that it is a New Zealand religion. Every country has its own religions, its own denominations. Ringatu and Ratana; they are the main religions that grew right here in our own country. They belong here.’ The sacred texts of Ringatu, the inoi (prayers), waiata (psalms), panui (scriptural passages) and himine (hymns), are all taken directly from the Old and New Testaments; Ringatu beliefs are very literally derived from the Bible, and definitely do not, as is sometimes conjectured, include what is vaguely thought of as ‘old heathen magic’.

Traditional Customs But since a people's customs and attitudes always influence the manner and nature of their worship, Ringatu meetings naturally have much in common with traditional Maori meetings. For the monthly meetings, people arrive at the marae by car and truck on the evening of the 11th, bringing their bedding with them in the usual Maori way. As usual, discussions in the meeting house go on far into the night, and the meeting is a social occasion as well. A series of services are held from the 11th to the 13th; these are strictly supervised, and must be attended by everyone on the marae. The services have practically no outward formalities and the ministers (who never receive payment) wear no vestments. The long Biblical passages and prayers are recited or chanted from memory, with no musical accompaniment, in an atmosphere which is in a way informal and relaxed, but which bears witness to the deeply felt spirituality and mysticism so often to be found among the Maori people. The climax of the proceedings is the communal meal, the ‘love feast’, on the morning of the 12th, held in commemoration of the last supper. Cannibalism was so repulsive to Te Kooti that, probably judging the Eucharistic service from a somewhat High Church angle, he considered it better to have nothing to do with the partaking of the bread and wine, and instituted instead this spiritual communion service. The second of the two remarks made by the President, Mr Paul Delamere, which seemed to us to explain a good deal, was this: ‘To us, Te Kooti is like St Paul. St Paul was a really bad one—he held the coats while they stoned Stephen—but later on he changed. It was the same with Te Kooti.’ Te Kooti was the founder of the Ringatu Church. Except that Ringatu members do not pray to Te Kooti, one might say that their attitude towards him is roughly similar to that which members of many Christian denominations have towards saints; especially similar, perhaps, to the attitudes towards saints which were current a few hundred years ago. Te Kooti was banished to the Chathham Islands on what is now widely accepted as a trumped up charge. All his companions in prison were members of the wild Hauhau sect. He converted them to his new faith, Ringatu; the upraised hand, the only token of Hauhauism which they retained, changed from being a magic gesture believed to ward off pakeha bullets, to being merely an affirmative sign employed at the ending of a prayer. Later Te Kooti led his followers out of bondage and back to their homes. He fought against his enemies till finally, out of weariness, they granted him a pardon; and he gave to his followers at that time a new expression of the Christian faith, one which made it possible for them to worship the Christian God in their own way, without allying themselves with the pakehas whom they hated: a new hope and guidance in those terribly troubled times.

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