Flag of Te Kooti Arikirangi, founder of Te Ringatu faith Photo: Supplied
In October 1869 musket fire erupted at Te Porere about sixty kilometres north of here, in the shadow of Mount Tongariro in the last major battle of the New Zealand wars.
Armed constabulary and Maori fighters, clashed with the forces of the prophet Te Kooti Arikinui Te Turiki who had built an earth redoubt at Te Porere. It was overwhelmed during the battle, but Te Kooti and his surviving followers escaped.
Today the site is a tourist attraction but what also endured is the Ringatu Church, founded by Te Kooti. In 2018 it celebrated its 150th anniversary.
Ringatu mixes the Bible with Maori custom and, like Matariki, follows annual cycles such as Te Huamata in June for planting and Te Pure, the harvest, each November.
We spoke to Professor Te Kahautu Maxwell , a minister in the Ringatu Church and a senior academic in Maori and Indigenous Studies at the University of Waikato.
