Knowing who you are and where you belong.
Through knowing whakapapa, whānau gain their identity, history and knowledge about where they come from and where they belong. Māori have both a physical and spiritual relationship to water. It is the source of connection to water which can be traced back through geneaology or whakapapa.
What whakapapa means to these people: “It has a shared meaning (where I come from and genealogy) but can mean lots of other things – the trees, the sea, the land.“You are born with a whakapapa. It can never be taken away from you.” “Who you are and where you come from has many sources - maybe in our physical surroundings or in spiritual stories.”
Whakapapa is important, as it is the lineage to all things and our intimate connection to wai. We are 60% water which lends itself to us strengthening our whakapapa connection to wai. Waiora/Hauora.
The primal couple Ranginui (sky) and Papa tūā nuku (earth) appear in our creation story explaining the origin of the world. From their separation comes the Gods, their children.
Tangaroa (also Takaroa) is one of the great gods, the god of the sea. He is a son of Ranginui and Papa tūā nuku.
Whakapapa tells us that we are water; we comprise of the waters that flowed from Ranginui and Papa tūā nuku. This is why when we ask someone who they are we say ko wai koe, nō wai koe? On the surface this question asks who are you and where are you from? On a deeper level it is asking what waters are you and from where do your waters flow from.
