He pūkenga, he tohu

He tikanga whai pūkenga te waihanga hīnaki. Ka mounutia, ā, ka tauria ki ngā riponga awa, ka pōria rānei ki ngā takere awa. Nā te mea e huri kōaro kē ana te waha o te hīnaki, ka rere ana te tuna ki roto, korekore ana e āhei te puta ki waho.

He matatini te whatunga mai o te hīnaki i ngā rau kaha pēnei i te tā o te mangemange, i te aka o te kiekie, i te aka tororaro, i te peka mānuka me te muka i ētahi wā anō. Ko ngā ingoa ka hāngai ki tōna hanganga, ki tōna āhuahanga, ki tōna whakamahinga rānei, pēnei i te hīnaki waharua (e rua ngā waha) me te hīnaki tukutuku rānei.

He tohu te hīnaki o te ao Māori tūturu, he whakatinanatanga hoki o ngā uara me ngā tikanga pēnei i te mahinga kai me te manaaki. E ai ki te kōrero, nā te tipua, nā Māui-Tikitiki-a-Taranga i hanga te hīnaki e kīia nei ko te ‘akura’. Ko te kupu tēnei mō te waha kōaro o te hīnaki.

Skilful and symbolic

Hīnaki are skilfully made forms used as eel traps. They are baited then placed in a river’s current, or weighted down on the riverbed. Eels enter the inverted openings and can’t escape.

Hīnaki are intricately woven from strong materials like mangemange stalks, kiekie aerial roots, aka tororaro stems, mānuka branches, and sometimes muka

  mukaflax fibreMāori. Their names relate to their construction, shape, or use, like hīnaki waharua hīnaki waharuadouble-mouthedMāori or hīnaki tukutuku hīnaki tukutukulattice-wovenMāori.

They represent a Māori way of being, embodying values and practices such as mahinga kai mahinga kaifood gatheringMāori and manaaki manaakihospitality, careMāori. The tipua tipuademigodMāori Māui-Tikitiki-a-Taranga is said to have invented a hīnaki called ‘akura’, a word for the trap’s inverted opening.