New Maori queen crowned in New Zealand - and she's Catholic

Amid the grief following the death of their king, the Maori people rejoiced as the late monarch’s youngest daughter, Nga Wai hono i te po, was named as his successor.

Chosen by the council of Maori chiefs, the 27-year-old made her first appearance as kuini (“Queen”) Sept. 5, taking her place on a throne near the coffin of her father, the late King Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII.

Thousands gathered in Turangawaewae marae to pay their respects to the late king following a weeklong period of mourning in the country’s North Island.

As the sounds of the haka, the traditional Maori war chant, echoed, the new queen accompanied her father’s casket on a two-hour canoe ride along the Waikato River, bearing him to his final resting place.

King Tuheitia died Aug. 30 at age 69. His death came just nine days after he celebrated his 18th anniversary as king of the Kiingitanga, or Maori king movement, which was established in 1858 to unite the Maori tribes following the loss of lands due to British colonization.

Queen Nga Wai hono i te po is the second Maori queen in the eight-dynasty reign; her grandmother, Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, was the first to reign as queen.

According to the Catholic news website CathNews New Zealand, it was Queen Te Arikinui who asked that her granddaughter be baptized by the late Auxiliary Bishop Max Takuira Matthew Mariu of Hamilton, the first Maori Catholic bishop.

Her baptism in the settlement town of Parakino was not only meant to symbolically unite Maori tribes in the areas near the Waikato and Whanganui Rivers, but also to signify the close ties between the Kiingitanga movement and the Catholic Church, CathNews New Zealand reported.

The new queen’s name was inspired by the symbolism of her baptism: “Ngawai Hono ki Parakino,” which translates to the “Joining of the Rivers” in Maori.