Leave Rongoā Māori to Tangata Whenua

By Cameron McCausland-Taylor

When I think of my personal wellbeing, my connection to te ao Māori is a vital part of keeping myself happy, healthy and thriving in the world. One way I connect to te ao Māori is through rongoā Māori such as mirimiri, rongoā rākau, and matakite. I’m blessed to have a kare that has me up to my ears in kawakawa balm, and connections who can provide matakite readings when I need guidance. Growing up in te ao Pākeha, it’s been both refreshing and life changing to engage in te ao Māori through its various modalities of rongoā. However, the state of rongoā Māori in Aotearoa law is currently subject to change, with many rongoā practitioners fearing that history may be at risk of repeating itself.

Before we dive into the legality of it all, let’s talk a bit about what rongoā Māori encompasses. As told by Lily KeatsFarr in her 2022 Massey University thesis Exploring Everyday Engagement with Rongoā Māori and Well-Being, rongoā Māori are healing systems developed in pre-colonial society to support the health and wellbeing of Māori. It covers a range of different techniques such as mirimiri, rongoā rākau, karakia, matakite and purepure. Not only is it health and healing-centred, but it’s a way of life for Māori, contributing towards our cultural identity as well as connecting us with the spiritual realms, our whānau and te taiao. Overall, it’s about striking a balance between the mind, body, and soul in connection to the different aspects of our lives. In recent decades, Aotearoa has seen a massive revival in the world of rongoā Māori, with Keats-Farr suggesting possible factors for such a resurgence being the Māori cultural renaissance, a loss of trust in mainstream healthcare, lack of access to healthcare services for Māori, and the legal limitations imposed on healing.

At the end of November 2022, the Therapeutic Products Bill was introduced with an intention to provide thorough and safer regulations around therapeutic products, including rongoā Māori. On Radio New Zealand on March 4 this year, they shared that the government called this a “better system to protect rongoā Māori in law”. However, the bill also means that the ways in which rongoā Māori are created, trialled, publicized, and exported will be changed, with many rongoā Māori practitioners fearing this may be a repeat of the 1907 Tohunga Suppression Act. This act was created with the intention to stop traditional Māori healing practices from being used and replace them with Western medicine. On the New Zealand Parliament website, the bill has almost 17,000 public submissions, with many of the submissions objecting to it.

At Parliament’s first reading of the bill in December last year, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer of Te Pāti Māori pointed out why many Māori are likening this bill to the Tohunga Suppression

Act, with the main reason being the government’s failure to engage with tangata whenua in the process. In order to discuss protection of rongoā Māori through regulation, Ngarewa-Packer urges the government to include tangata whenua in the conversation, more specifically rongoā practitioners and kaimahi. “This bill doesn’t protect rongoā at all, but brings civil and criminal penalties into practice, which concerns us,” she said.

Rongoā Māori practitioners themselves have also come forward and shared kōrero with the media about their concerns. In a March 7 article by Tema Hemi of Te Ao Māori News, practitioner Renee MacDonald worried that the bill would “diminish” rongoā Māori: “Us going underground is a big deal because we don’t want to have to do that. And the Tohunga Suppression Act did that to us for a very long time and it shouldn’t be happening again … It is a little bit scary because I have a business to run.”

In another Massey University thesis, Rongoā Māori through the eyes of Māori healers, Glenis Mark’s kōrero with a range of healers further stressed the importance of keeping Māori knowledge self-governing in the face of colonisation. One healer saw rongoā Māori as a vehicle of decolonisation through uniting Māori: “At the end of the day, if we become united in our whakaaro… you don’t need the rest of the world to heal yourself. You can heal yourself and heal others just like that. Rongoā Māori starts here, because you are Māori” (Pp. 131).

Another healer tapped into the principles of tino rangatiratanga and mana motuhake, indicating that returning to the ways of thinking that our tīpuna aligned with would allow a pathway to live with wairua and create healing; “They took what they needed, so basically, go back to basics and if we can all start doing that, it can make us all a stronger base” (Pp. 132). This chapter of the thesis overall showed the ways in which holding on to the customs of our tīpuna, such as rongoā Māori, can begin to heal the impact of colonisation and act as a form of decolonisation, unifying Māori and keeping our knowledge and traditions intact. My kare Rangimarie Angell also shed some light on her whānau experience with rongoā Māori, with her māmā growing their whānau maara used for healing. Rangimarie regularly makes kawakawa tea whenever they’re feeling unwell or uses a steaming pot of kawakawa when whānau members experience panic attacks. She has used kawakawa balms for her son’s nappy rash and boiled kawakawa leaves to ease her son’s eczema as a baby. She shared how, like me, she did not grow up on the marae or speaking te reo. “We were whakamā to do anything Māori because of the Tohunga Suppression Act. So, for Mum to grow kawa, it was exciting … Rongoā isn’t just medicine. It’s healing, it’s spiritual, and it connects us to our ancestors, the atua, and the spirits of te taiao.”

The Therapeutic Products Bill may seem kei te pai, in theory. Like, safer products for all? Of course, people want that. But without the proper engagement with tangata whenua, we are at gigantic risk of losing such valuable knowledge and taonga for Māori. We’re in danger of losing a form of connection with our tīpuna, our atua and te taiao, a method of healing and decolonisation, and an avenue for strengthening our cultural identity. Considering many of our people are still healing from intergenerational trauma caused by the Tohunga Suppression Act, a possible repeat is terrifying for us. We can only hope that the government begins the engagement needed to make necessary adjustments to the bill that properly protect rongoā Māori, its tohunga, and its practitioners. I long for the day that our customs and traditions stop being dictated by Pākeha systems and are wholly placed in the hands of our people instead. By Māori, for Māori is forever the best way; honour Te Tiriti ALWAYS.

Rongoā- medicine, treatment

Mirimiri- massage

Rongoā rākau- plant remedies

Matakite- special intuition, clairvoyance

Kare- dear friend

Karakia- prayer

Purepure- Spiritual cleansing ceremony

Te taiao- nature

Kaimahi- workers

Kōrero- discourse, talk/s

Whakaaro- Understanding, idea

Tino rangatiratanga- total sovereignty

Mana Motuhake- self-governance

Tīpuna- ancestors

Wairua- soul, spirit

Maara/Māra- garden

Whakamā- Ashamed

Kei te pai- Good

Taonga- treasure/s