The Urukehu

According to the Tangata Whenua, the Urukehu and the Patupaiarehe are not the same people. But many believe the Urukehu were decendants of the Patu-paiarehe who would occasionally steal their women.

Mākereti Papakura elaborates in her Book ‘The Old-Time Maori,’
Among children who are born there are the Urukehu who have very fair skin and reddish coloured hair. The Urukehu is a very old strain among the Maori, and was brought with them from Hawaiki (the distant home) by our ancestors. The origin of it is not known to the Maori of to-day. This strain still goes through certain families.

In my hapu of Ngati Wahiao we have one family, whose picture is shown in. Tonihi is an Urukehu, but his wife is not, and yet all their children are Urukehu like the one in the picture. Rihari Te Taru, father of Tonihi, was also an Urukehu. The child of Tonihi, by his first marriage was not Urukehu, but every one of the several children by his second wife was Urukehu.

So Urekehu is a description of a fair-haired lighter-complexioned strain in the Maori people, a very old strain.

This is my own observation, pure conjecture, but Uruk was an ancient city located in Mesopotamia, now present-day Iraq. It was known for being one of the world’s first major urban centers and a significant site in the development of writing and architecture.

Uruk-ehu. ‘Ehu’ can mean form or appearance. Could the word mean someone who looks like they’ve come from that area?

This is a korero (conversation) about how this kaumatu (elder) sees the Urukehu: Ngāti Hei kaumatua, Peter Johston, talks about the connections of the iwi to the people that they know as the Urukehu and the possible connections to South America and Peru. He also talks about other South American plants, such as the kumara and the connections across the Pacific. Peter Johnston: Urukehu Connections and South America

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Links

From the Tangata Whenua site: The Urukeh