle).
- Rongo (peace, agriculture).
- Haumia (wild foods).
- Tāwhirimātea (winds, storms).
Other beings:
- Māui (culture hero, trickster).
- Taniwha (guardian/monster beings in rivers, lakes).
Ancestors: Central spiritual presence, invoked in karakia and marae rituals.

Cosmogony: Originally Sky and Earth embraced in darkness; children separated them to create world of light.
Genealogical cosmos: All beings descend from atua and ancestors.
Sacred order: Tapu (sacred restrictions) and noa (everyday balance).
Myth cycles: Māui slowing the sun, fishing up the North Island, discovering fire, seeking immortality.

Karakia (chants/prayers): Recited to invoke atua, ensure safety, or lift tapu.
Whakanoa: Rituals to restore balance after breach of tapu.
Birth and death rites: Karakia at birth, strict tapu around corpses.
Warfare rituals: Dedicating battles to Tūmatauenga.
Seasonal observances: Matariki (Pleiades rising, new year/planting).

Marae: Ceremonial community space for rituals, speeches, feasting.
Wharenui (meeting house): Embodies ancestor body, sacred in gatherings.
Wāhi tapu: Sacred places — burial caves, battlefields, mountains, rivers.
Objects: Taonga (treasures) such as greenstone pendants, carved weapons, cloaks.

Tapu: Governed kinship, law, and morality.
Mana: Spiritual authority of individuals, families, chiefs.
Whakapapa: Genealogy as binding law, structuring rights to land and resources.
Tikanga Māori: Customary law rooted in sacred order.

Beliefs: Souls travel to Cape Reinga (Te Rerenga Wairua, northern tip of NZ), descend into the underworld to return to Hawaiki.
Funerary rites: Tangihanga (multi-day funeral), highly sacred, maintains community balance.
Spirits of dead: Active in guiding the living, invoked in rituals.

Symbols: Spiral koru (fern frond, life), manaia (guardian figure), tiki (fertility).
Art: Carved meeting houses, greenstone pendants, tattoo (tā moko).
Performance: Haka (war dance, ritual chant), waiata, poi dances.
Colors: Red (life, blood, tapu), white (purity, peace), black (potential, Te Kore, void).

Missionary suppression: Haka, tohunga, and tapu targeted as “heathen.”
Tohunga Suppression Act (1907): Criminalized traditional healers until repeal (1962).
Syncretism: Māori prophetic movements (Ringatū, Rātana) blended Christianity with Māori cosmology.
Modern revival: Karakia, haka, Matariki celebrations, marae rituals integrated into national culture.
Global influence: Māori spirituality central to New Zealand identity and Indigenous rights discourse.

Māori Religion