Once a year Nelson families are invited to bury their whenua or placenta, in a shared community event by the NNC council and Local midwives providing the plants and the site. OPEN LETTER TO ALL NELSON FAMILIES:RE: Established planting area for whenua (placenta) in the Nelson Region. All life is seen as being born from the womb of Paptuanuku, under the sea. The lands that appear above the water are
whenua from her womb. This is based on their deep relationship with that place, through births and their ancestor's birthplace. As Tangata Whenua express themselves in that place, gaining confidence to project themselves into the world. Burying a whenua (placenta): Traditionally, the Whenua and Pito (umbilical cord) of newborn babies are buried in a significant place, reinforcing the relationship between the newborn child and the land of their birth. Ipu Whenua: is used to house the whenua (placenta) on its journey to its special resting place. Usually, clay remains unfired to the land (also whenua). The clay of the ipu breaks down and returns to the land. The Ipu is traditionally lined with absorbent materials such as moss, fern or hair to soak up any blood. Therefore, some of our Maori and European families bury the whenua in a place of significance to the whanau or ancestors. At the same time, some Maori families return their whenua to their iwi. Midwives are finding that many families are in rental accommodation, which isn't of significance to them. Many stores their placenta in the freezer for many years until they find an appropriate place to bury their Whenua and may decide to plant the whenua under a native tree. To ‘honouring the whenua'. On July 3rd 2007, one of our midwives, Lyndell Rowan-Gabay, died unexpectedly. Lyndell was passionate about birth and was always to honour the whenua. Lyndell could not bring herself to dispose of whenua other than burying them! It is in Lyndell's memory and in honour of the work she did that has prompted us to establish a planting area in Nelson. Nelson city council have designated an area at the Centre of NZ for NZCOM and iwi to facilitate annual planting so that the Essence of Nelson babies will continue to grow Nelson. As with any forest, the planting area will, with time, mature and change. This won't change the spirit of our Nelson babies and will continue to grow
Guidelines for planting:
As this area is part of the re-vegetation planting programme by the council and another form of community planting - we have agreed to the council's following conditions:
*The area will be available over a number of seasons until the entire area is planted out.
* It will then be closed to further planting. The site will only be available for this purpose once a year for NZCOM organised event.
* Casual placenta burying or planting at other times of the year is not permitted.
*Planting programme: this site is part of the council's broader re-vegetation programme.
*There is no particular ‘ownership or expectation about the future of the plant that is planted upon an individual's placenta. Participants also need to acknowledge there is no assurance that any individual plant will grow or be maintained to maturity given the usual rates of mortality from restoration projects and, as with any maturing forest, that other species will replace a number of these plants as the restorations process continues.
* We have selected an appropriate planting time to ensure the survival of the plants best. The council needs to ensure that proper native plants are planted from seeds/cuttings that have been collected from the correct areas (eco-sourced). To best achieve this, only NCC supplied plants can be used for the plantings as this site is a natural restoration area.
*No markings of any plant locations are permitted.
*Assess from Branford Park car park to the centre of New Zealand
Contact Aunouska Myer
Email [email protected]
