Wāhine and weaponry
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Transcript
- Student from Paeroa College
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With regards to the patu and the mere, which of the weapons are now wāhine? What are women allowed to use?
- Erana
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As far as I know, according to my tīpuna and that is, that we had women who actually learned to use a lot of the weaponry. And it’s mainly because in the old days our women became the second line of defence. So when the warriors, the men went away to fight the battles and that, who was left to look after the women, the children and the old people? It was the wāhine. So with that, wāhine were trained in these particular skills, and how to use weaponry. Not only taiaha, but also mere, patu, and as Dion mentioned in his speech before, some of the other weaponry.
At the same time throughout history our women have been warriors and have fought alongside the men as their equals. So at this stage, as far as I know, there isn’t any particular weapon that wāhine can’t use. However, it would pay to go back to your own whānau, hapū, and iwi, to do a bit of research into what is the tikanga, or the protocols, for your particular whānau, hapū, and iwi. Kia ora.