#karakia

I have reason to believe I made some sort of connection with Ranginui today. Either that or it was pure coincidence, but I like to have faith of divine intervention, even if it was something small.

Some context, it was scheduled to rain today. Very, very heavily. I do not like the rain (it sends me into a panic for reasons I wish to not discuss), so I wanted to go outside and have a smoke before it started raining too heavily.

And it started raining.

Not pouring down, a harsh sprinkle, if anything. I decided to softly sing the one karakia I know word for word, which just so happens to be a karakia to stave off rain... and it worked.

It stopped raining while I was outside and resumed shortly after I went back inside.

Some may think im crazy, or delusional, but I feel as if this was more than a coincidence.

Ngā mihi nui, Ranginui. Thank you for listening to my karakia.

I’ve talked about moving to Wellington New Zealand here and I’m compelled to talk about my new country in the wake of the attack this afternoon.

My heart is hurt. This was extremism, this was terrorism, this was white nationalism, eurocentricism, islamophobia, and racism. This was a disgusting and inhuman act of violence.

And yes, we know this was the ever growing right-wing extremism, we know this was premeditated, and we know this was an Internet-borne phenomena. Your criticisms and comments in this respect are valid. But please, they are early.

The attacker chose New Zealand over his home country of Australia because it is a supposed safe and quiet haven. We’re a small country - chickens, sheep, and lost alpaca can make the national news for a week at a time. So THIS is devastating. It reaches where we are safe and takes that away. We are hurt, we are confused, we are jumping at our own dogs barking. We are scared for our whānau. The religious expression of our Muslim hoa has become a daring act today. Our country is forever changed - I will not wake up to the same place tomorrow.

Your concern and compassion are welcome, but please be gentle. The discussion will come, but it is for not tonight. Aroha and ka kite.

—

Kia hora te marino

Kia whakapapa pounamu te moana

Hei huarahi mā tātou i te rangi nei

Aroha atu, aroha mai

Tātou i a tātou katoa

Banning Karakia in schools? A cultural can o’ worms, or beat-up?

My eye was drawn to a catchy headline thrown to me by my Facebook feed the other week. The headline read:

Karakia could fall foul of ban on Bible teaching in state schools

Upon clicking, I discovered AUT Professor Paul Moon had asserted  that: “Banning religious practices in schools, may inevitably extend to removing karakia from schools as well”. This piece was followed up by a report on Te…