The Tia Hunter

Episode 14 - The Tia Hunter (Based on a True Story) 

Let's say you had actual DNA evidence of creation. You would be solving one of the greatest mysteries of mankind.  

For a Pākehā, I guess it would be like finding the golden apple core that Adam discarded, or a fig leaf. Heck, I don't know. But for a Māori, it would be a much more interesting prospect. To accept our version of creation would mean that everyone else's version would need to be re-evaluated.  

Years ago, I heard a story about an incident back in the 1960s. One of the axes, either Te Awhiorangi or Whironui, had been found deep in the forest in the Aotea region. Without even seeing the axe, the old people knew by the description of the wave of emotion felt when the finder approached it, that it was indeed one of the sacred toki.  

I was a young toa in training at the time, so I was fascinated by what it might look like or feel like. How petty I must have been. This discovery was way more than I could have possibly understood at the time. The discovery, and what it means, is really simple: if the axe is real, then Tūmatauenga is too. 

T.A. Whero