The Value of Whakapapa - Warren Warbrick

Posted by on 14 October 2003 | 0 Comments

Wondering where you fit?

Our busy lives and focus on material possessions means many of us have only a little knowledge of who we are and where we came from in a broader sense.  Warren Warbrick is someone living with our community who has this sorted.  Not only has he taken the time to research his genealogy, he feels a stronger person knowing his origins – his Whakapapa.

As an artist specialising in traditional and contemporary Maori art, Warren is always in tune with the connections to his past and the land when sculpting in bone, rock or wood.  This is a mark of respect for his Whakapapa, and the Whakapapa of the materials he works with.

Warren’s past is an interesting mixture of Maori, Spanish gypsy and English.  Knowing all this helps define in his own mind a sense belonging, and a grounding that many of today’s world lack.  He says living without any knowledge of your Whakapapa is like trying to fly a kite without a string.  The string represents the past, the kite the present.  It’s a nice analogy.

Warren tells me his Whakapapa links him to Rangitane, and even further back to the earth, the sea and the sky.  Whakapapa also goes beyond this too, but it becomes too difficult to explain. Warren says other Maori understand.  With a Christian upbringing I can relate to that.  Trying to explain the world being created in 7 days, and the story of Adam and Eve is equally hard.  So we all have different versions of our distant ‘Whakapapa’, but in common is the value of understanding it, knowing where we come from, where we fit.

 

And to find out your genealogy?  It’s not hard, but it takes time.  Start with your immediate family, and work back.  Soon the details thin and it becomes difficult to find out where the threads lead.  The Department of Internal Affairs has details on births, deaths and marriages that are easily available.  Also, there are many genealogy websites that can be used to research family trees.  The information is there, what many of us lack is the effort to dig it out.  If you’re feeling something is missing, find out your Whakapapa!

Daimien Reynolds

 

Related Pages
blog comments powered by Disqus