Watch: Prophecy and the arrival of Captain Cook in ‘Tiwha, Tiwha Te Pō | Dark, Dark is the Night’
English explorer James Cook’s visit to Tūranga is marked by suspicion, violence, and misunderstanding. Endeavour crew kill four Tūranga people. Nobody is held to account for the deaths.
Toiroa’s prophecy above foresees pakerewha and a time of darkness. He made this prediction three years before the Endeavour arrived.
Confusion and bloodshed followed the Endeavour’s arrival – as the animation below shows.
The prophecy
Tiwha tiwha te po
Ko te Pakerewha
Ko Arikirangi tenei ra te haere nei
Dark, dark is the night
It is the Pakerewha
It is Arikirangi who is coming this day
***
Ko Nukutere,
Ko Nukutere.
Ko Tawhiti,
Ko Tawhiti.
He Atua,
He Atua.
Ko te Pakerewha,
A ko te Pakerewha.
It is Nukutere,
It is Nukutere.
It is Tawhiti,
It is Tawhiti.
A God,
A God.
It is the Pakerewha,
It is the Pakerewha.
