Te Ūkaipō
Ko te Ūkaipo te iho tāngaengae e hono ai te mauri te wairua me te tinana o te tangata. Koia nei te puna whakatupu, te puna whakawhanake, te puna whakaora i te matū o te tangata. Ka puta, ka ora! tihei mauri ora!
It is said this concept was born from the words given to Tāne advising him to return to Papatūānuku for there he will find the uha tangata (female essence) at kura waka. ‘Kei wareware i a tātou te ūkaipō – lest we forget the mother who nurtured us at her breast’.
For Raukawa iwi it is also a term that was used when Māhinaarangi first breast-fed her new-born son Raukawa and this is commemorated in the naming of Ūkaipō marae at the foothills of the Kaimai ranges.
Te Ūkaipō tells us of the importance of our mothers and the role of nurturing physically, spiritually and emotionally. We can model this nurturance off our earth mother Papatūānuku and find sustenance for ourselves in our Ūkaipō, the physical places that teach us about who we are. Importantly, Te Ūkaipō speaks to the wider responsibility of whānau, hapū and iwi. That to provide a healthy and well start to live requires a collective and supportive approach that is grounded in our principles of aroha, manaakitanga and whanaungatanga.
Our tūpuna Māhinaarangi and Tūrongo left many legacies that can support us in our journeys to growing, birthing and caring for our tamariki. Te Ūkaipō is just one of those that speaks to the sacredness of mothers, fathers and the central role of our pēpi and tamariki to our whānau, hapū and iwi.
Our tūpuna Māhinaarangi and Tūrongo left many legacies that can support us in our journeys to growing, birthing and caring for our tamariki. Te Ūkaipō is just one of those that speaks to the sacredness of mothers, fathers and the central role of our pēpi and tamariki to our whānau, hapū and iwi.
