‘It’s only the beginning’: Ancient knowledge reclaimed as weavers recreate Māori sail

Te Rā Ringa Raupā — from left, Makaira Ropata, Tessa Harris, mentor and project instigator Maureen Lander, Ruth Port, Makareta Jahnke, Rouati Ewens and Mandy Sunlight — with the completed sail known as Māhere Tū ki te Rangi. Photo / Jos Wheeler

A determined group of Northland weavers has fulfilled a challenge laid down a century ago by rediscovering the long-lost techniques used to create a traditional Māori sail.

Woven sails were used to propel the waka that brought Māori across the Pacific to Aotearoa but the specialist knowledge used to design and weave them had been lost to time.

For centuries the only surviving example of a traditional sail, known as Te Rā, was in a vault of the British Museum in London.

Fearing the skills used to create Te Rā could vanish forever, in 1922 Te Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck) — a renowned doctor, military leader, anthropologist and MP — issued a challenge to recreate the sail and share the knowledge with the people of Aotearoa.

Now, 100 years later, Te Rangi Hīroa’s wish has finally been fulfilled.

The sail on display at Hihiaua Cultural Centre in Whangārei is the culmination of a years-long journey of rediscovery by a group of women calling themselves Te Rā Ringa Raupā.

Made using the same techniques and materials employed by the weavers’ ancestors centuries earlier, it measures 4.2m tall by 2m at the widest point, and was revealed to the public last month.

The weavers’ quest began about two decades ago when Maureen Lander, a Rawene-born weaver and professor of Māori studies, saw Te Rā in London.

Years later she assembled a team of top kairaranga (weavers) — Mandy Sunlight, Rouati Ewens and Ruth Port — who travelled back to London in 2019 to unravel the sail’s mysteries.

Rouati Ewens said Lander gave each member of the team a specific role so they could collect as much information as possible in a single trip.

“We didn’t have the luxury of overlooking important elements. Ruth gathered information on feathers, Mandy was tasked with the muka and stitching, and I had to figure out the raranga (weaving) side of things — specifically the hono (join) because it’s a technique that was lost to us.”

On their return the women recruited two more weavers, Kerrin Taylor and Makareta Jahnke, and artist Tessa Harris.

The completed sail was revealed at dawn on December 14. Photo / Jos Wheeler

Together they set about using what they had learned to create a half-size version of Te Rā at Pā Te Aroha Marae in Whirinaki, South Hokianga.

That sail, called Hine Marama, was successfully tested on Whirinaki River in June 2021.

The group was then ready to start work on a full-size sail.

The project took more than a year with the weavers meeting at the marae for a five-day wānanga once every month.

That included harvesting and preparing the flax gathered from Whirinaki and Pehiaweri Marae in Glenbervie.

Detail of the sail’s feather-adorned pennant. Photo / Jos Wheeler

Mandy Sunlight said they used the taeore variety because the leaves were long and soft and it was readily available.

The work was incredibly fine and the team had to “learn the hard way” about the importance of grading the kōrari (flax) to avoid even the slightest imperfection.

A core group of four weavers had a part in every element of the recreation while three others were assigned specialist roles.

Sunlight said the finished sail was made up of 13 papa (panels), 12 hono (joins), 24 takaore (cringles), more than 1500 feathers (mainly kukupā but also some kāhu and kākā), three tiny pieces of kirikurī (dog skin), a matairangi (pennant), taratara (triangular points) on the top and bottom edges, and puareare (an open-weave zig-zag pattern).

Detail of the sail’s puareare (open-weave zig-zag pattern). Photo / Jos Wheeler

Two puzzles remained even after the trip to London, Tessa Harris said.

“Those two questions — ‘What goes on inside the hem?’ and ‘How were the feathers notched and prepared?’ — took the longest for us to answer. We solved them literally only in the last few months,” she said.

“The stitched hem, which was the biggest unknown factor, was one of the last jobs. We had a breakthrough with that and the feather preparation due to the right person turning up at exactly the right time.”

Sunlight said the sail had been named Māhere Tū ki te Rangi. The name, which was chosen by Whiu Waata, of the hapū Te Hikutu, had multiple layers of meaning.

The main reason for choosing it, however, was because it was the name of the taniwha that accompanied the great discoverer Kupe on his journey to Aotearoa.

It would be tested on Hokianga Harbour later this summer.

Te Rā Ringa Raupā — from left, Makaira Ropata, Tessa Harris, mentor and project instigaror Maureen Lander, Ruth Port, Makareta Jahnke, Rouati Ewens and Mandy Sunlight — with the completed sail known as Māhere Tū ki te Rangi. Photo / Jos Wheeler

Makareta Jahnke said recreating the sail was important for the reclamation and preservation of matauranga Māori (Māori knowledge).

It also provided a missing link in the waka revival movement.

Others, especially the late Sir Hekenukumai Busby, had revived ancient navigation techniques and built double-hulled waka to sail every side of the Polynesian Triangle, but until now the sails used by Māori as they crossed the Pacific had remained a mystery.

Makaira Ropata, a key member of the group, said seeing the finished sail was “magical”.

“It was very humbling to see all of the matauranga (knowledge). Just looking at it and thinking about our tūpuna, and the journey towards completing it, it was magical. It takes you back to the people who would have made Te Rā,” she said.

“And it’s only the beginning, the mahi has just started. It’s about the tūpuna, the whakapapa, it’s all encompassing. It’s the feeling of having a newborn baby — the happiness and joy, the pure potential of what’s to come.”

■ A ceremony last month at Hihiaua Cultural Centre, on Herekino St, Whangārei, marked the completion of Māhere Tū ki te Rangi and the 100th anniversary of Te Rangi Hīroa’s challenge. The exhibition was to have ended in mid-January but has been extended indefinitely. Images in this story by Jos Wheeler.

A visitor to Hihiaua Cultural Centre examines the sail’s texture. Photo / Jos Wheeler

Ngātiwai chairman Aperahama Kerepeti-Edwards speaks during a ceremony at Hihiaua Cultural Centre marking the sail’s completion. Photo / Jos Wheeler

Māhere Tū ki te Rangi on display in Hihiaua Cultural Centre. Photo / Jos Wheeler

The weavers and a few of their supporters with the sail, called Māhere Tū ki te Rangi, at Hihiaua Cultural Centre. Photo / Jos Wheeler

The only known surviving example of a traditional Māori sail, Te Rā, is in a vault at the British Museum in London. Photo / supplied