Ko te tohunga me te poropititanga
Ko te mana o te poropititanga he mea tuku iho ki ngā tohunga me ngā matakite o roto i te ao Māori. Nō te tūtakitakinga ki ngā Karaitiana ka huri te poropititanga tawhito ki ngā whakapono poropiti o te ao hōu. I te tuatahi ka aro atu ki te Kawenata Hōu, heoi nāwai ka aro atu anō ki te Kawenata Tawhito. Nō te paunga o te rau tau 1900 kua puta ake hoki ngā whakaponotanga mano tau.
Hei tauira i te hononga o te tohunga tawhito me te poropiti o te ao hōu, tērā tētahi poropititanga nā te tohunga nā Toiroa i mua tata i te taenga mai o tauiwi:
Tiwha tiwha te pō
Ko te Pakerewhā
Ko Arikirangi tēnei rā te haere nei.1
Ka tohu tēnei poropititanga i te aranga ake o tētahi poropiti nui o te rau tau 18, Te Kooti Arikirangi Te Turuki.
Papahurihia
Ko Papahurihia tētahi o ngā poropiti tuatahi i whāinu i te puna mātauranga o te ao Māori me te ao Karaitiana. Ko tōna ingoa ake ko Pukerenga; hei tāna ko ia te ‘waka’ o te atua o Papahurihia. Mai i te tau 1833, ka tango ia i te ingoa o Papahurihia hei ingoa mōna. He mea tapa ia ki tēnei ingoa i tāna wetewete haere i ngā kauhau a ngā Mihinare ki Rangihoua, te teihana mihinare tōmua rawa o Aotearoa. Whai muri i tōna nekenga mai i Pēwhairangi ki roto o Hokianga i ngā tau tōmuri o te ngahuru tau 1830, ka riro i a ia te ingoa o Te Atua Wera.
Te Nākahi
I puta te rongo o Papahurihia i te wā o ngā iriiri tuatahi a ngā Māori ki roto ki ngā hāhi Karaitiana. Ko tāna kē i kite ko te rangi kī katoa i ngā painga ā te Pākehā me te kai. I ngā riri ki roto o te Tai Tokerau i ngā tau 1845–46, ko ia te mata o te tauā a Hone Heke, ā, nāna i whakahaere ngā kawa i puta ai te reo rerekē o Te Nākahi, he 'whistling sighing kind of sound' (oro whiowhio, he oro mapumapu hoki).2 Waihoki, he poropiti anō ōna mātua a Te Wharetī me tōna whaea a Tūhoehoe. Ko te nākahi tētahi āhuatanga nāna i tango i te karaipiture hei ariā mōna ki te wāhi ngaro.
Te Māori hei Hūrai
Ka whakataurite a Papahurihia i te Māori ki te Hūrai, arā he iwi noho manene. Nāna i whakatau ko ngā rā hāpati a te Hūrai (Hatarei) hei rangi whakamoemiti mōna. Ko tā Papahurihia he whakatū i te tikanga i whāia katoa ai e ngā whakapono poropiti Māori o muri mai; arā, ko te arawhata atu ki te oranga mana Māori. Ka whakanui ia i ngā kōrero a te Hūrai, ā, ka whakaū i te oati a te Atua mō te rironga anō o Kēnana, te whenua i noho manene ai rātou. I kite ia i ēnei kōrero i ngā tuhinga whakamāori me ngā kauhau tōmua rawa ā ngā mihinare.
Tāria ake
I te tau 1898, ka kī ake te rangatira o Hauraki a Hāmiora Mangakāhia, ‘Nga whakatauki me nga kupu Whakarite me nga kupu Poropiti, na o tatau Tipuna hei Tohutohu i a tatau nga Tamariki.’3 Ko Te Toiroa tōna ahurewa, ā nāna te kupu ki a ia, ‘Taria e hohou te Rongo kia tupu i te Miha ki a Kauna ki a Hawaiki, kei tua te Rongo Takekake.’ Ko te haerenga mai o Te Kooti tērā i kitea e Te Toiroa nō mua i te wā i a Kuki.
Papahurihia ka heke ki Hōne Tōia
I te tau 1875 ka mate a Papahurihia. Hāunga e ora tonu ai ana kōrero. I te tau 1856 ka iriiritia ia ki roto ki te Hāhi Wēteriana, ā, ka tapaina te ingoa o Penetana Papahurihia ki a ia. He tino kawa āna kōrero mō ērā poropiti kaingārahu o te tekau tau 1860, ā, ko tā te kāwanatanga mōna he tangata ‘pono ki te kāwanatanga’ noho mārie. Heoi anō nā ana akoranga i hua ake ngā rōpū mautohe mō ngā kaupapa o tērā wā, pērā i te ‘pakanga tāke kurī’ o Mei 1898 ki tōna anō kāinga ki Waimā.
Nā ka puta ake anō a Te Nākahi i ngā kauwhata a tōna kauwaka hou i a Hōne Tōia. Ko te whakahau hoki kia ngangahu ki ngā tāke e kaikino ana. Ka tapaina e Tōia taua whakapono ko ‘Whiowhio’. Ko tētahi taonga o tērā kawa ko te rākau atua, ko Rangi Awhiowhioā. Ko ia te waka o Te Nākahi, he taonga i tuku hekehia ki ngā uri o Tuhirangi, te teina o Hōne Heke. Ko ērā taonga tapu o te whakapono o Te Nākahi tērā i whakakōrerotia e Te Atua Wera, he piringa tahi ki te āwhero o Hōne Heke mā mō te tino rangatiratanga.
