Tuhoe trace their origins to the ancient union between Te Maunga (the mountain) and Hinepūkohurangi (the mist maiden). Their place, Te Urewera is also who they are as a people.
Indigenous environmental wisdom – in New Zealand mātauranga Māori – embodies a sustainable approach to environmental management.
Māori believe they are direct descendants of their environment; descendants of Ranginui and Papatūānuku, sky father and earth mother. Tane, their son, created ‘his own dominion in the form of trees, birds, insects and other living things. He then sought to create human life and succeeded in combining elements of both Rangi and Papa. He fashioned a female figure (Hineahuone) from earth and breathed life – mauri – into her nostrils.’
Māori envision themselves as a part of the ecosystem, ‘belonging to nature rather than ascendant to it. Everything has a mauri – ‘inherent life essence – and everything is linked through an ‘ecological synergy spiral’ that flows ‘outwards and connects multiple threads’
essentially linking everything and giving them shape and meaning.
The practice of whenua kit e whenua – burying of placenta – exemplifies this
connection. The word ‘whenua’ denotes both land and placenta or afterbirth.
Likewise tūrangawaewae is a term linking individuals with a site or location.