https://www.lifegate.it/nga-wai-regina-maori-nuova-zelanda
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There New Zealand ha a new Maori queen.It's about Maori Nga Wai hono i te po Paki – this is her full name – designated Thursday 5 September after the death of his father, who was buried in a mountain considered sacred.TO twenty-seven years, she will lead the parliamentary monarchy of the island state, as indicated by a Council made up of some native leaders, after a ceremony of coronation which was attended by thousands of people.
Thousands of people at the Nga Wai coronation ceremony
The choice was surprising to many, since it was expected that the crown could be entrusted to Brother.Nonetheless, it is Nga Wai who was accompanied to the throne by men sporting typical Maori tattoos and by the voices of a female choir that sang in his honor.
Institutionally, New Zealand is actually a monarchy that is part of the Commonwealth.Accordingly, the sovereign of the United Kingdom Charles III it also reigns on the islands divided by the Cook Strait.Formally and institutionally, therefore, he is the only king, who is represented on site by a governor general, function currently held by Cindy Kiro.Consequently, the Maori monarch has in principle an essentially ceremonial role, without an ad hoc legal status.
The Maori “sovereign”:a function without legal status
The importance of the "institutional" figure coming from the Polynesian ethnic group is however strong from the point of view cultural, and even political in terms of its influence on New Zealand affairs.The sovereign is in fact seen as a point of reference which it represents the identity of the Maori, whose minority still today represents approximately 17 percent of the overall population national (we are therefore talking about around 900 thousand people).
The arrival of Europeans in New Zealand, in 1642, led to a long process of colonization characterized by a strong discrimination against the Maori.A conflict which also resulted in wars, which ended only with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.They were the ones who signed it the British Empire and about forty tribal leaders Maori, who agreed on three articles:the first establishes the sovereignty of the British crown on New Zealand;the second guarantees lands, assets and forests to the tribes;the third recognizes rights and protections to the indigenous population.Eighteen years later, in 1858, the house was founded Kiingitanga of the Maori rulers, with the aim of uniting the native populations under a single king.
The fears of the Maori population in New Zealand
Nga Wai is the eighth Maori monarch, and the second woman to hold the position after Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, his grandmother, who sat on the throne for a very long period:four decades, ending in 2006.Succession to his father Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII, however, was not expected so quickly, as the king died aged just 69, shortly after celebrating the 18th anniversary of his coronation.The conditions of Health of the sovereign, however, had recently deteriorated, leading to a heart operation.
A complex period is looming for the sovereign, with the Conservative government of New Zealand which appears intent on interpret otherwise the Treaty of Waitangi, which could result in a crackdown on the rights granted to the Maori.For this reason they have been organized by the latter in recent months numerous demonstrations and protests throughout the country.