Rūaumoko’s ‘code of compliance’ on show soon: Te Hira Henderson

A group of women and children from Tangoio Pā rest on the cracked and broken Westshore embankment road after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake.

Opinion

Te Hira Henderson is curator Taonga Māori, MTG.

OPINION

With the revamped 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake exhibition soon to be installed at MTG Hawke’s Bay Tai Ahuriri, new additions will be made.

One of these will be Rūaumoko, the youngest child of Papatūanuku, Earth Mother, and Ranginui, Sky Father.

One of 70 siblings, he is also known as Rūaimoko, Rūaimokoroa, and Whakarūaumoko. Living below ground, he is the god of earthquakes, volcanoes and seasons. He separates the times of the year and causes earthquakes by turning over in his underground dwelling and stomping around.

When his mother, Papatūanuku, becomes ill the result is lava flowing from the earth.

Rūaumoko is the primary source of Māori mātauranga/knowledge in the understanding of earthquakes. He influences the way we think in managing natural resources, te taiao/environment, the landscape, and construction in regard to rū/earthquakes.

This understanding of rū mātauranga is closely connected to the building of wharenui/meeting houses where construction begins from the inside working outward, with the exterior vertical walls tapering inward toward the top.

This style of building is designed to pressure inwards, on itself, under the movement of the ground - it meets Rūaumoko’s code of compliance.

A traditional form of construction, pre-Pākehā and before council building codes and nails were invented.

It was the atua/god Rūaumoko who governed building codes in the world.

Human beings share the same whakapapa as Rūaumoko. It is whakapapa that is all-binding in the origins of Māori and atua.

Whakapapa is the Māori map of te taiao, complete with ancestors and atua – each having a tapu (a code of health and safety), with rules of conduct and engagement. Breaking a tapu can often lead to injury or death.

In Rūamoko’s case, avoiding the natural hazards of rū is the tapu code of compliance.

It is this connection between the earth and environment that makes humans at one with Rūaumoko. That is the definition of tangata whenua: tangata/man, whenua/earth, Māori.

This living construct is a positive force including Rūaumoko, that combines the elements and all living creatures. Prior to the February 3, 1931, earthquake, this intertwined connection of land, people and animals warned locals.

Moremore, a shark and guardian living in the waters of Ahuriri, signalled danger as he was seen swimming close to shore without a fin. Dairy cows, birds and other animals living on the whenua of Te Matau-a-Māui/Hawke’s Bay also acted abnormally prior to the quake.

Māori saw these signs as indications of impending disaster, a reflection of the interconnectedness between the environment, animals, and humans. This mātauranga, with its shared understanding and interconnection of te taiao and living beings, values and framework, is often viewed as intangible and, to some, quite difficult to comprehend.

Rūaumoko is to be treated with extreme caution at all times. He did not agree to his parents, Papatūanuku and Ranginui, being separated and has taken umbrage with his siblings, especially Taane who was responsible for physically tearing them apart.

So, still to this day he is a very unhappy chap and has no regard for the violent destruction of the environment or the deaths he causes when throwing a tantrum. In doing so he casts all common sense to the wind. Rūaumoko is a child, prone to fits of temper.