Page 27 - Mistified Update June 2020_Neat

I quickly learned that the tattooed scrolls are called
ta moko - and that no two were exactly alike.
I was also told not to call them tattoos. In days of
old they were engraved on the face. They tell a story a
person’s origins and identity.

Realizing that I knew nothing about the country that
I had decided to visit, Tama and Rangi decided that I
needed a little education before I continued my journey.

Tama and Rangi said that they belonged to a
mountain tribe called Rereahu, named after an ancestor.
They live due west of Lake Taupo on the verdant
landscape of Te Hape.

Tama took me to their family cemetery, a vacant
plot of fenced land overlooking a serene green valley.
The area was called Te Miringa Te Kakara, the spiritual
home of King Tawhiao and the visionary chieftainess
Ngaharakeke. The healing powers of this priestess
provoked many and healed many more.

Although I could not see it from here they explained
that to the east is a beautiful lake called Lake Taupo, the
waitapu (sacred waters) to the surrounding peoples on
her perimeter.

The area has the fifth largest volcano on planet
Earth. It is an area of fertile land known to locals as a
kai kete (food basket).
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