Te Kotahi Rau e Rima Tekau Tau o Te Kiingitanga
The Sesquicentennial of the Kiingitanga
1858 - 2008
AN INTRODUCTION
It is not that these stories have recently been constructed; rather these are the scripts that were written in 1958, the year that the Centenary of the Kiingitanga was celebrated.
There were many hui for the Centenary, whose aim was to gather together the accounts of the Coronation of Pootatau Te Wherowhero.
Even though the following accounts are clear, there are many more versions that have not been added to the subsequent pages.
Perhaps someone will one day collate the accounts of todays historians and produce a full history of the selection of Pootatau as the first King.
This exercise has been to rewrite the Centenary version in a modern format, and to offer a translation that everyone will understand and be aware of the trials and tribulations of our ancestors.
The purpose of this Sesquicentennial of the Kiingitanga is to again stoke the embers that these words will once more, fan a fire of understanding.
Tis the point of the spade that bade farewell to the Kings to Mother-Earth,
It will be through the point of the tongue that their stories will live on We shall leave these accounts to bloom within us all. Paimaarire.
TE KIINGITANGA
This script is written as a keepsake for the commemoration day of the 100 Year Anniversary of the Kiingitanga, and to offer it to the descendants of those Chiefs that instituted this cause.
There is some debate in the old books of the Tainui elders as to the year of the meetings held in Waikato that instituted the Kiingitanga. There are two years that have been disclosed in which Wiremu Tamihana raised Pootatau up as King, they are 1858 and 1859. Like wise, some debate regarding the year that Pootatau died, to some 1860, to others 1861.
With regards to the raising up ceremony, this topic was considered by the Kings Great Council, they then passed it to the tribe, with the result that the Commemoration Date was left for the 2nd of May 1858. This eventuated because of the many books and covenants of previous Kings that state the 2nd of May 1858; the day which the biblical words were exclaimed over Pootatau.
Regardless of the dispute of the year, the explanations were unified for the beginning of the Kiingitanga, the propositioning of the Chiefs of the country and the statements of the Chiefs and their lands that were united under the mantle of Pootatau Te Wherowhero as the Maaori King.
There were a number of books written by Europeans that outlined the circumstances that created the Kiingitanga, and we see many explanations of Maaori gatherings in the European newspapers of the time. One European wrote that Pootatau was raised on the 2nd of June 1858. This is a long way from the Maaori version. However, the decision of the Kings Council was to follow the Maaori version, simply because the Europeans did not participate in all of the gatherings throughout Waikato for the purposes of creating the Kiingitanga.
The following are the exponents that added their knowledge to this topic: Tame Reweti, Karena Tamaki, Te Hurinui, Tuti Wetere, Hau Tanawhea, Roi Moke, Te Ako Pihama, Tuawhio Porima, Paahi Moke, Whati Tamati, Te Kohinga, Tuarua Te Tomo, Ngapaka Kukutai, Tiaki Hira, Whare Heta, Heemi Rihimona, Hori Parete, Piri Poutapu, Tame Tangitu, Te Hiima, Tame Roore, Rangitaua Tapara, Matire Moke, Tame Pihama and Hipirini Te Kata.
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