Urupā Tautaiao: Revitalising ancient customs and practices for the modern world

Supported by the

Professor Hinematau McNeill is Tapuika, Ngāti Moko and has always maintained an active involvement in Māori communities, which informs her research.As a Treaty negotiator for her tribe, she was responsible for the historical portfolio.Tapuika settled with the Crown in 2014.She has served as a Trustee on the tribal Post-Treaty Settlement Board.One of the first Māori woman appointed to a national governance role in Women's Refuge, she advocated for mandatory reporting.Hinematau was also invited to join the prestigious Iwi Leaders Forum.Additionally, an interest in artistic practice-led research has invigorated her postgraduate supervision work and afforded emerging scholars the opportunity to operate creatively in a way that values and acknowledges indigenous epistemologies and ways of working.She believes that when indigenous knowledge is truly valued, it is not only a decolonising force, but can enrich our collective lived experience.

Introduction
This study also makes a significant contribution to post-colonial indigenous discourse by giving voice to traditional death and burial knowledge and practices.The key objective of the research project is to encourage and empower Māori to embrace culturally compatible, affordable, and environmentally responsible burials.The restoration of existing graves in an actual urupā gives practical effect to the research.Māori have also adopted European death and burial practices that are envronmentally damaging and the project site is no exception.The actual gravesite is in the area that is the designated urupā, Kenana belongs to Tapuika, Ngāti Moko.Ngāti Moko is a hapū (subtribe) of Tapuika.
The dramatic shift in funerary practices is unquestionably attributable to colonisation.We were confident when we embarked on the project that realising the potentiality inherent in creating an aesthetically appealing gravesite was the key to shifting attitudes.Showcasing the beauty of nature has proved to be powerful and persuasive tool in our didactic arsenal.
Revitalising ancient customs of communal burials is incorporated into the design of the "experimental gravesite."The plot contains ten people buried in the site as well as unnamed ancestors who died in the 1918 global flu epidemic (Rice, 2017).The development of the gravesite opens possibilities for environmentally sustainable, culturally compatible, and more affordable burial practices.It is deliberately located in the middle of the urupā so that people visiting would experience an alternative to conventional gravestones.
The development of a gravesite adorned with native plants and artefacts carved in natural timber paves the way for revitalising pre-colonial death and burial practices.

Papatūānuku Ranginui
Māori consider death to be highly tapu (sacred) and karakia (prayers/incantations) are constantly recited to ensure spiritual safety for all those involved.Māori burial sites (urupā) and are wāhi tapu (sacred places).A water source to remove the sacredness are standard fixtures at urupā.The process is simple with hand washing, and sprinkling water over the head for some is all that is required.For Māori the spiritual and physical realms are dialectical.Epistemologically, humanity are the descendants of primeval parents of Papatūānuku (Earth mother) and Ranginui (Sky father).All the creatures that inhabit the Earth are tied together through whakapapa (kinship or genealogy).Inherent in this worldview is the concept of kaitiakitanga (stewardship) which confers responsibility for the environment on humanity.In Māori epistemology this duty of care relates all life through our kinship relationship with the environment.This research presented us with an opportunity to reinvigorate our kaitiakitanga (environmental responsibilities).Practice-based research provided a best practice model to explore the creative possibilities working with nature.However, methodologically this is essentially a Kaupapa Māori, Māori led project.
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Tapuika, Ngāti Moko
The research site is in the tribal territory of Tapuika, a north island tribe whose population and resources have been decimated because of the colonial experience.Tapuika is be more receptive to the decolonisation agenda of this research than most because of our history.We, Tapuika continue to celebrate our notoriety as "un-surrendered rebels."This label was bestowed on the tribe by the Crown (colonial government) because Tapuika fought against the British invasion in the mid-1800's (Towers, 2009;Marsh 2005).Because of this rebellion they were punished with land confiscations which resulted in "…the loss of an estimated 95% of Tapuika land over a 40-year period" (Marsh 2005, p. 91).There is a direct correlation between land alienation and the decimation of the indigenous populations (Boast, 2008: Watson, 2015;Wolfe, 2006).
According to our oral traditions the urupā was originally a pā (traditional village) called Muriwharau.During the land wars (Belich, 1886;Walker. 1987) Tapuika fighters were engaged in battle in the surrounding hills.Our old people, women and children were massacred at Muriwharau under the colonial government's scorched earth policy (Tapuika Settlement Act 2014).The pā site was abandoned.The urupā is a poignant testament to that atrocity which is exacerbated by the road and railway development that cuts through the urupā.Law (2008) dates 1913 as the opening of the railway line between Rotorua and Tauranga.We assume the road was also carved through the urupā around the same time.
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Kaupapa Māori Research
We live in a time when many people who traditionally have occupied the role of 'researched' are in increasing numbers becoming 'researchers'.
As their minority voices are beginning to be heard they speak of their various but similar experiences of marginalization, cultural inferiority, and immobilizing oppression (Mahuika 2008, p1).
Collectivism is at the centre of the project whereas Practice-led research tends to be focused on the individual artist with collaboration more peripheral.
Here the tribe is at the centre of the Kaupapa Māori research, and the collaboration with experts (especially non-Māori) is more in a advisory capacity.This is because, like most indigenous people navigating the post-colonial global environment Tapuika is resistant to the incursion of outsiders in their cultural spaces.Resolving the problem created interesting methodological outcome which will be discussed in more detail later in this article.
Māori suspicion towards outsider research and reseachers is well documented (Bishop, 1999;Cram, 2019;Dutta, 2020;Mahuika, 2008;Pihama, 1997: Smith, 1993;Smith, 2004) Incidentally, until recently, "outsiders" included Māori who do not have whakapapa (genealogical affiliation) to the tribe.The tohunga whakairo (artist/ traditional carver) commissioned to carve the pou (ancestor post) is hunaonga (in-law) renowned for his skill as an carver/artist.In some tribes (notably Te Rarawa ki Mitimiti) people who have married into the tribe are not buried in the tribal urupā.This appears to be a cross-tribal custom in pre-contact times that was also practiced in Tapuika until quite recently.Hunaonga (in-laws) can, with the agreement of the family, be buried in our urupā.
The concept of utu (reciprcocity in this context) is highly valued amongst Māori and is an integral aspect of Kaupapa Māori research.The benefits the research brings to the community should be apparent.Here the project brings expert knowedge as well as material benefits.In this case tribal researchers are properly remunerated, and the meetings held in the marae (ancestral meeting space) are well funded.This mutual respect is fundamental to a Māori worldview.It underpins our philosophical attitude to the environment.
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Kaitiakitanga (Environmental Responsibility)
It seems to me to be urgent for the planet and for all its creatures that we discover ways of living in more collaborative relation with each other and with the wider ecology.I see the participative approaches to inquiry and the worldview they foster as part of this quest.Reason (1994, p. 325).
The inclusivity resonates with a worldview is one that is also experienced spiritually.The Māori universe is together through whakapapa (genealogy).The Māori universe is one of interconnectivity between people and nature.The spiritual and physical realms are experiential realities.
There are different tribal versions of this worldview.For example, Tapuika believe there are seventyfour offspring/gods of Ranginui and Papatūānuku.
However, all of the tribes concede that inherent in this worldview is the concept of kaitiakitanga (stewardship) which confers responsibility for the environment on humanity.This duty of care derives from our kinship relationship with the environment.In post-colonial Aotearoa-New Zealand kaitiakitanga is more ideological than practice.
Without exception post-colonial people have adopted environmentally damaging European practices that includes chemical embalming, concrete gravestones, and water and soil pollution.Therein lies the decolonising agenda that drives the project challenges Māori about our postcolonial burial practices that are also are culturally incongruent.At the same time, it presents an opportunity to revitalise ancient customs that is the vision for the future.In the process the research honours the environmentally sustainable ways precontact Māori interred the dead.
However, the legacy of the colonial experience is material, cultural and spiritual impoverishment for most indigenous people (Barter, 2007;Cram, 2011;Marriot & Sim, 2015;Morsink, 1999;Young LINK Praxis Journal of Practice-led Research and Global South V.1 I.1 2023 2020).In the case of Tapuika, Ngāti Moko alienated from much of our tribal estate has left us without the economic means to heal the land and waters.In death, returning to more sustainable burial practices, reconciles the people with Papatūānuku (Mother Earth).
The adoption of European mortuary and burial practices are not only environmentally detrimentalbut also financially unsustainable.
Decolonisation in the death and burial space thus presents a healing and empowerment opportunity for indigenous people.Living traditional customary and environmental knowledge of burial customs exists, particularly in rural communities.This knowledge as a conduit to revitalising customs that benefit communities.Reconnecting the past to the present has the potential to enhance wellbeing on many levels.The integration of traditional beliefs into the Creative Design brings the past and present together.

Creative Practice Outputs
The integration of traditional carvings into the overall design of gravesite adds another dimension to creative practice.Like the plans for the gravesite design, the hapū was involved in all stages of the design and the practice.The concept stage involved working with the author on what the carver described as the "backstory."Traditional Māori carvings tell stories, usually purākau (sacred stories), and often depict atua (gods).For the gravesite three ancestral figures were chosen, of which two are gods (yes…Māori are descendants of the gods).These include the aforementioned, Papatūānuku, her granddaughter Hinenuitepō (the great goddess of death) and patriarch of the Te Hiini family.Through him, his whānau (family), including the author, as well as hunaonga (inlaws) can be buried in the urupā.Incidentally, in precontact Aotearoa women owned land in their own right.Ateremu inherited the land through his mother Ngāhaka.All of the pou carry symbols that make them instantly recognisable to those familiar with the culture.Ateremu Te Hiini served in World War 1 and his pou carries a European style gun.
Hinenuitepō often described as the great goddess of death.Pūrākau (sacred narratives) around Hinenuitepō are multi-faceted.The narrative that is conveyed in the symolism on the carving tells the story of her encounter with Maui.Maui is famous through the Pacific as a demi-god.Interestingly, the full name of the Tapuika tribe is Tapuika nui a Maui Tikitiki a Taranga.Translated as the great, sacred fish of Maui, the son of Taranga our tribal name references two Maui pūrākau.Maui, while fishing caught a whai (stingray), the north island of New Zealand.Mysteriously, the shape of the north island actually resembles a stingray!The second pūrākau refers to Maui, as an infant being cast adrift in his mother's topknot.
The tīrairaka (fantail) on the carving is the symbol the artist chose to incorporate into the carving.The tīrairaka is responsible for the death of Māui (Best, 1995, Pouwhare, 2016;Yates-Smith, 2003).In his quest for human immortality, Māui attempted to reverse the cycle of life by transforming himself into a mokomoko (lizard) and entering Hinenuitepō's vagina while she slept.The tīrairaka found the spectacle hilarious and his laughter aroused Hinenuitepō.Furious, she crushed Maui between her thighs, thwarting his quest for eternal life.Pūrākau, especially cosmogonic narratives while recognisable cross tribally are subject to variation and interpretation.For example, depicts Māui in a human form rather than the more ubiquitous lizard in oral traditions (Figure 4).These tribal variations are also apparent in customary burial and funerary beliefs and practices.
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Ancient burial Customs
Hui a hapū (tribal meetings/workshops) mainly in Tapuika, Mitimiti and Whakatohea drew from participants knowledge of past burial practices.These included the widely known practice of suspending tupāpāku (the dead) in trees, scrapping the bones and interring them in caves and trees was recalled in these hui.Less known is standing burials and immersing bodies in swamps.What was interesting is discovering that many of these practices continued well into the mid-20th century.A story was recounted at a Tapuika, Ngāti Moko hui about a kuia (elderly woman) retrieving the bones of a family member, who had married into Ngāti Moko, and returning home with them on a bus! Discovering that cremation was practiced in pre and early contact is equally intriguing because post-colonial Aotearoa most tribes consider cremation to be unacceptable.The discovery of cremation stones at Lake Karapiro in the central North Island, was a revelation that usefully challenged this misconception.These stones were retrieved when the dam was built at Lake Karapiro in the 1940's.A commemoration plaque beside the stones tells of how the great Ngāti Haua chief, Te Waharoa cremated warriors during the battle with Ngāti Maru in 1830.This was to prevent them from being descecrated by the ememy.The name Karapiro memprialises that event as "kara" is the basalt stone used and "piro" is rotting alluding to the foul smell from the creamtion process.
Unfortunately, cremation has been criticised for its negative impact on the environment (Mari, 2010).
As the technology improves, cremations could be developed into an environmentally sustatinable option.Cremations take very little land space.

Ancient Customs
While environmentally unsustainable European funeral practices have been incorporated into modern tangihanga (modern cultural funerals) there are other cultural imperatives that need to be preserved.Specifically, those aspects of tangihanga that reinforce social relationships and tribal identity.Without a conscious effort to support the retention of these significant cultural practices the revitalisation of ancient customs will not be widely supported.It is also apparent from our research that cross-tribally some traditional burials and customs have endured.
The aforementioned Te Rarawa ki Mitimiti practice of allowing only those members with whakapapa (genealogical ties) to be buried in their urupā is an obvious one.Te Reinga urupā (Rongowhakaata and Ngāti Ruapani) in the east of the north Island continue the customary practice of communal burials.There are no individual gravesite markers.
Unfortunately, this custom does not extent to the natural burial practices of the ancestors.European style coffins and embalming are the norm at Te Reinga.The concept of a communal burial site is a feature of the "experimental" burial plot.

Conclusion
The urupā (cemetery) development is project is designed to encourage Māori to embrace culturally compatible burials that are affordable, environmentally responsible, and visually aesthetic.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Site at Kenana urupā designated a future natural burial site.The Ranginui and Papatūānuku text incorporates the Maori worldview.Photograph: Authors collection.

Figure 3 .
Figure 3. Map showing Ngāti Moko marae (tribal meeting house and space) and tribal urupā.The highway cutting through the urupā is clearly visible.Permission Brad Chase (cartographer).
. However external collaboration can be a meaningful experience for the community and the experts.Having the tribe leading the research provides a safe passage for visiting experts.The most challenging aspect of Kaupapa Māori research is navigating collaboration relationships with non-tribal members.Meetings held in tribal meeting houses can be daunting as there are specific rituals that are undertaken especailly for visitors.For their part engagement with our people is invariably predicated on building meaningful relationships with the tribe.It is almost impossible for outsider researchers to work in Māori communities without tribal authorisation.The tribe in turn has the reassurance of the "unspoken" accountability clause inherent in tribal membership of those leading the project.

Figure 4 .
Figure 4. Whakapapa depicting the atua (gods) the offspring of the Sky Father and the Earth Mother.Their domains of mana (power) demonstrate the interconnectivity of the Māori worldview.Charles Royal: Te Ara Encyclopedia.http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/whakapapa/11430/papatuanukus-children

Figure 5 .
Figure 5. Concept drawing of the Hinenuitepō carving.The notes show the engagement between the researchers and the artist working together on the pūrākau that informed the artwork/carving.Authors collection.