The Talking Taiaha

Episode 5 - The Talking Taiaha (Based on a True Story) 

I know what you're thinking, it's metaphorical, right? Or, when you swing the taiaha, it makes a swishing sound and that's your taiaha talking. Or, the movements of the taiaha are a complex three-dimensional language. All of these are true. I teach these lessons to my tauira. But when our tīpuna said that if you listen carefully to your taiaha, it will talk to you, I don't think they meant it like the sound a basketball makes when it goes through the hoop. I know, "swish!" is another word for smart and fashionable. No. I believe that a taiaha talking to you actually means talking taiaha. I mean, if we can believe that our tipuna brought snow to our mountains on Tongariro and volcanic fire to the bowels of the earth, then a talking stick doesn't sound too much of a stretch. Our story follows the trouble that might follow if you did, in fact, one day have a good old yarn with your taiaha. 

 

T.A. Whero