Rātana (movement)

Rātana is a political and religious movement established in the early twentieth century as a response to colonial domination of the Indigenous Māori peoples of New Zealand. Initially begun in 1918 as a Christian mission by faith healer Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana, for whom the movement is named, it increasingly took on sociopolitical overtones in the 1920s.

The core principles of Rātana combine Western Christianity with traditional Māori ideas while simultaneously espousing a rejection of ancestral Māori customs and beliefs. In addition to its religious mission, the Rātana movement seeks to improve the welfare of the Māori people. In the mid-2020s, the Rātana church claimed just over 43,000 members in New Zealand; there were also many followers in Australia.

History

The Māori are the Indigenous peoples of New Zealand who are descended from Polynesians who landed in the region more than two thousand years ago. After the arrival of European colonists in 1642, the Māori enjoyed mostly cordial relations with the settlers for two centuries. However, the introduction of Western weapons led to several devastating wars among the Māori, which, when combined with their lack of resistance to European diseases, had a dramatic impact on Indigenous societies. Growing societal pressures from settlers and Christian missionaries further heightened tensions.

The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi between the British government and several prominent Māori chiefs officially made New Zealand a British colony while ostensibly protecting the land rights and cultural traditions of the Māori. However, the Māori progressively lost their lands. Over the next half century, the Māori became an increasingly subjugated class.

Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana was born in 1873 to Methodist Māori parents on the North Island of New Zealand. Rātana was thirty-five when the devastating influenza epidemic of 1918 struck New Zealand. Māori were five times more likely to die from the flu virus than non-Māori, and eighteen of the twenty-one members of Rātana's family perished. At the height of this ordeal, Rātana experienced a mystical vision of a small cloud telling him to assume the mantle of māngai (or "mouthpiece") of God. According to his vision, Rātana was asked to lead his people away from the false gods of their ancestors toward the one true God. In so doing, he was told, he could heal his people both spiritually and physically, and unite them as a single people. He was hailed as both a healer and a prophet, especially after his apparent cure of a woman with disabilities garnered national press.

Rātana traveled the nation, promoting his Christian beliefs through the use of the Māori language and cultural touchstones while utilizing Christian revivalist techniques as part of his ministry. Initially tolerated by various denominations (principally as a result of his encouragement that his followers continue to attend their regular churches), his self-promotion as a prophet of God and his denunciation of traditional Māori customs alienated him from both Christian and Māori leaders. In response, he created Te Haahi Rātana, or the Church of Rātana, in 1925 as an independent religion.

Recognizing that many of the problems affecting the Māori needed more than spiritual solutions, Rātana increasingly began combining politics with his religious ministries. In 1924, his followers gathered forty-five thousand signatures (or two-thirds of all living Māori at that time) for a petition to air their grievances to the Queen of England about the New Zealand government's failure to uphold the conventions of the Treaty of Waitangi. Although obstructed by New Zealand, their efforts nonetheless raised the profile of both Rātana and his movement.

In the 1930s, Rātana turned over management of the church to his church apostles and focused his attention on politics. He formed an alliance with the Labour Party in 1936 that enabled him to use party resources to promote his personally selected candidates for office. By 1943, the followers of Rātana had installed their own candidates into all four available special Māori electorates to the New Zealand Congress—a stranglehold they maintained until the New Zealand First party captured one of these electorates in 1993.

Although Rātana's political influence has waned in the twenty-first century, it remains an important political bloc in New Zealand affiliated with the Māori Party. As proof of Rātana's continued influence, in November 2018, thousands of people gathered at the Rātana settlement and church in New Zealand for a celebration involving a church ceremony, a play, a speech given by the prime minister, and a feast; the event was planned to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the moment when Rātana received his vision. Every year on January 25, politicians travel to the community as followers celebrate Rātana's birth. It has also come to be seen as marking the beginning of the political year. This celebration lasts for several days.

Beliefs

The Rātana movement has two aspects: the Ture Tangata, which refers to the secular arm of Rātana, and the Koata, its political wing.

The Rātana faith emphasizes a tolerance for all religions and still maintains most aspects of Christian orthodoxy, albeit with a Māori flavor. The Rātana church promotes the Christian Holy Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and a belief in the doctrine of the Christian Bible. It differs from traditional orthodoxy in its elevation of angels into active agents of God, and its belief that Tahupōtiki Wiremu Rātana remains God's specially sent messenger to the Māori. Additionally, the Rātana faith actively discourages any worship of traditional Māori gods or use of ancestral belief systems.

Other unique aspects of Rātana include its promotion of faith healing and its use of a Bible and a hymnal (called the "Blue Book") that have been translated into the Māori language for all church services.

The affiliated Rātana political arm's central objectives are primarily concerned with improving the general welfare of all people with Māori ancestry. As such, the church actively promotes improvements to the health, employment, housing, and educational opportunities for New Zealand's Indigenous peoples. In addition, the church advocates for a reexamination of the terms of the Treaty of Waitangi as well as the need to redress the confiscation of Māori property in colonial times.

Organization

The Church of Rātana has been led by a direct descendent of Rātana since its inception, with the governing board consisting of the Kōmiti Haahi Matua (the head church committee). Within this committee, a synod of leaders is selected to meet annually to make decisions for the church. The Church of Rātana has over 120 parishes in New Zealand led by registered āpotoro rēhita (apostles) of the church, according to the Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage's encyclopedia. In April 2023, Manuao Te Kohamutunga Tamou was elected as the church's eighth Tumuaki (leader).

Bibliography

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Henderson, J. McLeod. Ratana: The Man, the Church, the Political Movement. A.H. & A.W. Reed, 1972.

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Knowles, Brett. Transforming Pentecostalism: The Changing Face of New Zealand Pentecostalism, 1920–2010. Emeth, 2014.

Newman, Keith. "Rātana Church—Te Haahi Rātana." Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Manatū Taonga Ministry for Culture and Heritage, 4 Apr. 2018, teara.govt.nz/en/ratana-church-te-haahi-ratana. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

Newman, Keith. Ratana: The Prophet. Raupo, 2009.

"Ratana History." Te Haahi Ratana, The Ratana Established Church of New Zealand, www.theratanachurch.org.nz/history.html. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

Shilliam, Robbie. The Black Pacific: Anti-Colonial Struggles and Oceanic Connections. Bloomsbury Academic, 2015.

Stowell, Laurel. "25,000 People Converge on Ratana for Centenary Celebrations." The New Zealand Herald, www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c‗id=1&objectid=12155479. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"Te Haahi Rātana Established as Church." New Zealand History, 6 July 2020, nzhistory.govt.nz/page/te-haahi-rātana-established-church. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.