The Creation And Life At Maungapohatu
A notable cause of the creation of the community at Maungapohatu was the need for Maori to live a separatist life away from the influences of the European settlers. As more and more settlers arrived on New Zealand shores, more land was being taken and the British way of life was strongly being enforced among New Zealand society. It was especially following the loss of land, that Maori people began to feel threatened and oppressed a sense of sense of loss and depression was felt throughout the Maori society because of the fact that Maori had such a strong heritage and culture which had guided them for generations. It came as a shock to Maori that they were powerless to the spread of European influence and found themselves losing touch with the culture and ancestors. Rua saw this as an opportunity to create his community and once again unite Maori as he felt that it was time for Maori to rise up and fight for what was their land. Kenana wanted Maori to live as they did before the arrival of the settlers and restore Maori key values/ideas including the language, land community. Therefore, Rua felt the best way to protect his people and live a life away from European influence was to isolate them and relocate them to a new community of which was purely focussed on what he felt was important as Maori. Rua Kenana was becoming increasingly frustrated with overpowering influence of the europeans and this inspired him to lead his followers into a life of peace and fulfilment.
Rua Kenana's actions were dictated by the idea that as the prophet, he was an independent authority. Rua's teachings and ideas led him to creating the community of Maungapohatu. Rua favoured the following quote from Isiah 2:3 when initially deciding to create his community; "And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths:for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem". In 1907 the migration of Tuhoe to Maungapohatu began. Rua's followers had to sell all their possessions into to make the journey and were reluctant to uplift their homes and livelihoods and retreat to the mountains. However, Rua predicted that a flood would destroy these homes and low lying places so the followers listened to Rua and began the migration. Rua sent out 12 levites to gather their people for exodus. These were known as Rua's disciples, who were sent out to teach the scripture and spread Kenana's ideas and principals. There were 12 disciples to model Christ's disciples and imitate his actions. The disciples were sent to different areas within New Zealand in order to initiate the pilgrimage where followers from, Te Teko, Te Waimana, Waioeka, Ruarahuna and Te Whaiti met up to follow Rua. By the middle of 1907, between 500 and 600 people came to start the pilgrimage.
Rua Kenana constructed his new community at the foot of the Maungapohatu Mountain. His followers became known as the Iharaira - Israelites. Like their prophet, the Israelites grew long hair to mirror the Nazarites who separated unto God. The architecture was very significant to Rua and his people and still is a historic landmark today. The meeting house was circular and decorated with a design of blue clubs and yellow diamonds. This was erected to imitate the Dome Of The Rock in Jerusalem and was called 'Hiona' (Zion). This building was Rua's parliament and stood within the inner sanctum of the Pa. The entrance of the Pa stood a sign which said Mihaiai in bold font translating to Messiah, Rua's chosen identity. Run's home within Maungapohatu was called Hiruharama (New Jerusalem). This was a gabled european style house which had a verandaed deck and other english similarities. Historians today can interpret the significance of some of Rua's designs on his buildings. Symbols of playing cards were used in the 1800s as mnemonics for scriptures of which some people could not read. Rua imitated this idea on Hiona. The club stood for King of Clubs, meaning the king yet to come, the last king in the line of David or the 'bloodline of the lord'. The King of Clubs signified Rua as 'the coming king'. The king of clubs was was also placed by Rua on the large gate at the entrance to the community, and was a favoured symbol of Rua. With the emblem of the clubs came the symbol of diamonds, this represented the diamond of which first appeared to Rua on the Maungapohatu Mountain, this was seen as Rua's stone and was very important to Rua's prophesies and teachings. "Rua is the diamond of Maungapohatu". From clear analysis of Rua's designs, jewels can also represent knowledge or power which which can be used to a particular purpose and is to be recovered. Hiona was also decorated in very bright colours, we can make the link between the royal vestments of Israel which are white and blue with a crown of gold. Rua used the colour blue among his houses as it was seen as the colour of life among Tuhoe people and was one of the most significant colours to Rua and his people. Majority of Rua's symbols reflected messages from the bible relating to leading to people out of dark, hostile situations into safe, harmonious lives. This is what Rua aimed to achieve. Rua wanted to show his people 'the light' of which his community and followers could connect to their ancestors and find themselves in his truths and prophesies.
The first year of life in Rua's new community was the hardest of them all. Winter had just set in and many of Rua's followers were struggling to cope with their new lives in the isolated Maungapohatu. The much needed potato crop failed and there were no wild pigs to be hunted. One of the members of the community was sent back into the town to collect six pigs in order to start a breeding colony. Because of the lack of food and resources many of Rua's people suffered and struggled to maintain a quality of life and live as simply as Rua intended. At least 50 people died during the first winter from an outbreak of typhoid, lack of adequate housing and measles. This devastated the community and little could be done to maintain the necessities for life. Often there would be nothing to eat but huhu grubs, and toi toi leaves, supposed to be used for clothing. Despite this inauspicious start, the community went on to thrive during the summer months and great progress was made to fulfil Rua's promises and plans. By April 1908, the community of the Israelites had begun to take its first shape. 700 acres of bush and scrub had been cleared and 50 houses had been built, majority were tents and simple split paling structures. At this point in time, there were two streets both lined with houses, lit with oil lamps. Before visiting the community, people assumed lives of poverty and suffering, however were impressed by the strict levels of hygiene imposed by Rua. Each family had its own house, as well as access to water from several springs and pools. Each water supply had its own purpose, one for cooking needs, the second for clothes washing and the third for bathing. Towels were also initially provided and bathing was encouraged before meal times. Houses were also inspected twice a week under Rua's guidance and occupants could be fined for things as small as dust outside the fireplaces. Other areas of inspection included, whether or not animals were penned, wood piles had to be stacked and the chips swept up. Run's strict rules kept his people in line and encouraged them to lead lives of discipline and order. The routine of which Rua imposed made sure that his people primarily focused on the worship of God and simplicity of life away from Pakeha influence. Other regulations included, dogs being tied up, horses were only allowed on one of the two streets and had to be walked not ridden. Failure to comply with Rua's rules resulted in a fine often threepence to a larger sum.
An interested aspect of life in Maungapohatu was that Rua attempted to impose an aspect of 'Europeanisation' among his Tuhoe community. In 1908 a New Zealand Herald photographer, George Bourne visited the community and described Maungapohatu as "a kind of half way house for those to whom the European world gave no place, except through the exploitation of physical labour. Maungapohatu would help them to leave behind some of the 'primitive' aspects of their past and stop them drifting". At Maungapohatu, people would gain some knowledge of european ways but in a filtered, censored way where, according to Rua "such ways were of a beneficial character". European influence was evident in forms of everyday life for example, cutlery was used, orchards were planted and cattle used for breeding were bought in. Despite this influence, an autonomy was still maintained and many of Rua's followers never failed to mention the orderliness he achieved. Children who were raised in the community recalled the ways in which Rua shared food among the families how four, sugar and tea were divided equally so that no one would miss out. Meat was very scarce, so it was portioned out each Sunday after mass through random allocation whereby the elders would call out each portion and say "who will have it?", so that no family would know which cut of meat they had called for. This strategic method avoided favouritism amongst the families and maintained a sense of peace.
Discipline was a guiding force among the community and was achieved by the force of faith. Discipline was consistently reinforced throughout all walks of live including religious services. Each family had to pray and worship twice, sometimes three times a day. every family had their own prayer memorised from the bible as well as hymns and song taken from scriptural verses. Sunday services lasted from 9pm at night to 10 or 11 am the next morning, in which the people would go without food. Every Saturday morning, the whole community would gather for worship. Theses services were taken by the elders and often Rua would not appear at all. However he felt inclined to visit the family services so would attend these on a regular basis. A well known aspect of Rua's lifestyle was the fact that he had many wives. Pinepine was Rua's first wife and they already had four children when he emerged as prophet. Pinepine was known as the 'mother wife' and all in all bore him 17 children. In total, Rua had 12 wives from different areas of Tuhoe. Some historians believe that not only did Rua want to fulfil the vision of Isiah by having so many wives, he wanted to unite the different tribes to make one Maori community. Pinepine was of Ngati Kuri, his second wife was Pehirangi of Te Humua, his third and favourite wife was from Ruatoki and the other nine wives came from a wide number of different tribes and people. The fact that Rua's wives were all from different areas meant that all of his followers could feel united and as one. Metaphorically speaking, a piece of each of Rua's people was with him through the wives and they felt represented and spoken for.