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Te Kooti's war flag

Te Kooti's war flag

Many Māori movements adopted distinctive flags. This is Te Kooti’s war flag. The meaning of the symbols on it has been much debated. The letters ‘WI’ probably stand for the Holy Spirit, Wairua Tapu. The crescent moon is a tohu (portent) of a new world; the red cross is the fighting cross of the Archangel Michael, who appeared to Te Kooti in a vision in the 1850s. The moon and cross reiterate the first two elements of Te Wepu, a flag which Te Kooti captured from Ngāti Kahungunu in 1868.

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Keywords

new zealand wars
flags
te kooti
How to cite this page

'Te Kooti's war flag', URL: https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/te-kootis-war-flag, (Ministry for Culture and Heritage), updated 5-Apr-2019

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What do you know?

Mo

Posted: 11 Feb 2010

Came across Te Kooti flag when researching Mangaoronga.Found a reference and also one for Otewa in Papers Past in relation to the meeting between Te Kooti and the Government Lands Minister. As a child growing up on a farm between Mangaoronga Rd and Otewa district we always knew we were on Ngati Maniopoto land and we also were told by the old man who owned the farm that there was a Maori Chief buried on that land and that it was a mystery who he was and where the grave was located. Could it be that Te Kooti's body was buried there??