Tangihanga Paper – COVID-19 (Part 1)

E ngā tini kārangarangatanga maha puta noa i te motu, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātau katoa. Tēnā tātau me te ngārara nui, a te mate korouna, kua pae mai ki tēnei motu me hōna moutere a Te Ika-a-Māui, Te Waipounamu, Rakiura, Te Wharekauri me ngā motu rīriki heoti huri noa i Aotearoa whānui. E tangi ana ki ngā mate o te wā, e moe, e oki. Tēnei te pō, tū mai te ao. Kāti, e te iwi he kupu akiaki hēnei e rārangi iho ana, he whakatūpatotanga, he mea whakamataara i a tātau kia mātau ai tātau ki te ‘riarati hou’.
As we navigate the ‘new reality – te riarati hou’ with COVID 19 coronavirus here in Aotearoa, I thought it was worth sharing some thoughts to help our whānau, hapū, marae and iwi work through tangihanga during this time. This isn’t a tohutohu, but we need to be real and take practical steps to ensure we live through this pandemic.
Tikanga is a broad and dynamic way to live and make decisions to keep us safe according to the context at hand – ngā mea e tika ana mō taua wā tonu. The tangihanga process means that we are great at working through grief. It is time to embrace the change to our lives and make it work in another way as our tūpuna have done for centuries. It’s time for us to be good ancestors by making decisions today for our mokopuna.
The following is a guideline for marae and whānau to help you work through the tangihanga process during the four stages of COVID 19. It is important to note, we are entering into winter and our people get sick the most during this time.