Noho momotu
I te hekenga ki ngā taone i te pito o te rautau 1900, ka motu te aka matua o te tikanga. Kua whākī ake ētahi kaumātua ahakoa tōna tikanga kua mau ki ngā kōrero tuku iho me ngā tikanga he kuare kē nō rātou ki ngā kōrero a ō rātou kaumātua ake inā kē hoki he ware he kore mau rānei i te wā e rangatahi tonu ana: ‘Gone are the days when we could, but didn't often bother to, sit and listen, as beautiful words and phrases flowed forth from a heart and mind, well versed in the things of his generation and with songs that were history and geography in themselves! … A new era has dawned for us!—“Ka pu te ruha, ka hao te rangatahi.”' (Kua taha ngā rā i āhei ai he noho taringa kōhatu hoki mātou ki ngā kupu taurangi e maringi mai ana i te hinengaro me te whatumanawa o tērā reanga mātau rawa ki ngā waiata me ngā kōrero tuku iho! ... Kua takiri ake he ata hou mō mātou!– “Ka pū te rūhā, ka hao te rangatahi.”)1
Te whakaheke kōrero mātauranga
Nō te tau 1907 ka kite a Te Rangi Hīroa i te pueatanga ake o tēnei raru nui, me tōna īnoi ki ngā kaumātua Māori kia tuku iho i ā rātou kōrero:
[K]aua e kaiponutia nga taonga a o tatou tupuna. Tukuna mai ... Ma kona ka mau tonu ai a tatou korero, ka mahue iho ai hei koha ki nga uri e tipu ake nei, kei moumou te hari atu a nga kaumatua ki te reinga a ka mahue kupu kore matou nga mokopuna.2
Kaumātua ā-waea
Mai i waenga o te ngahuru tau 1980 kua kaha te karanga a ngā tari kāwanatanga i ngā kaumātua ki te hautū whakaritenga, pērā i te karakia, te tā whare me te pōwhiri kia kitea ai te ngana kia Māori ake te āhua. Ka whakapae ētahi pēnā rānei he mana tō tēnei mahi, he mahi karetao noa iho rānei. Nō reira kīa ai tērā mahi e te hunga whakapae he ‘Kaumātua ā-waea’.
He whakataunga
Kei ētahi wāhi kua mahue mai ki te reanga ō muri te whanake ki te whakakī i ngā whārua o ngā kaumātua. Kei ā ētahi iwi he whakapūpū i a rātou whare kōrero kaumātua. Ka mutu ko Te Arataki Manu Kōrero o Tainui tērā, arā, te kaupapa i kōkiritia e te kaumātua o Ngāti Maniapoto a Tui Adams hei whākao i ō Tainui kaumātua, i ā Tainui tikanga, i ōna hītori hoki e iere tonu ai ngā kōrero tuku iho me te āhua o Tainui.
E noho tonu ana te hunga kaumātua hei pakihiwi kaha mō Ngāi Māori, me te mana Māori. Nā Mason Durie te kōrero: ‘The standing of a tribe, its mana … relates more to the visible presence and authority of its elders … it is the older generation who carry the status, tradition and integrity of their people' (Ko te āhua o te iwi, me tōna mana ... kei te kanohi kitea me te mana o ōna kaumātua rangatira ... ko te reanga ō mua tērā e kawe nei i ngā tikanga me te mana o te iwi).3
Whare noho kaumātua
Nō te tekau tau 1970 ka tīmata te whakatūtū haere i ngā whare noho kaumātua. I te tau 1975, ka puta te kōrero a te Minita Māori a Matiu Rata mō te kaupapa o ngā whare nei: ‘[T]he desire to keep our elders where they become the ones who keep our maraes, our communities and our lands warm with their presence. Not for us the Eventide homes, the boarding houses where the elderly are put on their own, the communities consisting solely of the aged and the infirm. Elders are part of the community … The need for them as the link between the old and the new and as the stabilising group which will perpetuate Māoritanga is greater now than ever before' (He āwhero tēnei kia noho ko te hunga kaumātua tonu ngā kaitiaki o ngā marae, ngā kāinga me ngā kaipupuri i te ahikāroa. Kāre ngā kāinga Eventide mō mātou, ngā whare poari rānei ki reira noho momotu ai, e nōhia kē ana ēnei hapori e te kauheke anake me te hunga ngoikore. Me whai wāhi tonu te hunga kaumātua ki roto i te hapori ... Ko ngā kaumātua hei hononga i te ao tawhito me te ao hou, otirā i āianei he nui atu te whai take o tēnei tūāhua mō te ao Māori).4
