Mere pounamu
Ko te mere pounamu (patu pounamu rānei) te rākau pounamu nui rawa atu ki te Māori. He tohu ia mō te rangatira; me kī, ko te mere pounamu ki te Māori, ko te kōhatu kahurangi pērā i te taimana ki tauiwi.
Ko te mahi a te mere pounamu he wero, he haehae. Kāore te mere i whakamahia pērā i te toki, kei kotahi atu ki tētahi atu mere ka pakaru, ka moumou ngā werawera i whakapaua i roto i ngā tau i tōna auahatanga.
Toki poutangata
Ko te toki poutangata mō te taki i te riri. Heoi, iti noa ngā wā ka whakangaua ki te kiko tangata te kiko rākau rānei. Pērā i te mere pounamu, nā tōna mana nui, ko te rangatira anake ka āhei te mau i te toki poutangata. Kei ngā whānau rangatira e pupuri ana ngā toki poutangata. Kia tae ki ngā hui nui a te iwi pērā i ngā tangihanga o ngā rangatira kua whakaaturia mai te toki poutangata.
Taonga a te iwi
Kei tēnā iwi, kei tēnā iwi ā rātou kōrero mō ā rātou taonga pounamu. Ka tapaa he ingoa ki te toki, te mere, te toki poutangata rānei. He tapu ēnei taonga, he nui ō rātou mana. He whakahokinga mahara te taonga pounamu ki ngā tūpuna me ā rātou pakanga. He maha ngā waiata a ngā tūpuna mō ā rātou taonga pounamu.
Kaitiaki
Hei ētahi wā ka tū te pounamu hei māwe pupuri i te mauri o tētahi mea, o tētahi tangata, aha atu rānei. I te tau 1986 ka tukuna e Ngāi Tahu tētahi papa pounamu ki Te Papa Tongarewa, ko Mauri; koia te mauri o Rongomaraeroa, te marae o Te Papa Tongarewa. I te hokinga mai o Te Maori ki Aotearoa, tērā tētahi kōhatu pounamu ko Te Māori anō te ingoa, ka whai haere i te whakaaturanga hei pupuri i te mauri. Nō muri ka whakahokia te pounamu nei ki a Ngāi Tahu, ā, i tēnei wā kei te whare taonga o Murihiku a ia.
Te Āwhiorangi
He nui ngā kōrero a ngā iwi mō te toki rā a Te Āwhiorangi, anei tā Ngā Rauru:
Ko Te Āwhiorangi te toki a Tāne nāna i tapahi ngā uaua hono i a Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku. Whāia, ka tū ko Te Āwhiorangi hei tohu mō te mana o ngā toki katoa.
Ka heke te toki i ngā kāwai ariki, mai i a Tāne taka iho ki a Turi te rangatira o runga i te waka Aotea. Nā Āwhiorangi taua waka i auaha. Nā te nui o te tapu me te māharahara kei raweketia a Te Āwhiorangi, ka whakamoea e Rangitaupea ki runga ake o tētahi whara (ana kōiwi). Ka moe taua toki mō hia whakatupuranga, tae rawa ki te paunga o te rau tau 1800. Tērā tētahi wahine ko Tōmairangi tōna ingoa, i moe i tana tāne nō Ngā Rauru. Nā tōna kūare ka tūpono taua wahine ki te takotoranga o Āwhiorangi. I tana kitenga i te toki rā, ka hikohiko te uira, ka papā te whatitiri, ka rere te huka. Ka kī a ia, ‘Kotahi te mea i kite au i reira, anō he atua; ka nui taku mataku’.
Ka awatea, ka huihui a Ngā Rauru me ētahi atu iwi, ka tuku karakia ētahi tohunga tokorua ki runga i a Āwhiorangi. Kātahi ka hikohiko te uira, ka papā te whatitiri, ka tau te kohu ki te whenua.
I te tōmuritanga o te rau tau e 1900 e kī ana te kōrero kei a Ruka Broughton te toki nei e pupuri ana. He tohunga, he kaiwhakaako, he minita Mihingare a Ruka nō te iwi o Ngā Rauru.
