Knowing who you are and where you belong.
Through knowing their whakapapa, whānau gain their identity, history and knowledge about where they come from and where they belong.
Māori from around the motu talk about what whakapapa means to them.
“It’s about who you are and where you come from, and carvings on your marae help you work it out.”
“It can mean lots of things – the trees and where they come from. It’s really big, not just genealogy.”
“In our iwi, it is something that never changes, and no-one can ever take it away from you.”
Mel Robson explains how whakapapa is about a sense of obligation, reciprocity and connectedness. Video produced by Emma Robinson