New Zealand or, as it’s known in its native language, Aeoteroa, is a nation with traditionally strong ties to the earth.
The indigenous population of Māori have preserved records of the island landscape dating back more than 600 years and their cultural worldviews continue to shape contemporary land management narratives.
For some, integrating traditional worldviews into forward-focused agricultural policies may seem strange but, in New Zealand, blending mythology with farming works to strengthen wider regenerative and environmental trends.
One Māori belief that illustrates this idea is the story of Tupuānuku, or the “soil star”.
The Matariki cluster and the soil star
In Māori astronomy, Tupuānuku, is one of nine stars that sit in the Matariki cluster. This group rises together to mark each new year, and the stars are significant in Māori traditions because of their supposed influence over the natural world.
One star oversees the land or forests, others, air and water, frosts or rains. Tupuānuku is the star connected to anything within the soil. Tupuānuku is comprised of two words: ‘tupu’ which can mean ‘new shoot’ or ‘to grow’, and ‘nuku’, an abbreviation of ‘Papatūānuku’ (Earth mother). Tāne (atua of the forest) created the first woman, Hineahuone, from clay (her name means ‘earth-formed woman’) (Hutchings et al, 2018). Her source (clay) highlights the importance of soil and the connection between soil and people.
For Māoris, the soil has never just been a useful commodity or natural material but is a direct human ancestor that should be nurtured and cared for in relation to its continued influence over our wellbeing.
This connection is something you can also see in the Māori language, where the native word for “land”– whenua – is the same word used for “placenta”. The soil is thus both a source of human origin and nourishment.
Practical implications for soil health in New Zealand
In the last few decades, Māori traditions like the belief in Tupuānuku, are beginning to gain greater prominence within mainstream national land management plans, helping shape both environmental and academic interest in areas from Maramataka or “moon turning” (a Māori tradition where planting and harvesting pay heed to the phases of the moon) to soil vitality and microbial biodiversity.
As a result, production techniques like composting, crop rotation, and the reduction of chemical fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides are being strengthened with traditional knowledge and, in parallel, Māori horticulture has grown 300% in just 12 years.
Today, Māori enterprises own 30% of New Zealand’s beef market, 30% of the lamb market and 10% of the diary sector, and have proved in case studies across the country how traditional worldviews can play an important role in actively supporting the future of the farming industry.
By Kate Balding