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After more than a century, the unknown remains of 17 ancestors Maori and Moriorio returned to Aotearoa
After more than a century, the unknown remains of 17 Maori and Moriorio ancestors returned to Aotearoa.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
In an emotional powhiri in Rongomaraeroa Marae this morning, people from the area shed tears as they welcomed them to their homes.
Boxes of skeletal remains were draped with korowai under the Mahau Te Hono Ki Hawaiki
Until yesterday, the remains were kept in the museums of San Francisco, Connecticut and Cologne, Germany
After more than a century, the unknown remains of 17 Maori and Moriorio ancestors returned to Aotearoa.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
The leader of Te Papa's repatriation, Herekiekie Herewini, said that they were a brutal reminder of a painful story.
"Most tūpuna that were taken overseas were taken from our wāhi tapu, sacred places, after the treaty was signed.
"They were taken without the approval or agreement of Maori and so it is a dark part of our history because our museums are involved."
After more than a century, the unknown remains of 17 Maori ancestors and Moriorio returned “/>
RNZ / Richard Tindiller [19659005] Among the remains is a preserved head known to the Māori as Mokomokai.
The ancestor entered the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum in Germany in 1906 after it was acquired by well-known merchant and collector English William Ockleford Oldman
Kaumatua of the repatriation team, Tamahou Temara, said that his return, and that of the rest of the remains, gives the Māori a sense of closure – not just for us four who were there- low, but also a sense of relief to q These people really belong because no one in their good sense would want to give their ancestors.
After more than a century, the unknown remains of 17 Maori and Moriorio ancestors returned to Aotearoa.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
"For me it's [about] closing the chapter on this particular past."
million. Temara said that skeletal remains were used by foreign museums for research. 19659006] He said that bringing home remnants was not always easy, some museums reluctant to hand them over.
"We do not pay for our ancestors to come back, we bargain on the basis of good faith and human nature."
Remnants will sit in the tapu wāhi or sacred deposit of Te Papa until the end of the day. that their origin can be traced.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
M. Herewini stated that the work was not finished until the ancestors returned to the land from where they came from.
"Our whakatauki is tukuna mai ki at kapunga oneone, provide me with a handful of land from my homeland so that I can feel the spirit of my ancestors
" By sending them home, we do not do not provide them with a handful of land, we are actuall "
More than 450 people have been referred from institutions and museums since 2003.
Seventy-five percent of them are now resting in their homeland.
Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller
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