Te rongoa Māori

Rongoa is the word for remedies that are created from natural plants and trees. This page links to resources about te rongoa Māori in the library collection, and online.

Ritual and medicine

Ritual and medicine are closely related early Māori believed that disease was attributed to supernatural visitation. Faith was also part of the healing process.Remedies from plants, berries, leaves, bark and roots and were administered by tohunga — a doctor, priest and scholar who maintained the power of tapu.

The Māori calendar, te Maramataka, begins in June (Matariki) and ends in May of the following year. There were only certain times of the year that some of the plants were able to be harvested and used for healing. The art of healing was taught by the healers in the village and matariki was a good time for these sort of wananga (learning).

In his book Māori Healing and Herbal, Murdoch Riley states that at the time of European contact Māori were a fit and healthy race, with but few diseases. Tohunga had medicines and ritual (karakia) for all types of sickness from chilblains and earache to warts and worms.

Common remedies

Remedies often targeted common ailments such as toothache, intestinal problems and skin conditions such as boils, along with cuts, fractures and other injuries.

Harakeke (New Zealand Phormium tenax) was an important rongoa / medicinal plant to Māori. The roots were roasted on hot stones and macerated into poultice for abscesses and ulcers. The leaves were boiled and used as blood purifier and the root juice applied to wounds as disinfectant. Pia (gum) at the base of the plant was used for treating burns and ringworm.

Toothache was treated by placing a few drops of juice from the root or leaf base into the cavity of the affected tooth or inner ear. Splints for broken bones were made from the leaf base and leaf fibre or strips were used for sewing up a wound. The flower nectar provided a beverage and food sweetener.

Traditional healing methods are still used by some Māori today.

Kawakawa

Riley notes that kawakawa (Macropiper excelsum), or the pepper tree, was a significant plant remedy. The leaves in particular were used to heal cuts and wounds, and were ingredients in steam baths. Chewing the leaves eased the pain of toothache and abdominal distress. Kawakawa was also used to help kidney and bladder ailments. According to Dr Raymond Stark in Māori Herbal Remedies (p37) “knowledgeable” campers throw some leaves on fires as the acrid smoke repels mosquitoes and sandflies.

More information

Online resources

• More Māori health links.
• Ngā Tipu Whakaoranga: Māori plant use database. Provides information on traditional uses of New Zealand native plants.
• Rongoa Māori and other Māori uses of Native Plants found in Aotea Harbour
• The significance of rengarenga Athropodium cirratum to Māori.
• Māori medicine pages at Te Papa.
• List of Māori health providers from the Canterbury District Health Board.
• Rongoa - traditional use of plants from Te Ara, the Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
• Christchurch City Libraries health pages.

Rongoa books in our collections

• Te Rongoa Māori, P. M. E. Williams: lists plants and remedies they were used for.
• Te matawai tuatoru. (Book 3) a reader for learners of te reo Maori, p 13 19, He kōrereo mō ētahi rongoā Māori.
• The natural world of the Māori, Margaret Orbell.
• New Zealand medicinal plants, S.G. Brooker and R.C. Cooper.
• Ngā taonga o te ngahere / Treasures of the forest, Tom Paul.
• He rakau rangatira, Dick Grace.
• Māori healing and herbal: New Zealand ethnobotanical sourcebook, Murdoch Riley
• Māori Herbal Remedies, Raymond Starck: lists 125 medicinal plants important to the Māori.
• Māori medical lore: notes on the causes of disease and treatment of the sick among the Māori people of New Zealand, as believed and practised in former times, together with some account of various ancient rites connected with the same, W.H. Goldie.
• Simply living : a gatherer's guide to New Zealand's fields, forests and shores, Gwen Skinner.
• Which native forest plant?, Andrew Crowe: a simple guide to the identification of New Zealand native forest shrubs, climbers and flowers
• A field guide to the Native edible plants of New Zealand: including those eaten by Māori, Andrew Crowe.
• The coming of the Māori, Te Rangi Hiroa, Sir Peter Buck.