New Zealand’s Maori anoint new queen

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WELLINGTON – New Zealand’s Maori chiefs anointed a 27-year-old queen as their new monarch, a surprise choice hailed as a symbol of change for the country’s sometimes troubled Indigenous community.
Nga Wai hono i te po Paki was cheered by thousands as she climbed atop a high-backed wooden throne during an elaborate ceremony on the country’s North Island.
She is the youngest daughter of King Tuheitia, who died on Friday after heart surgery.
After being selected by a council of chiefs, Nga Wai was ushered to the throne by a phalanx of bare-chested and tattooed men bearing ceremonial weapons — who chanted, screamed and shouted in acclamation.
Wearing a wreath of leaves, a cloak and a whalebone necklace, she sat beside her father’s coffin as emotive rites, prayers and chants were performed. 
He has laid in state for six days and on Thursday will be taken by a flotilla of war canoes to his final resting place on the slopes of sacred Mount Taupiri. 
As the king’s only daughter and his youngest child, Nga Wai was perhaps considered an outside choice to become his successor.
One of her two elder brothers had taken on many ceremonial duties during their father’s periods of ill health and had been tipped to take over.
“It is certainly a break from traditional Maori leadership appointments which tend to succeed to the eldest child, usually a male” Maori Cultural Advisor Karaitiana Taiuru told AFP.
Taiuru said it was a “privilege” to witness a young Maori woman become queen, particularly given the ageing leadership and mounting challenges faced by the community.
“The Maori world has been yearning for younger leadership to guide us in the new world of AI, genetic modification, global warming and in a time of many other social changes that question and threaten us and Indigenous Peoples of New Zealand,” he said.
“These challenges require a new and younger generation to lead us.”
Queen Nga Wai is the eighth Maori monarch and the second queen. 
Her grandmother, Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, held the position for four decades until 2006.
The new queen studied the Maori language and customary law at New Zealand’s Waikato University. She also taught “kapa haka” performing arts to children.
To mark the anniversary of the king’s coronation in 2016, she received a traditional Maori “moko” tattoo on her chin.