Editing Rātana (section)

== History ==
[[T. W. Ratana]]'s grandfather Ngahina was a signatory of the [[Treaty of Waitangi]] for the tribes of Ngā Wairiki and [[Ngāti Apa]]. Ngahina was a sheep and cattle station owner, [[Anglicanism|Anglican]] and pro-government loyalist.<ref name="Stowell-2016">{{Cite web |last=Stowell |first=Laurel |date=1 September 2016 |title=Ratana – the man, the movement, the settlement |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/ratana-the-man-the-movement-the-settlement/NY4Y3CPZMGVEKUQWV2XOX42GYM/ |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Ballara |first=Angela |date=1996 |title=Ratana, Tahupotiki Wiremu |language=en-NZ |work=Dictionary of New Zealand Biography |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3r4/ratana-tahupotiki-wiremu |access-date=2023-02-04}}</ref> Rātana's mother was [[Methodism|Methodist]].<ref name=":1" /> 

Impacts on Māori in 1918 included land loss, [[World War I]] and the [[Spanish flu|Spanish flu epidemic]].<ref name="Stowell-2016" /> After the epidemic Rātana was the only male heir of his grandfather.<ref name=":1" /> On 8 November 1918 Rātana saw a vision, which he regarded as divinely inspired, asking him to preach the [[gospel]] to the [[Māori people]] and to cure the spirits and bodies of his people.<ref name="Founding">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Te Haahi Rātana – the Rātana Church – Founding the Rātana Church |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |publisher=NZ Department of Internal Affairs |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/ratana-church-te-haahi-ratana/page-1 |access-date=11 January 2020 |last=Newman |first=Keith}}</ref> 

[[Atareta Kawana Ropiha Mere Rikiriki|Mere Rikiriki]] had an influence on Rātana and the Rātana movement. Rikiriki taught Rātana and he often consulted her. She had been at [[Parihaka]] with [[Te Whiti o Rongomai]] and [[Tohu Kākahi]], had established her own church in [[Parewanui]] and was a faith healer and [[rongoā]] practitioner.<ref name="Stowell-2016" /><ref name=":2">{{Cite news |last=Puketapu |first=Te Tiwha |date=1996 |title=Rikiriki, Ātareta Kāwana Rōpiha Mere |language=en-NZ |work=Dictionary of New Zealand Biography |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/3r22/rikiriki-atareta-kawana-ropiha-mere |access-date=2023-02-04}}</ref> Rikiriki foretold the coming of a new prophet in 1912 that she confirmed was Rātana.<ref name=":2" />

Te Urumanao Ngāpaki Baker was a Māori chief and supported the Rātana movement and was Rātana's wife.<ref name="Stowell-2016" />

=== ''Ture Wairua'' (spiritual mission) ===
The church's spiritual laws are itemised as the [[Trinity]] (the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) as well as adding {{Lang|mi|Ngā Anahera Pono}}, 'the Holy and Faithful Angels' and {{Lang|mi|Te Māngai}} (God's Word and Wisdom) to prayers. As well as the [[Bible]], the church relies on their "Blue Book" for church services, which includes hymns and prayers written by T. W. Ratana.<ref name="Growth">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Te Haahi Rātana – the Rātana Church – Church growth |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |publisher=NZ Department of Internal Affairs |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/ratana-church-te-haahi-ratana/page-2 |access-date=11 January 2020 |last=Newman |first=Keith}}</ref>

Until 1924 Ratana preached to increasingly large numbers of Māori and established a name for himself as the "Māori Miracle Man". At first, the movement was seen as a [[Christian revival]], but it soon moved away from mainstream churches. On 31 May 1925, ''Te Haahi Rātana'', the Rātana Church, was established, and its founder was acknowledged in the Church's doctrine as the bearer of ''Te Mangai'' or God's Word and Wisdom. On 21 July 1925, the constitution of the Rātana Church was accepted by the Registrar-General and a list of "apostles" (ministers) who were authorised to conduct marriages was published in the ''[[New Zealand Gazette]]''.<ref>{{cite web |date=23 September 2019 |title=Te Haahi Rātana established as church |url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/page/te-haahi-r%C4%81tana-established-church |access-date=11 January 2020 |work=New Zealand History |publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage}}</ref>

=== ''Ture Tangata'' (secular movement) ===
[[Image:Ratana Pa 11.JPG|thumb|250px|right|''{{Lang|mi|Te Temepara Tapu o Ihoa|italic=no}}'' at [[Rātana Pā]], 2012]]
In 1924 a group of 38 people including Rātana and his wife Te Urumanao Ngāpaki Baker and spokesperson [[Pita Moko]] journeyed to Europe to unsuccessfully present a petition to [[George V of the United Kingdom|George V]] and the [[League of Nations]] on land confiscations and the [[Treaty of Waitangi]].<ref name=":1" />  Later trips were made to the United States and Canada. These trips were not without controversy. The New Zealand Government acted to prevent the petition being presented to the monarch, and the visit to Japan on the way back from Europe created allegations of disloyalty and of flying the Japanese flag over the church settlement of [[Rātana Pā]].

When the Rātana temple {{Lang|mi|Te Temepara Tapu o Ihoa|italic=no}} ('the holy temple of Jehovah') which Rātana saw as embodying in its architecture deep Biblical truths (especially the two magnificent bell towers) was opened on 25 January 1928 by Japanese Bishop [[Juji Nakada]] (with whom Ratana and party had stayed in 1924), Rātana declared his spiritual work was complete and church apostles and officers would take on the work.<ref name="Growth" /> He now turned more to political work for Māori in New Zealand.

=== ''Koata'' (political movement) ===

As early as 1923, Rātana had declared an interest in party politics, and his eldest son [[Haami Tokouru Rātana]] had stood for the [[Western Maori]] electorate as an independent candidate. Now Rātana was determined to capture the [[Māori electorates]] to give a voice for his movement.

In January 1928, Rātana called himself {{Lang|mi|Piri Wiri Tua}} and called on four followers to be the quarters of his body and rule the land. The "first cut" was [[Paraire Karaka Paikea]] in the north, Haami Tokouru Rātana in the west, [[Pita Moko]] in the east, and [[Eruera Tirikatene]] in the south.  Moko was later replaced by [[Tiaki Omana]], in the "second cut". The covenant signed by the men promised they would not rest, and their wives separately agreed that they would go barefoot and in rags to represent the Rātana movement. All four went on to capture the Maori seats between 1932 and 1943.

Rātana candidates stood in the [[1928 New Zealand general election|1928]] and [[1931 New Zealand general election|1931 general election]]s and in the 1930 by-election in Western Maori following the death of [[Maui Pomare]], but they did not succeed. The first Rātana movement MP was [[Eruera Tirikatene]], elected in a by-election for [[Southern Maori]] in June 1932. He was followed by [[Toko Ratana|Haami Tokouru Rātana]] (known as Toko) in [[Western Maori]] in the [[1935 New Zealand general election|1935 general election]]. In the [[1938 New Zealand general election|1938 election]], the third Māori electorate of [[Northern Maori]] was captured by [[Paraire Karaka Paikea]], and the last ([[Eastern Maori]]) was won by [[Tiaki Omana]] in the [[1943 New Zealand general election|1943 election]].

The Rātana Independent Members of Parliament were the first to represent a political party in which most party members were Māori. Major aims of the movement were statutory recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi, righting the confiscation grievances of the Māori people, and equality in social welfare for Māori.

Politicians usually attend the Rātana marae to take part in celebrations marking T.W. Ratana's birthday and in January 2023 it was the 150th anniversary. The political party leaders who attended on this occasion were [[New Zealand Labour Party|Labour]], [[New Zealand National Party|National]], [[Te Pāti Māori|Māori Party]], [[New Zealand First]] and one co-leader of [[Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand|Greens]]. Commentator [[Merepeka Raukawa-Tait]] stated the message from Māori speakers to the politicians were: "They want to have relationships that are more than transactional and they are not interested in politics and politicians that stir up fear."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Merepeka Raukawa-Tait: Which politicians impressed at Rātana |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/merepeka-raukawa-tait-which-politicians-impressed-at-ratana/5XSCK4SX4BDGPHUEXP3GLX75LQ/ |access-date=2023-02-04 |website=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |language=en-NZ}}</ref>

==== Alliance with the Labour Party ====
Following the formation of the [[First Labour Government of New Zealand|First Labour Government]] in 1935, the two Rātana MPs agreed to vote with Labour. This alliance was formalised with the Rātana movement joining the [[New Zealand Labour Party|Labour Party]] in a meeting between Rātana and Prime Minister [[Michael Joseph Savage|Michael Savage]] on 22 April 1936. The Prime Minister was given four symbolic gifts: a potato, a broken gold watch, a [[pounamu]] [[hei-tiki]], and a [[huia]] feather. The potato represented loss of Māori land and means of sustenance, the broken watch represented the broken promises of the Treaty of Waitangi, and the pounamu represented the [[Mana (Oceanian cultures)|mana]] of the Māori people. If Savage could restore these three, he would earn the right to wear the huia feather to signify his chiefly status. The gifts were regarded as so precious they were buried with Savage at his state funeral in 1940.

The four Māori electorates were held by Rātana-affiliated members of Labour for decades: until 1963 for the Eastern Maori electorate, 1980 for Northern Maori, and 1996 for Western and Southern Maori electorates. Not all Labour Party Māori MPs have been members of the Rātana Church, but all Māori electorates were held by Labour MPs who had at least been endorsed by the church until [[Tau Henare]] won Northern Maori in the [[1993 New Zealand general election]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Vowles |first1=Jack |title=Voters' victory? : New Zealand's first election under proportional representation |date=1998 |publisher=Auckland University Press |location=Auckland [N.Z.] |isbn=9781869401801 |pages=172, 190}}</ref> In both the parliaments of 1946–1948 and 1957–1960, the formation of a Labour Government depended on the votes of the Rātana Movement members. 

Rātana movement Members of Parliament have included [[Tapihana Paraire Paikea]], Haami Tokouru Rātana, [[Matiu Rātana]], [[Iriaka Matiu Rātana|Iriaka Rātana]], [[Koro Wētere]], [[Paraone Reweti]], [[Matiu Rata]], and [[Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan]]. [[Mita Ririnui]], who held the Māori seat of Waiariki from 1999 to 2005 and was a [[List MP]] from 2005 to 2011, is a Rātana minister.