New Zealand Maori tribal leaders named I want to honor you27 years old and daughter of the late king Kiingi Tuheitiaas the new symbolic monarch of the indigenous peoples of the oceanic country, becoming the second woman to hold this position, the institution reported on Thursday.
“We welcome Upoko (leader) Ariki, Nga wai hono i te po, who continues the leadership of his father. The path ahead is illuminated by the great legacy of Kiingi Tuheitia,” he said in a statement today: New Zealand Prime Minister, Christophe Luxon.
“Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering commitment to Kotahitanga (unity),” the New Zealand President noted, referring to the late indigenous king.
The appointment of Nga wai hono i te po took place soon before his father’s funeral Kiingi Tuheitiawhich included traditional rituals and a procession of hundreds of Maori overland and on rafts to Taupiri Maunga Mountain, on the North Island and about 100 kilometres south of Auckland, considered by Maori to be a sacred place of eternal rest.
Kiingi Tuheitia, who died aged 69 of natural causes after a symbolic 18-year reign, was the son of Te Atairangikaahu, the first Maori monarch of the dynasty of Kiingitanga inaugurated by King Potatau Te Wherowhero (1858-1860).
Kiingi Tuheitia tHe also had two children Tamaaroa Whatumoanathe eldest, and Turuki Korotangi. Te Tari o te Kiingitanga was created in the mid-19th century, in the midst of British colonization, to end the sale of indigenous lands, end tribal wars and preserve Maori culture against colonization, according to the portal of this New Zealand indigenous movement.
How Kings Are Chosen
The new queen was chosen the day before by the Kiingitanga Indigenous Advisory Councilthe movement that has represented several Maori tribes in New Zealand since 1858, from the symbolic position of Maori monarch it is not hereditary according to the law.
The new queen, covered in a cape, with a crown of plants on her head and a carved leaf-shaped necklace on her chest, was received by a group of men, with loincloths and traditional tattoos on their bodies, who performed the traditional ‘haka’ dance, according to the ceremony broadcast today on Kiingitanga’s social networks.
The visibly sad successor sat on a carved wooden throne next to her father Kiingi Tuheitia’s coffin and was blessed by elders and clergy in Maori and English during the moving ceremony, which drew applause from the indigenous crowd.
The appointment of the Queen, who holds a master’s degree in Māori affairs, marks a “good news for the younger generation“Moesha Wharawhara-Gate, a 27-year-old Maori man who attended the ceremony, told New Zealand’s public broadcaster TVNZ.
A group of teenagers told TVNZ they thought it was “really cool” to have a new queen because it made them proud to be Maori, a collective with high rates of youth suicide and prisoners in the country’s prisons.
The Maori of New Zealand represent about 17%or about 900,000 people, out of the country’s more than 5.1 million inhabitants. But, regarding the pprison offering men are the 52% of prisoners and 67% of womenaccording to official data.
