The Marae as an Institution

In pre-European Maori society, the focal point of every permanently inhabited Maori village was the marae, the ground that served as a courtyard and a place of assembly for the members of the community. Associated with and complementary to the marae was the village meeting house known as the whare runonga or whare hui.

The meeting house as the pride and joy of the tribe was named after an eponymous ancestor represented by the carved figure on the gable of the roof. The tahuhu (ridgepole) represented the backbone and the heke (rafters) the ribs of the founding ancestor of the tribe or hapu (sub-tribe). Thus an assemblage of the hapu was referred to as "Meeting within the bosom of our ancestor." The poupou (posts) around the walls of the meeting house were carved figures representing famous ancestors, tribal gods and culture heroes. The prestige of a village was judged by the standard of its meeting house functioned as a whare puni (sleeping house) for guests, a whare hui (assembly house) and whare runanga (council house).

The marae was used for many social purposes by the inhabitants of a village. The marae [unclear: sered] as a rendezvous for parties leaving the village. Parties returning from hunting, fishing or war expeditions were met there. When the marae was not in use for formal meetings, children used it as their playground. Youths practised manly sports there (e.g. wrestling) while adults spent many leisure hours there talking and passing the time of day. Every day, the marae served as a dining place and seating accommodation for the community.

When the chief of a village was ill and sensed the approach of death, he was brought out on the marae before the assembled people to give his poroporoaki (farewell speech) The tangihanga (mourning ceremony) was held on the marae and was followed by the hakari (funery feast). Following the hahunga (ceremonial exhumation) a year or two later the bones of the chief together with those of other dead ancestors were welcomed back onto the marae, wept over and then reburied in a secret place. Raymond Firth summarises the importance of the marae in Maori society

The marae of a village was bound up with all the most vital happenings, with warm and kindly hospitality, with stately and dignified ceremonial, with the grouping of hosts and visitors in positions determined by etiquette and traditional proceedure. This helps to account for the fact that to the native it was more than a simple open space in the village or a convenient assembly ground, and bore a distinct social importance'¹

The association of the marae with family and kinship through the hapu (sub-tribe) and iwi (tribal group), its connection with illustrious ancestors, its focus for citizenship where the individual had inalienable rights to free speech, all served to establish the social significance of the marae to the individual and his tribe

The third element in the marae complex was the pataka (storehouse). No marae according to Buck could maintain its prestige unless it was supported by well stocked storehouses. A welcome on the marae had to be followed by a welcome with food. In pre-European Maori society, food was the most important form of wealth. This cultural attitude to food stemmed from the conditions of life in those times. Although there were rich natural resources of food in New Zealand, their seasonal nature together with the low level of technology meant that the Maori had to work hard for his living. He had to ensure a surplus above his daily needs for the off-season of the long winter months and overcome problems of storage and spoilage. Consequently, social power could be expressed in terms of food by possessing it in large quantities, and using it lavishly in entertaining visitors. A reputation for generosity was sought after and a charge of meanness to be avoided at all costs, even to the extent of emptying the storehouses.

A basic feature of the marae is the disposition of the buildings and associated facilities in accordance with the dichotomy of tapu (sacred) and noa (profane). The meeting house as the symbol of the tribe and its ancestors was, highly tapu and stood apart on the marae. The cooking area where food was prepared was noa, the antithesis of tapu and consequently was well separated from the meeting house and other dwellings. The heketua (latrine) was also a tapu place in the sense of being unclean and was sited away from dwellings, the meeting house and the cooking area.

The umu (earth ovens) were prepared out in the open behind a screen to form a windbreak from the prevailing winds as well as to demarcate the cooking area from the rest of the village.

At all inter group functions that took place on the marae a fundamental distinction existed between the participants as tangata whenua (home people) who were the hosts and manuhiri(guests). Only the tangata whenua had tuurangawaewae (standing) on the marae. Tuurangawaewae was derived by descent from the founding ancestor of the group, and the possession of land rights within the tribe and sub-tribal area. The privilege of speaking on the marae was extended by the hosts as a courtesy to their guests