Far North iwi Ngāti Kuri fed up with ashes being scattered at Cape Reinga

Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua is one of Northland's most popular tourist destinations. Photo / Peter de Graaf

Northland’s iconic tip has always been a popular tourist destination but a Far North iwi has revealed Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua has become favoured for a different purpose which they say is culturally inappropriate.

Ngāti Kuri is fed up with the growing number of people headed to the country’s most northern point in order to spread the ashes of loved ones.

The iwi - which manages the sacred Te Rerenga Wairua - took to social media to send a very clear message to visitors confusing the cape for a cemetery.

“We need to remind people that the type of activity like spreading ashes (human remains) is not culturally appropriate, nor spiritually and physically safe.

“We do NOT want your ashes here.”

Ngāti Kuri said they are mindful that overseas visitors and New Zealanders - including some Māori - are behind the area’s mistaken identity.

And the problem is getting worse, they shared.

Ngāti Kuri Trust Board chairman Harry Burkhardt said the scale of the problem was at a level of consistency that the iwi felt compelled to make their view on the issue understood.

“Unless we’re clear about what our position is people will have a sense that it’s been supported, that they are doing the right thing.”

Iwi learned about ashes being spread at Te Rerenga Wairua via some people asking for permission in advance and others, in less upfront ways.

While Burkhardt said iwi recognised farewelling loved ones in such a way provided people with significant personal moments, Ngāti Kuri expressed there was a wider significance.

“Te Rerenga Wairua is not an urupa - cemetery. It is very much a place for the living and the many taonga we have there,” they said.

Cape Reinga is rich in endemic species that iwi go to great conservation lengths to protect.

Yes, the area has a strong spiritual connection to the dead as in te ao Māori, Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua marks the place where Māori spirits descend into the underworld along the roots of an ancient pōhutukawa.

But culturally, Ngāti Kuri said, they do not mix the living and the dead.

“Te Rerenga Wairua is a place for Wairua [spirit, soul] to leave us and for us, the living, to sit in the presence of our Taiao [natural world] and remember them.”

The iwi said ashes should also not be spread in the area’s oceans and fresh waterways or in places where people work, live, gather kai [food], harvest for weaving and rongoā [medicines].

“This is our workplace, our home and we also have many that visit Te Rerenga Wairua so it would be absolutely not appropriate to spread the human remains of your loved ones in our backyard.”

In te ao Māori, Cape Reinga/Te Rerenga Wairua marks the place where Māori spirits descend into the underworld along the roots of an ancient pōhutukawa. Photo / Supplied

Those human remains, Ngāti Kuri said, would be best placed with whānau and or in a community cemetery.

“Please respect our place that you are privileged to visit.”