The PCANZ's Moderator's Korowai
The PCANZ Moderator’s Korowai
Woven by master weaver Rev. Erana Manihera
Notes from her telling the story of the Korowai at the women minister’s hui at Te Maungarongo Marae, May 2025.
Download as pdf HERE
Woven by master weaver Rev. Erana Manihera
Notes from her telling the story of the Korowai at the women minister’s hui at Te Maungarongo Marae, May 2025.
Download as pdf HERE
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Erana explained how she had originally made a korowai for the Very Rev. Tame Takao, at his request, for his Installation in 1983. But it was her very first korowai and she just got some fabric and glued feathers on to it. It was not made for a lot of wear.
Tame handed it on to the next Moderator, and then on to the next, and the next, for 20 years. Photo of Very Rev Pamela Tankersley wearing the original feather Korowai at General Assembly 2006. |
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However, the feathers started falling off. Eventually Erana got it back and buried it! She decided to weave one which could be handed on from Moderator to Moderator. It needed to robust, and able to travel overseas without getting fumigated at the border, so it could not have feathers. Instead of feathers she knotted wool and hanging string. She made it for the Installation of Very Rev Ray Coster in 2012.
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When Moderator Rose Luxford got out the Moderator’s Korowai, it was a very emotional moment for Erana. She had not seen or held the Korowai for several years.
Erana explained to us the patterns and designs, starting at the bottom.
Erana Manihera:
We start with Papatūānuku, Mother Earth. These are the patterns of Te Ao Māori. We are Māori. The Lord made sure to make us Māori! The Rīpeka (cross) is there and Te Aka Puahou, the new vine.
While our sister Mona Rini was the Moderator, she cut the ‘u’, and made it Puaho, the glow, the glow of Jesus Christ, shining like the burning bush. But it had originally been Puahou, the new vine. We have now put the ‘u’ back and we are now Te Aka Puahou again. Here, the cross is made of pikopiko, ferns, like a monkey tail. The korus are touching one another, intertwined. As Jesus said, “Come on to me, my children.” Not just one vine, but vines intertwining. They are the aka, the vine, that grows up the trunk of a tree until eventually the tree dies. You die, tree. As Jesus said, die to yourselves. Jesus is the hou, the new live. You are dead, tree. Your stump is there and the new growth comes up.
In the centre of the Korowai is the Burning Bush, the symbol of the Mother Church, the Presbyterian Church. And there is another cross on the right side, which I got from down at Knox in Dunedin, a Celtic cross.
The gold and other patterns over and under are whakaātaahua, to make it pretty.
Above the cross designs there is a black strip, the dark. The main part across the Korowai has the hairs hanging, showing Wairua Tapu, the Holy Spirit. The sides hang with green and black wool, representing the bush, the ngahere which is where we Tūhoe come from. Through the middle are many small strings, like little streams. When you go in the bush, there are streams coming here and there, flowing into a big river. It is like a waterfall, splashing down a cliff on the mountain side. Behind the strings there are green lines, all the vines growing up, up, through the trees. The vines grow up and the flow comes down.
Going up to the top of the Korowai there is a white fringe of wool. This is the snow. Down south you have your mountains, and we get snow on our mountain. Maungapōhatu is where I was born. It snows on the mountain, but rarely on the marae. When I was a child, when it snowed we would go up to see it. There was a little house, a whare puni, with a fire, and we would go in there to warm us.
How does it feel to wear it?
Rose Luxford:
At my Installation as Moderator it was very special when the Korowai was laid on my shoulders. It was quite a moment. I felt the mana and the responsibility. It symbolises the role of Moderator. I often wear it as I visit churches around the country. Just last Sunday I took to a church service and people were very interested in the Korowai. They wanted to know about it. It is quite striking. It's very warm.
Erana Manihera:
Te ingoa o tēnei Korowai: Te Korowai Aroha o Te Atua. The name of this Korowai is the Love Cloak of God.
We all wear te aroha o te Atua around us all the time.
I remember Ray Coster telling me that when he wore it he felt the warmth of the love of God around him. And that is its name, Te Korowai Aroha o Te Atua, the love cloak of God.
Hariata Haumate
I am thinking about the snow on Maungapōhatu. They have a saying, “Let the mountain speak.” They never say goodbye to people. If the mountain wants you to leave, you'll be able to leave. If you wake up in the morning and there is snow on the ground, the mountain is not ready to let you leave. Stay another night. So they never say farewell. This Korowai comes from that mountain and it has that love. That is the beauty of Maungapōhatu. That is the beauty of what Erana has done, and the love that she had for doing it.
Erana Manihera:
So true. Our mountain, Maungapōhatu is to us our mother. Believe it or not, that Maunga is a woman.
Silvia Purdie’s observations
It feels such an honour to hear Erana share her designs. I felt God very close in her as she became absorbed in looking intently at her work and feeling the textures and patterns of it. We were witnessing a deep process of creativity and expression of faith. She did us the honour of attempting to find words, and to translate them into English, to express the depth of meaning. We caught a glimpse of what it evokes … walking in the bush and reaching out to touch the tiny streams of pure living water flowing down a mossy rock face, surrounded by the dark moist green forest, catching glimpses of the mountain above capped with snow.
This is Wairua Tapu in full flow. This is the crucified and risen Jesus Christ claiming lordship of all things, our land, at the heart of Aotearoa. It is literally woven with love, of love, in love, by love.
Erana took the cloak off those who were holding it for her and she wrapped it around herself as she continued to talk. I loved that. Erana is a little woman, but wearing the Korowai she grew several inches. She made it as a gift, but there was pure joy in her as she was allowed to hold it again, like a long lost mokopuna, and wear it herself. It represented true Mana Wahine.
I love that it is such a womanly thing, the weaving, flowing from the womanly heart of the mountain, of the land itself. Very appropriate that it is currently worn by a woman Moderator. The embrace they shared after the kōrero was a true connection of aroha and shared mana.
The TELT report in 2021 had this to say about the Korowai:
“The Korowai has vertical strands which might bring to mind theological learning and theoretical understanding; horizontal strands symbolising leadership and ministry skills; while the weaving might symbolise personal formation. ‘For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge’ 2 Peter: 1:5.”
https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/sites/default/files/PCANZ%20-%20COA%20-%20TELT%20Second%20Report%20-%202021.pdf
Fair enough, but a very intellectual (dare I say, masculine) way to describe it. And classic colonial mind-set to disconnect the work of academic learning from the earth.
The Korowai is a sacrament, an outward and visible sign of grace. The grace it encapsulates is a particular, unique revelation of God to us, the Presbyterian people in Aotearoa. It is grounded in Creation. It is shaped by the story of Maungapōhatu and Te Kooti and Rua Kenana and Rev John Laughton and Sister Annie. It connects to the heart of Tūhoe. From that Tūrangawaewae it spreads out to encompass all people and all places.
Malcolm Gordon wrote a song inspired by this Korowai:
https://churchatflagstaff.co.nz/resource/korowai-tapu/
Korowai Tapu
Cast your Korowai Tapu around
Gather all of us children here now.
Priest and pilgrim and prodigal, we.
Woven into your family tree.
Aue! Aue! Hear us Lord we pray.
Oh gather us, shield us, Lord of grace.
Throw your Korowai Tapu around.
Cover us in your grace so unbound.
Family ring and the richest of robes,
mark us out as the people you chose.
Weave your Korowai Tapu around.
Shield and warmth for the lost and the found.
Grace, embrace round the shoulders of all.
Dignity for the least and the poor.
.
When Moderator Rose Luxford got out the Moderator’s Korowai, it was a very emotional moment for Erana. She had not seen or held the Korowai for several years.
Erana explained to us the patterns and designs, starting at the bottom.
Erana Manihera:
We start with Papatūānuku, Mother Earth. These are the patterns of Te Ao Māori. We are Māori. The Lord made sure to make us Māori! The Rīpeka (cross) is there and Te Aka Puahou, the new vine.
While our sister Mona Rini was the Moderator, she cut the ‘u’, and made it Puaho, the glow, the glow of Jesus Christ, shining like the burning bush. But it had originally been Puahou, the new vine. We have now put the ‘u’ back and we are now Te Aka Puahou again. Here, the cross is made of pikopiko, ferns, like a monkey tail. The korus are touching one another, intertwined. As Jesus said, “Come on to me, my children.” Not just one vine, but vines intertwining. They are the aka, the vine, that grows up the trunk of a tree until eventually the tree dies. You die, tree. As Jesus said, die to yourselves. Jesus is the hou, the new live. You are dead, tree. Your stump is there and the new growth comes up.
In the centre of the Korowai is the Burning Bush, the symbol of the Mother Church, the Presbyterian Church. And there is another cross on the right side, which I got from down at Knox in Dunedin, a Celtic cross.
The gold and other patterns over and under are whakaātaahua, to make it pretty.
Above the cross designs there is a black strip, the dark. The main part across the Korowai has the hairs hanging, showing Wairua Tapu, the Holy Spirit. The sides hang with green and black wool, representing the bush, the ngahere which is where we Tūhoe come from. Through the middle are many small strings, like little streams. When you go in the bush, there are streams coming here and there, flowing into a big river. It is like a waterfall, splashing down a cliff on the mountain side. Behind the strings there are green lines, all the vines growing up, up, through the trees. The vines grow up and the flow comes down.
Going up to the top of the Korowai there is a white fringe of wool. This is the snow. Down south you have your mountains, and we get snow on our mountain. Maungapōhatu is where I was born. It snows on the mountain, but rarely on the marae. When I was a child, when it snowed we would go up to see it. There was a little house, a whare puni, with a fire, and we would go in there to warm us.
How does it feel to wear it?
Rose Luxford:
At my Installation as Moderator it was very special when the Korowai was laid on my shoulders. It was quite a moment. I felt the mana and the responsibility. It symbolises the role of Moderator. I often wear it as I visit churches around the country. Just last Sunday I took to a church service and people were very interested in the Korowai. They wanted to know about it. It is quite striking. It's very warm.
Erana Manihera:
Te ingoa o tēnei Korowai: Te Korowai Aroha o Te Atua. The name of this Korowai is the Love Cloak of God.
We all wear te aroha o te Atua around us all the time.
I remember Ray Coster telling me that when he wore it he felt the warmth of the love of God around him. And that is its name, Te Korowai Aroha o Te Atua, the love cloak of God.
Hariata Haumate
I am thinking about the snow on Maungapōhatu. They have a saying, “Let the mountain speak.” They never say goodbye to people. If the mountain wants you to leave, you'll be able to leave. If you wake up in the morning and there is snow on the ground, the mountain is not ready to let you leave. Stay another night. So they never say farewell. This Korowai comes from that mountain and it has that love. That is the beauty of Maungapōhatu. That is the beauty of what Erana has done, and the love that she had for doing it.
Erana Manihera:
So true. Our mountain, Maungapōhatu is to us our mother. Believe it or not, that Maunga is a woman.
Silvia Purdie’s observations
It feels such an honour to hear Erana share her designs. I felt God very close in her as she became absorbed in looking intently at her work and feeling the textures and patterns of it. We were witnessing a deep process of creativity and expression of faith. She did us the honour of attempting to find words, and to translate them into English, to express the depth of meaning. We caught a glimpse of what it evokes … walking in the bush and reaching out to touch the tiny streams of pure living water flowing down a mossy rock face, surrounded by the dark moist green forest, catching glimpses of the mountain above capped with snow.
This is Wairua Tapu in full flow. This is the crucified and risen Jesus Christ claiming lordship of all things, our land, at the heart of Aotearoa. It is literally woven with love, of love, in love, by love.
Erana took the cloak off those who were holding it for her and she wrapped it around herself as she continued to talk. I loved that. Erana is a little woman, but wearing the Korowai she grew several inches. She made it as a gift, but there was pure joy in her as she was allowed to hold it again, like a long lost mokopuna, and wear it herself. It represented true Mana Wahine.
I love that it is such a womanly thing, the weaving, flowing from the womanly heart of the mountain, of the land itself. Very appropriate that it is currently worn by a woman Moderator. The embrace they shared after the kōrero was a true connection of aroha and shared mana.
The TELT report in 2021 had this to say about the Korowai:
“The Korowai has vertical strands which might bring to mind theological learning and theoretical understanding; horizontal strands symbolising leadership and ministry skills; while the weaving might symbolise personal formation. ‘For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge’ 2 Peter: 1:5.”
https://www.presbyterian.org.nz/sites/default/files/PCANZ%20-%20COA%20-%20TELT%20Second%20Report%20-%202021.pdf
Fair enough, but a very intellectual (dare I say, masculine) way to describe it. And classic colonial mind-set to disconnect the work of academic learning from the earth.
The Korowai is a sacrament, an outward and visible sign of grace. The grace it encapsulates is a particular, unique revelation of God to us, the Presbyterian people in Aotearoa. It is grounded in Creation. It is shaped by the story of Maungapōhatu and Te Kooti and Rua Kenana and Rev John Laughton and Sister Annie. It connects to the heart of Tūhoe. From that Tūrangawaewae it spreads out to encompass all people and all places.
Malcolm Gordon wrote a song inspired by this Korowai:
https://churchatflagstaff.co.nz/resource/korowai-tapu/
Korowai Tapu
Cast your Korowai Tapu around
Gather all of us children here now.
Priest and pilgrim and prodigal, we.
Woven into your family tree.
Aue! Aue! Hear us Lord we pray.
Oh gather us, shield us, Lord of grace.
Throw your Korowai Tapu around.
Cover us in your grace so unbound.
Family ring and the richest of robes,
mark us out as the people you chose.
Weave your Korowai Tapu around.
Shield and warmth for the lost and the found.
Grace, embrace round the shoulders of all.
Dignity for the least and the poor.