The protocols around mourning and remembering our loved ones through tangihanga is one of our most enduring customs, yet they are under attack by modern day demands.
The University of Waikato explores this issue as part of a new post graduate and doctorate research.
Tattoos are often used to commemorate a loved one who has passed away. But some people are taking it a step further. They're mixing the cremated ashes of someone they loved with ink and being tattooed.
The use of the cremated remains of a loved one in tattoos is a growing worldwide trend that Māori are starting to follow.
This is just one of the findings of new research by Waikato University on tangihanga.
Ngāhuia Te Awekotuku says, “For us as Māori, the tangihanga, the remembering, the honouring continues way beyond the actual death and burial or cremation of that person.”
Other aspects of the study focus on the place of Christianity, media coverage on tangi services, tangi for transgenders, cremation as well as traditional and contemporary commemoration displays.
For more on this story tune into Native Affairs at 8:30 tonight.
Tēnā koutou e te whānau - Last night an image was broadcast for a story that studied changing practices in tangihanga, including the use of loved ones ashes in tattooing. While Māori are moving through this practice very carefully, a particular image used of a chest moko held no relation to the story. Māori Television apologises unreservedly to the artist, the wearer and to whānau, for which the moko holds special significance and should be rightly respected. Anei tā te ngākau iti tāpae ake, hei whakaea i a mamae me pouri, hei kawe anō i te oha o ripenetā.
Mauri ora, mauri mārama ki a tātou.