REFLECTION MAUGA PART 2 BY REV DR FEI TAULE’ALE’AUSUMAI  

8TH SEPTEMBER 2024 

There’s a village in Upolu in Samoa called “Le Au va’a”, literally meaning the people of the boat.  When the mountain Matavanu erupted between 1905 to 1911.  The people escaped their village Gaga’emauga (meaning below the mountain) by canoe to Upolu and one of the villages donated land to the survivors to relocate and establish themselves.   

Mountains can be unpredictable, they can be both magnificent giants to breathe in the vastness of its height and beauty and they can also be a place of destruction and calamity.  Mircea Eliade introduced the concept Axis mundi  as “the connection between Heaven and Earth” or the “higher and lower realms”.  Mountain tops  being the meeting place between humanity and the divine.   

When I was young and we had to drive past Mt. Taupiri in Ngaruawahia we were told to stop talking and turn the radio off as we needed to respect the burial ground of the Kings and Queens buried there including Billy T James.  Even back then I knew of the sacredness the tapu of Mt Taupiri.   

After the Commendation Tangi for Kingii Tuheitia I had every intention of going to Mt Taupiri to see the Kings journey up the mountain, but my friend Rev Diana Tana who was the kings chaplain having recently had surgery chose to stay and rest so I stayed and kept her company.  I did manage to  catch the end live  on television, anyway I was not sure how long I would be waiting for the bus to take us all back to the marae and I wouldn’t have been able to get an Uber driver as all the roads were all closed.  (I’m really starting to feel my age now when it comes to all day events).  But what an amazing spectacle it was.  Tainui and its people were a well oiled machine in every aspect from Powhiri to feasting to oratory and tikanga and everything Maoritanga immersed in Te Ao Hurihuri.  My soul has been blessed and I have no words to express the spiritual awakening I had at my immersion into the realm of the Kingitanga Movement.  I won’t say anymore about my serendipitous encounter, please read this weeks E News when you are free but it was truly awe-inspiring.   It all makes so much sense to me now more than ever.  The renaissance of the Ta moko or moko kaue for women, the  facial tattoo received by women on their lips and chin. It represents identity,  a woman’s whānau and leadership within her community, recognising her whakapapa, status, and abilities.   

To be powhiried on to the marae by hundreds of women singing the karanga dressed in black wearing the green leaf head garland and waving  fern leafs in both hands chanting Ka mate, ka mate amidst wails and chants was in the words of Rudolp Otto, an experience of the Numinous.  The words to use when you don’t have words to describe something out of this world.  Numinous represents the Mysterium, tremendum et fascinas.  The mystery, the trembling and the fascination.  Yes, that’s an apt description of my experience this week. I had an experience of the Numinous.   No neira e hoa ma, me mutu konei.  Amine.   

Audio of selected readings and reflections

Audio of the complete service