{"id":6763,"date":"2015-07-22T07:33:12","date_gmt":"2015-07-21T18:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/?p=6763"},"modified":"2015-07-23T05:57:37","modified_gmt":"2015-07-22T16:57:37","slug":"the-maori-flag-a-flag-of-identity-and-pride-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/?p=6763","title":{"rendered":"The M\u0101ori Flag \u2013 a Flag of Identity and Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Hilda_Avatar2\"<\/a>\u00a0Mana News- Hilda Halkyard-Harawira<\/p>\n

Me tupu i a w\u012bwi\u012b me tupu i a w\u0101w\u0101, turia ki te wera, me piri tonu ki te korito o te rengarenga, me whakapakari ki te hua o te kawariki. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Flourish in many places as you face the fires of adversity;\u00a0 cling to the heart of the rengarenga as sustenance for your soul, and to harden you for all that lies ahead of you; be like the fruit of the kawariki, small in size, large in deed, and ready to flourish in the most adverse of conditions. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"tino<\/a><\/p>\n

The idea of\u00a0a M\u0101ori flag was borrowed from the Australian Aboriginal flag.\u00a0 It was a symbolic icon used in 1980s to gather indigenous people of Australia to key events; sprinter Cathy Freeman later ignited much discussion re her victory lap\u00a0 with the Aboriginal flag after winning double gold at 1994 Commonwealth games.<\/p>\n

In the lead up to the 150 commemoration of the Treaty signing- a national hui of M\u0101ori activists in 1989 considered several campaigns to bring awareness to the plight of the Treaty of Waitangi and ongoing legislative abuses to M\u0101ori.\u00a0The Crown had millions of dollars to promote a wonderful co-existence with the Treaty Partner. M\u0101ori activists under the mantle of Te Kotahitanga or The Movement -had no money.<\/p>\n

Getting arrested was boring, predictable and time consuming- and is to be saved for special occasions. The Movement wanted to\u00a0use their creative talents to promote awareness of ongoing M\u0101ori grievances. . \u00a0Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu & Ng\u0101puhi activists promoted kaupapa music- waiata reo M\u0101ori. \u00a0Tuhoe began an awareness campaign to reclaim their whenua.\u00a0Others went into storytelling through contemporary art. \u00a0Far North group Te Kawariki\u00a0embarked on a campaign\u00a0\u00a0to set up a M\u0101ori flag competition to inspire M\u0101ori to have hope in a time- where M\u0101ori were struggling to realise kaupapa M\u0101ori education, land claims and high unemployment.\u00a0 The Kotahitanga hui sought a flag that would appeal to M\u0101ori of any politics or\u00a0religion- a flag of M\u0101ori identity and pride.<\/p>\n

The final winning M\u0101ori flag now commonly referred to as the Tino or Tino Rangatiratanga flag was created by 3 women from\u00a0 Tai Tokerau: the late Hiraina Marsden(Ngai Takoto), the late Jan Dobson Smith (Patu Harakeke)\u00a0and Linda Munn (Patu Harakeke).\u00a0 The flag was taken to several hui in the North, the design was modified a few times and flown at Waitangi in 1990.\u00a0 Reddish brown represents Papatuanuku- the earth mother. \u00a0The white represents Te Ao Marama and the koru reminds us that life is continually in renewal and ongoing. Black represents Ranginui- the sky father. No matter what, there is a natural order in the universe- the earth and sky embrace the world of the living. The natural colours and its simplistic depiction of the world led to an early\u00a0acceptance of the flag by many M\u0100ORI in different walks of life.<\/p>\n

After much consultation Te Kawariki set a kaupapa with the flag:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

1) that the flag dimensions not be changed<\/p>\n

2) and the kara should \u00a0not be worn on the kotore ( derriere, bottom)<\/p>\n

3) that the icon be used by any group supporting and promoting\u00a0 kaupapa M\u0101ori and not for personal gain;<\/p>\n

4) that the original artists wanted any royalties to go towards setting up a M\u0101ori arts w\u0101nanga in Ng\u0101puhi;<\/p>\n

Te Puni Kokiri hosted 22 public hui throughout the motu 2009 to ascertain which kara could serve M\u0101ori.\u00a0\u00a0All hui recognised other flags which meant significant things to hapu, Iwi and the nation. Each marae has the mana to fly its own flags. In Australia- the Aboriginal flag is flown at state events- as the government has invested in two flagpoles.<\/p>\n

And finally now that the\u00a0kara is to be recognised as a national M\u0101ori flag- that ownership remains with M\u0101ori people-not with the Crown.<\/p>\n

6th<\/sup> Feb, 2010 the M\u0101ori flag was handed over to rangatahi M\u0101ori as the next generation of\u00a0 kaitiaki. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

July 2015,<\/strong> the tino flag sold cheaply in Aotearoa \u00a0is more readily available- and solves\u00a0 number 3. . Be wary of some kara versions that have a narrow white strip which alter the flag dimensions.\u00a0 The kara is not owned by any one political party or faith- m\u0101 t\u0101tou katoa.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"TRFlag\"<\/a><\/p>\n

H Halkyard-Harawira , For Te Kawariki a group of Treaty activists from the Far North Tai Tokerau 1985\u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Mana News- Hilda Halkyard-Harawira Me tupu i a w\u012bwi\u012b me tupu i a w\u0101w\u0101, turia ki te wera, me piri tonu ki te korito o te rengarenga, me whakapakari ki te hua o te kawariki. Flourish in many places as you face the fires of adversity;\u00a0 cling to the heart of the rengarenga as sustenance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":6178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6763","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","last_archivepost"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6763"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6830,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6763\/revisions\/6830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mananews.co.nz\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}