Rāhui

A rāhui designates what can be done for a specified time in a particular place that may have become tapu for a time or be recovering from some adverse event. Rāhui is an example of a tikanga that arises from the principle of kaitiakitanga and helps to safeguard tapu and mana.

Rāhui is the traditional custom of placing temporary restrictions over particular foods or places when their mauri or hau (vitality) is reduced for whatever reason, including overharvesting, severe weather events or a death rendering that place tapu.

Rāhui is not about managing resources in the modern sense of resource management but rather about managing people’s behaviour in relation to the place, entity or resource. A rāhui is used to prevent food gathering in a place that has become tapu for any reason such as a drowning or finding kōiwi (human remains).

Another sense of rāhui is provided by the example of a rāhui kiore – a kiore reserve set aside to encourage and manage a population of kiore, a valued food source for inland Māori communities.

Image: Rāhui sign