What happens during the coronation of a new Māori monarch?

Wednesday, 4 September 2024

The process to select the new Māori monarch is under way, with the decision to be announced on Thursday, the final day of the tangi for Kīngi Tūheitia.

The role of Māori King or Queen is not hereditary. The successor is decided among Māori leaders from across Aotearoa.

Tom Roa, Tainui rangatira, historian and Waikato University professor, said there was no certainty about who the next monarch might be.

On Thursday, September 5, we will find out who the new Māori King or Queen will be, but what does a Kīngitanga coronation look like?

Following tradition, the coronation of the new monarch will take place on the last day of Kīngi Tūheitia’s tangi, on Thursday.

The Māori King died peacefully, aged 69, on Friday morning, just days after his 18th koroneihana celebrations.

Tom Roa, Tainui leader and professor of Māori studies at Waikato University, said over the course of the past few days, rangatira and leaders from iwi across Aotearoa had been gathering at Tūrangawaewae to pay their respects, while also discussing and debating who the next Māori monarch should be.

Unlike other monarchies, the role of Māori King or Queen is not hereditary upon death, rather the successor is decided among Māori leaders from across Aotearoa. However, all the monarchs so far have been direct descendants of the first Māori King, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero.

Roa said on the funeral day, leaders will gather in Māhinaarangi, the wharenui at Tūrangawaewae, and the decision will be made. The successor will then be informed, leaders will tell their respective rōpū, and the coronation will begin.

Waikato-Tainui, the guardians of the Kīngitanga, will not take part in the election process, Roa said.

The Kīngitanga was established as a Māori response to increasing European settlement in New Zealand, as a means to protect Māori land, said Roa. Chiefs from across Aotearoa decided Pōtatau Te Wherowhero should be the first Māori King, and the elective process has continued ever since.

The ceremony itself begins when the elected monarch, donning the korowai of the first Māori King Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, is seated on a throne next to Kīngi Tūheitia, lying in state on the mahau - the porch - of the wharenui.

Prayers are said and then the tumuaki or kingmaker, Hone Tamihana, will anoint the new monarch with oil and the holy Bible. It will be the same Bible that was used to confirm the first Māori King in 1858, and every Kīngitanga monarch since then.

Tamihana, of Ngāti Hauā, is a direct descendant of the first kingmaker, Wiremu Tamihana Tarapipipi. His father, the late Anaru Tamihana, carried the responsibility of anointing Tūheitia on the final day of the tangi for his mother, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.

Rather than a crown and sceptre, the Māori monarch is anointed with the Bible.

The Kīngitanga tumuaki will recite a 20-minute sermon while holding the first kingmaker's good book over the head of the new Kīngitanga leader.

“A ritual of karakia closes the question to the people gathered about whether the title should be certain ancient Maori titles or ariki,” Roa said.

“The next question will be whether they should be King - the people respond with: ‘He kīngi, he kīngi, he kīngi.’

“In most kingdoms and empires, the King is established from warring tribes and the winner becomes the sovereign. In the Māori case, the chiefs throughout the land came together and decided Pōtatau should be the king.”

Roa said that until Thursday’s announcement, there was no certainty about who the next monarch might be.

Other celebrations and small speeches will be made to acknowledge the ascension to the throne, then the funeral service will take place.

Kīngi Tūheitia will be conveyed by waka on the Waikato River to Taupiri maunga, where he will be buried alongside his mother and tūpuna.