Maori | History, Traditions, Culture, Language, & Facts - Britannica
This historical account provides the basis for traditional Māori social organization and is generally supported by archaeological discoveries, ...
Hauhau
The last of the wars—known to the Europeans as “the fire in the fern” and to the Māori as Te riri Pākehā, “the white man’s anger,”—was fought from 1864 to 1872. Hostilities spread to virtually the whole of North Island. The main Māori combatants in the mid-60s were the fanatic <anchor>Hauhau</anchor> warriors. The British government wanted to conclude peace in 1864, but the colonial government, wishing to acquire more land, continued the war and assumed an increasing share of the fighting. In July 1865 Grey led the capture of Weroroa pā in southern Taranaki. European and supporting Māori forces (increasingly numerous after 1864) checked each new effort by the King Movement tribes. From 1868 to 1872 the Hauhau were supplemented by members of a new warrior cult, Ringatū, founded and led by a guerrilla leader, Te Kooti.
Hauhau | Māori Religion, Pai Mārire, Te Ua Haumēne | Britannica
Hauhau \| Māori Religion, Pai Mārire, Te Ua Haumēne \| Britannica

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[Hauhau](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hauhau)

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[References & Edit History](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hauhau/additional-info) [Related Topics](/facts/Hauhau)

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# Hauhau

Maori cult



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**Hauhau**, any of the radical members of the [Maori](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maori) Pai Marire (Maori: “Good and Peaceful”) [religion](https://www.britannica.com/topic/religion), founded in 1862 in [Taranaki](https://www.britannica.com/place/Taranaki) on [North Island](https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Island), [New Zealand](https://www.britannica.com/place/New-Zealand). The movement was founded by Te Ua Haumene, a [Maori](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Maori) prophet who had been captured in his youth and converted to Christianity before his release. Like most other Maori, he was opposed to the sale of Maori land, and he joined the Maori King Movement. In 1862 he had a vision that revealed to him the evil of the _pakeha_ (non-Maori, or European) [culture](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture).

Adapting Christian religious tenets to Maori beliefs, Te Ua held that the Maori were a lost tribe of Israel. Their immediate task was to save themselves from the Europeans colonizing New Zealand, to recover their ancestral lands, and to establish the principle of _pai marire_. Despite this ideal of goodness and peace, some of the movement’s believers turned to violent resistance. These men, calling on Te Hau, the spirit of God in the wind, shouted the words “Pai Marire, hau, hau!” in battle, believing that it would protect them from European bullets. This war cry is the origin of their popular name, Hauhau, and belief in its effectiveness accounted for their daring in battle. In 1864–65, as the Hauhau took to the battlefield, most other Maori forces were going down in defeat; immediate and large-scale European confiscation of Maori land, however, drove many Maori into the ranks of armed [dissidents](https://www.britannica.com/dictionary/dissidents), and Hauhau remained a common label for all of the resisters, whether or not they were associated with Pai Marire. Fighting continued until 1872, by which time the Pai Marire itself had dwindled.