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Mihipeka: Early years
“I wanted to write about how the Maori people lost the language, to let it be known how it really did happen.
“I made a vow in my heart that one day I would tell it from every point, every pinnacle, every roof top, so that there would be no more misunderstanding.
“I would let people know how important it is to hold fast to your identity, because without your reo you are nothing.”
So begins this story, in her own words, of Mihi Edwards, known to her family and friends as Aunty Mihi. This book is her story of the early years of a Maori woman growing up in rural New Zealand.
“I made a vow in my heart that one day I would tell it from every point, every pinnacle, every roof top, so that there would be no more misunderstanding.
“I would let people know how important it is to hold fast to your identity, because without your reo you are nothing.”
So begins this story, in her own words, of Mihi Edwards, known to her family and friends as Aunty Mihi. This book is her story of the early years of a Maori woman growing up in rural New Zealand.
- GenresAutobiography
168 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 1990
26 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 21, 2018
“I have decided I am going to disown being a Māori. I do not like to be called black nigger and stinky. I have to dodge that somehow. I do not like to be so poor. My Kuia always said I can’t be a rangatira if I don’t speak my language, but I have decided I am not going to speak Māori any more. It is too difficult to be Māori." - A young Mihi Edwards in the 1940s, page 99.
When Mihi Edwards' grandparents, who she lived with, died, she set out to find a new life, aping the Pakeha dress, way of life, and speech in order to fit in. She wrote this, the first of a memoir trilogy, as an elderly rangatira looking back on her life, and dedicates it to her mokopuna. She writes:
“I don’t ever want to see any one of my mokopuna made to feel ashamed of being Māori like I was. Be proud of being Māori. Hold your heads high and know that you are descendants of a very proud race."
I was shocked by how badly Māori were treated in the years of the depression and WWII. Her beloved Kui warned her to travel in groups, and to beware the Pakeha man who would be attracted to her fair skin. The threat of rape was real.
Edwards was caned for speaking te reo at school, with dire consequences:
Her grandmother, Kui: “Ae, Moko, you don’t talk Māori to me any more . . . This is why I feel sick. They are taking my mana away from me. I am nothing without my reo. I do not want to be a person with no face, or a Pakeha . . God gave him his reo. I am a Māori. God gave me my reo. God didn’t tell me to be someone else.” - page 51.
I learned a lot about the Māori concepts about earth and nature, from respecting the ocean through karakia (prayer) when you take fish, to ensuring pollution stays out of the sea and instead goes back to Papatuanuku to be broken down naturally:
"My Kuia always used to tell me to respect the land and I do, because in the end we yield our bodies to her in death. It is our soul, our wairua, that lives on." - p 67.
Also watching the bird life for information and signs, particularly the morepork, or Kopa, a wairua (spirit) signally danger or death.
I so enjoyed the simplicity of Edwards's writing, the poignancy of some of the scenes (particularly when her Kuia dies), and her recurring telling-offs to Pakeha about their disrespect of nature. I'm not sure how I have only just discovered this NZ classic—I believe this should be taught in New Zealand Aotearoa high schools and writing programmes.
When Mihi Edwards' grandparents, who she lived with, died, she set out to find a new life, aping the Pakeha dress, way of life, and speech in order to fit in. She wrote this, the first of a memoir trilogy, as an elderly rangatira looking back on her life, and dedicates it to her mokopuna. She writes:
“I don’t ever want to see any one of my mokopuna made to feel ashamed of being Māori like I was. Be proud of being Māori. Hold your heads high and know that you are descendants of a very proud race."
I was shocked by how badly Māori were treated in the years of the depression and WWII. Her beloved Kui warned her to travel in groups, and to beware the Pakeha man who would be attracted to her fair skin. The threat of rape was real.
Edwards was caned for speaking te reo at school, with dire consequences:
Her grandmother, Kui: “Ae, Moko, you don’t talk Māori to me any more . . . This is why I feel sick. They are taking my mana away from me. I am nothing without my reo. I do not want to be a person with no face, or a Pakeha . . God gave him his reo. I am a Māori. God gave me my reo. God didn’t tell me to be someone else.” - page 51.
I learned a lot about the Māori concepts about earth and nature, from respecting the ocean through karakia (prayer) when you take fish, to ensuring pollution stays out of the sea and instead goes back to Papatuanuku to be broken down naturally:
"My Kuia always used to tell me to respect the land and I do, because in the end we yield our bodies to her in death. It is our soul, our wairua, that lives on." - p 67.
Also watching the bird life for information and signs, particularly the morepork, or Kopa, a wairua (spirit) signally danger or death.
I so enjoyed the simplicity of Edwards's writing, the poignancy of some of the scenes (particularly when her Kuia dies), and her recurring telling-offs to Pakeha about their disrespect of nature. I'm not sure how I have only just discovered this NZ classic—I believe this should be taught in New Zealand Aotearoa high schools and writing programmes.
October 6, 2015
An interesting book, though it is very sad. This doesn't cover the whole of Edwards' life - as the title says, it's the early years: primarily her childhood, though the last few chapters cover her life as a young adult.
The book is mostly concerned with isolation, from both self and culture. Edwards started primary school in the mid-1920s, I think, at a time when the New Zealand school system tried to squash the Maori language out of its students. Felt so sorry for the poor little kid that she was, getting beaten by her teacher for not understanding English and speaking her own language. But the great tragedy of this can only be seen in the years of aftermath, in Mihi's perspective of herself...
Thought-provoking and sympathetic. I think there's a sequel? Will have to look it up.
The book is mostly concerned with isolation, from both self and culture. Edwards started primary school in the mid-1920s, I think, at a time when the New Zealand school system tried to squash the Maori language out of its students. Felt so sorry for the poor little kid that she was, getting beaten by her teacher for not understanding English and speaking her own language. But the great tragedy of this can only be seen in the years of aftermath, in Mihi's perspective of herself...
Thought-provoking and sympathetic. I think there's a sequel? Will have to look it up.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews