Rātā

Say it: RAH-tah

The man who cut a tree without asking. Rātā is the lesson that process is not bureaucracy — it is relationship.

Te Kāwai (Line of descent)

Te Kore → Te ira tangata → Rātā

Te Kōrero (the story)

Rātā felled a great tree to build a waka to avenge his father. Overnight the hakuturi — the forest people, birds and insects of Tāne — restored it whole. It happened again. When he finally waited and heard them, they told him he had taken from Tāne without a karakia. He apologised; they built the waka for him in a night.

Te Whakapapa (the genealogy)

Son of Wahieroa, grandson of Tāwhaki; a descendant working within the forest of Tāne Mahuta and answerable to his hakuturi.

Ngā Mana (domains and influence)

Waka building and the felling of treesKarakia before takingThe consequences of skipping the beginning

Kei Kōnei Rātou (they are present here)

Every time you're about to take something without asking.
Sawdust, chainsaws, pruning, a felled street tree.
Work that keeps having to be redone.

Ngā Huarahi Hono (ways to connect)

Before cutting, pruning or harvesting anything living

Say why you are taking it and who it is for. That sentence is the whole tikanga.

Something keeps going wrong

Go back to the start and check what you skipped, rather than pushing harder.

A Common Misunderstanding

This profile holds one telling of Rātā. Pūrākau and whakapapa can differ between iwi and whānau, so it should not be read as the only account.

Ngā Uara (values)

Willing to be corrected

A quality carried in the kōrero of Rātā.

Practical

A quality carried in the kōrero of Rātā.

Direct

A quality carried in the kōrero of Rātā.

Learns once

A quality carried in the kōrero of Rātā.

Ngā Pūrākau (the traditional stories)

Told in full, the way they would be shared out loud. Versions differ between iwi (tribe), hapū (sub-tribe) and whānau (family).

Te rākau i tū anō — the tree that stood again

Rātā cuts a tree for his father's waka without asking, and wakes to find his work undone.

About 5 min read

Te rerenga utu — the voyage of utu

With a waka built properly at last, Rātā sails to answer for his father — and learns what doing it right actually earned him.

About 5 min read