Please stay and cruise a little, with me, in these pages
Ratana Pa is the home of The Ratana
Established Church of New Zealand
founded in 1924.
You will not find much information about this Church; very little has
been written about it.
It is a Christian Church
It's founder was Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana (1873 - 1939).
It is unique because it has both spiritual and temporal parts.
Ture Wairua = matters spiritual: Ture Tangata = matters physical
TW Ratana, following a vision in
1918, brought two documents to the Ratana Faith:
The Holy Bible, and The Treaty of Waitangi...
This map shows where Ratana Pa is:
20km south of Wanganui, in the North Island of New Zealand.....
Look for the signpost (towards the sea), off the main road, between Turakina
and Wangaehu.
Do come and visit Ratana Pa, especially the Temple - it is one of the great
spirit-filled places of this world.
REMNANTS
This picture shows the Ministers
of the Ratana Church gathering at one of the main festival times, on the Ratana
Marae (meeting ground).
These pictures are of Te Temepara (the Temple), which is the centre of
the Morehu's worship.
You are welcome to visit Ratana Pa, and Te Temepara at any time; Te Temepara is always open.
Morehu come here to worship, and to "fill their (spiritual) bottle",
all the time.
The one tradition that is observed is: Please leave your money outside the Temple
Gates
Why?; for many reasons, including the fact that, as humans, we can tend to worship
money before God:
Job1:21; "Naked I came from
my mother's womb, naked I shall return."
It is usual to greet people whom you meet with either a kiss to their cheek, and a handgrasp, or a hongi. The hongi is a fitting together of lower forehead areas, and is very touching and intimate.
Visited Te Tempara? click here
Mount Taranaki.. New Zealand's
answer to Japan's Mount Fuji
Links to other sites on the Web
Historical account of Ratana
and their history, language, and culture
e-mail me at juliannasong@yahoo.com
( updated 13th June 2004 JAAF)
