Tikanga vs Kawa: Understanding the Difference at a Tangihanga

Why the Distinction Matters When You Walk Onto a Marae

You can follow every piece of tikanga perfectly — remove your shoes, bring koha in an envelope, keep food out of the wharenui — and still commit a serious breach of protocol at a tangihanga. The reason is kawa: the local, non-negotiable rules that govern exactly how ceremonies unfold on a specific marae.

Tikanga encompasses the broader ethical values and cultural practices shared across te ao Māori. It is flexible. Kawa is the location-specific protocol that dictates ceremonial order on a particular marae, and it is rigid. A visitor who conflates the two will assume that what worked at one tangi will work at the next, and that assumption can cause real offence.

Tikanga: The Shared Values

Tikanga flows from foundational principles: aroha (love and compassion), manaakitanga (unconditional hospitality), whanaungatanga (kinship bonds), and the strict separation of tapu and noa. Common tikanga includes keeping food out of the wharenui, ensuring the tūpāpaku is attended, removing shoes at the door, and allowing the whānau pani to focus on mourning. Kawa still determines how each marae applies these principles.

Treat these as shared starting points, not a substitute for checking the local kawa.

Kawa: The Rules That Change Between Marae

Kawa is where the variation lives, and the most consequential difference concerns how speeches are ordered during the pōwhiri.

Tau utuutu is an alternating pattern. The home speaker opens, then a visiting speaker responds, then another home speaker, then another visitor, until the final speech rests with the tangata whenua. This reciprocal exchange is practised predominantly by Tainui, Te Arawa, and Ngāti Tūwharetoa.

Pāeke is sequential. All home speakers deliver their whaikōrero first, then the visitors respond as a block. This style is common in Ngāti Porou, Tai Tokerau (Northland), and the Whanganui region.

A visiting speaker who stands to deliver the second speech on a pāeke marae — assuming tau utuutu because that is what they know — will be speaking out of turn. The disruption is not just procedural. It can be seen as a profound challenge to the mana of the home paepae.

Other Kawa Variations You Need to Know

Beyond oratory order, kawa governs:

• Casket placement: Te Arawa tradition typically positions the casket on the right-hand side of the wharenui (from the perspective of those entering). Other tribes — Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāpuhi — may place it centrally against the back wall or under the veranda window.
• Greeting sequence: In Te Arawa, the harirū and hongi sequence at a tangi is gender-segregated — wahine ki te wahine, tāne ki te tāne. Elsewhere, the entire visiting group files through together.
• Seating: Some marae seat visitors on the left facing the deceased, with whānau pani on the right flanking the casket. Others follow different configurations depending on how the wharenui is oriented.
• Smoking areas: Most marae are auahi kore (smoke-free), but the exact designated area — if one exists — varies by marae.

How to Find Out the Local Kawa Before You Arrive

The practical solution is straightforward: ask. Contact the marae committee or the kaumātua managing the tangihanga before the event and confirm three things — whether speeches run tau utuutu or pāeke, where visitors should sit, and any specific restrictions the marae enforces (photography, devices in the urupā, bedding rules).

Our Māori Tangihanga Guide includes a ready-to-use Kaumātua and Marae Committee Interview Script with the exact questions to ask in te reo and English. It means you can honour the local authority of the marae without guessing.

The Bottom Line

Tikanga tells you what to value. Kawa tells you how to act on those values at a specific place. Learn both, assume neither, and always check the local kawa before stepping onto the marae ātea. The guide covers both — along with the tribal variations that trip up even experienced tangi attendees — so you can walk on with confidence.

Get the complete toolkit at bereavementstartguide.com/religious/maori-tangihanga/.