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He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.
What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people – whakatauki.
How do we protect and enhance the mauri within an urban environment? Simply put, mauri is energy. It is often paired with the word ora meaning alive or in good health. Mauri ora is the state of being in good health and well balanced. Mauri is also the source of emotions.
Matauranga Māori concepts are interconnected and relative to each other; they help us understand and connect to our place within the systems of the natural world. Mauri is essential for mana, power or authority to flow. Understanding how this works in the contemporary world is critical: by considering the reciprocal relationship between ourselves and the natural world we balance the energy and power flow between them. This exchange is beneficial to the whole community because the natural world provides wild food sources that are high in nutritional value and free.
How do we relate to this standing at the noisy, busy intersection of Courtenay Place and Taranaki St? In Te Aro, there are many markers and clues that reveal themselves given time. The matauranga Māori concept of time is not linear, past present and future all exist simultaneously. Stories wait to connect to us above and below the concrete.
Look up through the buildings to Tangi-te-Keo, Mt Victoria the place where Whātaitai transitioned from his body as Taniwha to Te Keo her wairua as a bird. Taniwha and their stories are the embodiment of mauri, they allow us to understand if a waterway is dangerous or safe.
This story of transition from one state of being to the next is relevant to our contemporary lives. Take a look at the energy within the heart of Te Aro, itself the heart of the city. Te Aro Park sits on top of a very tapu, and sacred place. Waimapihi awa is the river that once flowed through here near the site of Te Aro Pā. The river is a taonga named after an ancestress of mana whenua who bathed in the waters. ‘Whakawātea’ is to balance a person or place using karakia, mihi, waiata, and water.
Interestingly there are still three water sources that exist below the city: Waimapihi, Waitangi and Kumutoto awa. These awa were once abundant food sources, contributing to thriving Pā sites. Now they flow unseen through pipes, collecting debris from the city streets.
Obviously, this impacts the mauri of the awa and the whenua, but it also affects the community by removing possible food sources. Acknowledging these waterways brings them into our consciousness. This simple act helps to restore their memory, enhances the mana and honours the mauri, their life force.
Above the ground trees and plants are connected to these unseen living worlds below the city’s surface. Te Whanganui-a-Tara is bountiful in soil bound community led initiatives such as Seeds to Feeds, Ngā Kaimanaaki o te Waimāpihi, Boys and Girls Institute, community gardens, and the Sustainable Trust sharing locally grown food and uplifting the mauri.
The whakatauki that opens this text states that the most important thing is the people - our collective memory. And what pushes us to remember the extraordinary more than the arts? Creative communities engage and uplift the wairua, they tell the stories of the good and the bad, the light and the dark. Actively working together our karakia and waiata - the sound of our intentions - speaks to the mauri. By celebrating this truth, on a personal level we can protect and enhance our relationship with the natural world even within an urban environment.