A child of Ranginui (sky father) and Papatūānuku (earth mother), and brother of Rongo, the atua (god)of cultivated food, Haumia Tiketike is the guardian spirit of wild food. He is associated most with the starchy rhizome of the bracken fern, te mōnehu, a common feature of the Māori diet in ancient times.
The ferns were abundant and the rhizomes easy to harvest. Māori would collect and dry them in summer and use them in winter, when they would be heated and softened with a patu aruhe (beater), and the starch sucked from the fibres.
Haumia Tiketike links us to the work we do on plant species of importance to Māori, and to our live collections. These are ngā tipu whakaoranga, the plants that sustain us. Our pā harakeke, Te Kohinga Harakeke o Aotearoa – National New Zealand Flax Collection, and the tī kōuka (cabbage tree) plantation allow us to embrace mātaranga Māori.
Haumia Tiketike and his whakapapa – the fronds sprouting from the earth – are a reminder to seek connections between the natural world and people, and not to study elements in isolation.
Ko Haumia Tiketike he tamaiti nā Rangi rāua ko Papa. He tuākana teina hoki rāua ko Rongo. Ko Rongo te atua o te ngakina kai. Heoi ko Haumia te atua o ngā hua kai o te wao. Ko Haumia hoki te kaitiaki o te mōnehu, arā te akakoare māngaro o te aruhe. I kitea whānuitia tēnei kai a te Māori i ngā wā o nehe.
I ngā wā o mua, makuru ana te aruhe, māmā hoki te hauhake. Kohikohia kātahi ka whakamarokehia ai i te raumati, ā, kaingia ai i te takurua. Ka whakawerahia kātahi ka whakangāwarihia ki te patu aruhe, ā ka ngongoa mai te māngaro i ngā weu.
Ko tā Haumia he whakahono i te rangahau e mahi nei mātou ki ngā tipu hiranga a te Māori, ki o mātou kohikohinga kaiao hoki. Koinei ngā tipu whakaoranga, ngā tipu whakaukauka i a tātou. Koia ko tō mātou pā harakeke – Te Kohinga Harakeke o Aotearoa me te uru tī kōuka. Mā ēnei tupu ka toro atu mātou ki te mātauranga Māori.
Arā kē a Haumia Tiketike me ōna pītau e pihi ake ana i te papa. He tohu whakamahara ki a tātou kia kimihia ngā hononga i waenga i te ao tangata me te ao tūroa, ā, kia kaua hoki tātou e warea e te tirohanga whakamomotu.
