Wānangatia te wahakura: Weaving wellbeing for mokopuna and whānau

White, T. (2022). Wānangatia te wahakura: Weaving wellbeing for mokopuna and whānau. The Vessel: Embodied Knowledge, 3rd, chapter 4. https://vessel-magazine.no/issues/3/embodiedknowledge/tanya-white-whakura

Abstract

Wahakura (woven bassinets) are vessels of wellbeing, providing safe sleeping spaces that give tangible form to applications and processes of tikanga pā harakeke (protocols for using and tending to flax). As such, they are a woven manifestation of whakapapa (genealogy) and an embodiment of mana (prestige), mauri (life force) and tapu (the sacred), emanating from the pā harakeke (flax bush), a site of significance, a wāhi tapu (sacred place) and a repository of taonga raranga (treasured weaving). This essay presents a case study of raranga wahakura (practice of making a woven bassinet). It is an articulation of raranga (weaving) epistemology from a weaver’s perspective. It works to highlight the essentiality that, relationships with Papatūānuku (earth Mother) have towards achieving hauora (health) outcomes for mokopuna (grandchildren). Tikanga pā harakeke provides a tangible model of practice for oranga whānau (wellbeing of the family), serving as a point of access for whānau (family) to connect with Te Ao Māori (the Māori world), and its fundamental nature as a ‘woven universe’.

Publisher

Norwegian Crafts (Organization)
Objectspace (Gallery)

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https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6145

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https://vessel-magazine.no/issues/3/embodiedknowledge

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Community and Health Services Journal Articles

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