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Aotearoa, New Zealand
A ‘smoke-free’ television advertising campaign in New Zealand features prominent Maori Leaders who have given up smoking using the phrase “It’s all about whanau”, which means “it’s all about the Extended Family.” Maori extended whanau may consist of three or four or even five generations living under the same roof. Everyone lives for each other, and everyone puts up with others to some extent. In my home we currently have three generations and I feel doubly blessed to have two of my mokopuna (grandsons) with me, even though one of them has gotten into the habit of climbing into our bed at 5 o’clock in the morning. I don’t mind really.
To the Maori people, whakapapa is the root of any whanau or family. Whakapapa, loosely translated, refers to the genealogy from which a family springs. Maori whakapapa includes a relationship to the heavens and the earth, as well as the birds and the trees, in fact all living creatures. The whanau is not a temporary set of relationships as many Western sociologists may propose, but a continuation of what has gone before. The Maori word for grandchild is mokopuna. It means ‘a blueprint of my grandparents or ancestors’.
The modern world in which we live presents new challenges. There is now far less concern for whakapapa and far greater concern for the here and now. In the secular West, spirituality is relegated and often ignored. I am told the World Health Organisation defines personal health as a ‘state of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing…’ devoid of spirituality. This differs from many indigenous models of health. A well known Maori model speaks of four dimensions, roughly translated as: physical (tinana); mental (hinengaro); family (whanau); and spiritual (wairua). The two views are worlds apart.
As the world continues to struggle to live together with differing faith and world views, my hope is that the Christian Church will lead the way. After all, scientists are now telling us what the Bible has been saying for a long time. Regardless of our differing faith and world views, our whakapapa all have the same genesis. We all descended from the same ancestor.
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