PoO is puzzled that the building of a traditional Māori star compass has not been given much wider publicity. The potential seems to be enormous.
Ngāti Rangi researcher Rauroha Brown with the whana tongitongi, or traditional star compass, built at Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngāti Rangi in Ohakune. Photo / Moana Ellis
A bloke involved in the building project described it as “a time marker and a forecasting tool that would help whānau reconnect with environmental knowledge and traditional food-gathering practices”.
Furthermore (the NZ Herald reported) –
“The reason you would establish one of these whana tongitongi is they’re pretty much like a GPS, a phone or a USB [drive] – a memory holder and resource for delivering information, telling you when to plant, when to hunt. Like a how-to-sustain-your-life app.”
Wow. It sounds as if this might replace our mobile phones.
Sticking one in a back pocket would be challenging, but disadvantages in the portability department no doubt are more than offset by other benefits.
Price would then become a consideration. Alas, the New Zealand Herald’s report does not mention the price of one of these gadgets – or the development costs.
The article did indicate that marketing might be a challenge. It said:
Unveiled at a Ngāti Rangi school in Ohakune last week. the whana tongitongi Te Tatau o Rongonui is a traditional star compass, or kāpehu whetū.
Simple branding and advertising calls for the value of some of the te reo to be reviewed. “Star compass” might have more appeal in the mass market than whana tongitongi Te Tatau o Rongonu.
Whatever it’s called, it was used across Polynesia as a forecasting and navigation tool.
This one was designed “according to traditional Ngāti Rangi narratives and astronomical knowledge”.
The project was led by Riwaru Tihema and Rauroha Brown, described as Ngāti Rangi celestial researchers.
“To be honest, I’m absolutely overwhelmed,” Brown said after the dawn ceremony.
That raises our next question: is a dawn ceremony essential for the accuracy of the instrument? Or might it go on the blink without appropriate ritual chants?
PoO’s appetite for a greater understanding of the science involved and the potential to replace the mobile phone was triggered by the Herald’s headline and pictures.
They show an instrument very different from the compasses we took with us when tramping and sailing in our younger days.
Furthermore (the NZ Herald reported) –
“The reason you would establish one of these whana tongitongi is they’re pretty much like a GPS, a phone or a USB [drive] – a memory holder and resource for delivering information, telling you when to plant, when to hunt. Like a how-to-sustain-your-life app.”
Wow. It sounds as if this might replace our mobile phones.
Sticking one in a back pocket would be challenging, but disadvantages in the portability department no doubt are more than offset by other benefits.
Price would then become a consideration. Alas, the New Zealand Herald’s report does not mention the price of one of these gadgets – or the development costs.
The article did indicate that marketing might be a challenge. It said:
Unveiled at a Ngāti Rangi school in Ohakune last week. the whana tongitongi Te Tatau o Rongonui is a traditional star compass, or kāpehu whetū.
Simple branding and advertising calls for the value of some of the te reo to be reviewed. “Star compass” might have more appeal in the mass market than whana tongitongi Te Tatau o Rongonu.
Whatever it’s called, it was used across Polynesia as a forecasting and navigation tool.
This one was designed “according to traditional Ngāti Rangi narratives and astronomical knowledge”.
The project was led by Riwaru Tihema and Rauroha Brown, described as Ngāti Rangi celestial researchers.
“To be honest, I’m absolutely overwhelmed,” Brown said after the dawn ceremony.
That raises our next question: is a dawn ceremony essential for the accuracy of the instrument? Or might it go on the blink without appropriate ritual chants?
PoO’s appetite for a greater understanding of the science involved and the potential to replace the mobile phone was triggered by the Herald’s headline and pictures.
They show an instrument very different from the compasses we took with us when tramping and sailing in our younger days.
The whana tongitongi is similar to those used across Polynesia as a forecasting and navigation tool.
The spiral pattern was a distinctive feature. Is the device giving directions via ever-decreasing circles to the centre (we wondered) or vice-versa?
Another thing: the photo shows something that looks like writing, but our understanding at PoO is that Māori relied entirely on a rich oral tradition and visual carvings until European missionaries arrived (with writing) in the early 19th century.
The Herald went on to quote Brown on the educative potential of the project.
“We built this kāpehu whetū, this whana tongitongi, at the kura so we could teach the next generation of astronomers. It creates another inside-outside classroom environment and why not be out in the elements, in the taiao?”
PoO supposes Brown would prefer using this for teaching purposes, rather than a telescope, which can gather light across the electromagnetic spectrum, often paired with analytical tools like spectrographs or photometers to dissect light and reveal the physical properties of distant objects.
He explained that the whana tongitongi is a replica of ancient open-air star compasses still found in Tahiti and Hawaii.
“The majority of their compasses are primarily rock and stone, built in the shape of a square or diamond. You can easily put the cardinal points on each corner.”
Pou (posts) will be erected around the new whana tongitongi, aligning with geographical and celestial markers. The structure measures seasonal time using the rising and setting of stars, the moon and the sun.
At that point of the report, Brown enthused about his star compass doing all sorts of things that might not be obvious at first blush –and here we come to the time marking, forecasting, enhancing understanding of Maori environmental knowledge and traditional food-gathering practices.
And let’s not overlook the big technological feature mentioned earlier in this report:
“The reason you would establish one of these whana tongitongi is they’re pretty much like a GPS, a phone or a USB [drive] – a memory holder and resource for delivering information, telling you when to plant, when to hunt. Like a how-to-sustain-your-life app.”
It’s not all plain sailing, because:
“You just have to know how to read it. Once you understand it, you can start applying it to your gardening and your hunting and fishing because it will tell you the optimum time to gather or harvest.”
But you have to know how to read – or work with – any modern gadgetry.
The Herald brought Helen Leahy, chief executive of Ngā Waihua o Paerangi, into its story.
She said Tihema had first proposed building the star compass in 2022, with work beginning the following year.
The project involved cross-referencing manuscripts and kōrero with Ngāti Rangi kaumātua and stakeholders to design a star compass grounded in kōrero tuku iho.
“The intention was for whānau to learn and live by the stars – learning about ceremonies, tuna heke, timings around māra kai, bird and fish migration, moon phases and the age-old practice of looking to the environment for education,” Leahy said.
“They wanted to teach whānau the skills required to read, understand, implement and uphold traditional passing of knowledge from generation to generation; to maintain balance in a way that promotes wellness.”
Brown said ancient open-air astronomical observatories exist throughout the country but their locations and functions were not common knowledge.
Like the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu and Stonehenge, they reflected sophisticated astronomical observation systems that guided agriculture, seasonal planning and spiritual life.
“It is the same universal concept,” Brown said.
But it isn’t a compass with a magnetic needle or a card that can rotate freely.
Traditional Māori (PoO was informed) did not develop or use a magnetic compass.
Rather than a physical needle that reacts to magnetic fields, the conceptual compass divides the 360-degree horizon into 32 quadrants or “houses” (whare). Navigators used the rising and setting points of the sun, moon, and over 200 distinct stars to orient themselves and accurately chart their path across vast ocean expanses.
PoO turned to Google to ask if we could liken a star compass to a sundial (which can’t easily be strapped to one’s wrist or tucked into a pocket, come to think of it).
The answer:
A star compass is conceptually similar to a sundial in that both rely on the predictable, celestial mechanics of the Earth’s rotation to determine direction or time. However, their primary functions and mechanisms are quite different [1]: [1, 2]
Our next question to Google was to establish the comparative merits of a star compass and a European compass.
We were told:
Neither compass is universally “better” than the other. They are completely different tools built for different purposes, and each outperforms the other depending on the situation.
The European compass wins for simplicity and operating in sightless conditions
The spiral pattern was a distinctive feature. Is the device giving directions via ever-decreasing circles to the centre (we wondered) or vice-versa?
Another thing: the photo shows something that looks like writing, but our understanding at PoO is that Māori relied entirely on a rich oral tradition and visual carvings until European missionaries arrived (with writing) in the early 19th century.
The Herald went on to quote Brown on the educative potential of the project.
“We built this kāpehu whetū, this whana tongitongi, at the kura so we could teach the next generation of astronomers. It creates another inside-outside classroom environment and why not be out in the elements, in the taiao?”
PoO supposes Brown would prefer using this for teaching purposes, rather than a telescope, which can gather light across the electromagnetic spectrum, often paired with analytical tools like spectrographs or photometers to dissect light and reveal the physical properties of distant objects.
He explained that the whana tongitongi is a replica of ancient open-air star compasses still found in Tahiti and Hawaii.
“The majority of their compasses are primarily rock and stone, built in the shape of a square or diamond. You can easily put the cardinal points on each corner.”
Pou (posts) will be erected around the new whana tongitongi, aligning with geographical and celestial markers. The structure measures seasonal time using the rising and setting of stars, the moon and the sun.
At that point of the report, Brown enthused about his star compass doing all sorts of things that might not be obvious at first blush –and here we come to the time marking, forecasting, enhancing understanding of Maori environmental knowledge and traditional food-gathering practices.
And let’s not overlook the big technological feature mentioned earlier in this report:
“The reason you would establish one of these whana tongitongi is they’re pretty much like a GPS, a phone or a USB [drive] – a memory holder and resource for delivering information, telling you when to plant, when to hunt. Like a how-to-sustain-your-life app.”
It’s not all plain sailing, because:
“You just have to know how to read it. Once you understand it, you can start applying it to your gardening and your hunting and fishing because it will tell you the optimum time to gather or harvest.”
But you have to know how to read – or work with – any modern gadgetry.
The Herald brought Helen Leahy, chief executive of Ngā Waihua o Paerangi, into its story.
She said Tihema had first proposed building the star compass in 2022, with work beginning the following year.
The project involved cross-referencing manuscripts and kōrero with Ngāti Rangi kaumātua and stakeholders to design a star compass grounded in kōrero tuku iho.
“The intention was for whānau to learn and live by the stars – learning about ceremonies, tuna heke, timings around māra kai, bird and fish migration, moon phases and the age-old practice of looking to the environment for education,” Leahy said.
“They wanted to teach whānau the skills required to read, understand, implement and uphold traditional passing of knowledge from generation to generation; to maintain balance in a way that promotes wellness.”
Brown said ancient open-air astronomical observatories exist throughout the country but their locations and functions were not common knowledge.
Like the Pyramids of Giza, Machu Picchu and Stonehenge, they reflected sophisticated astronomical observation systems that guided agriculture, seasonal planning and spiritual life.
“It is the same universal concept,” Brown said.
But it isn’t a compass with a magnetic needle or a card that can rotate freely.
Traditional Māori (PoO was informed) did not develop or use a magnetic compass.
Rather than a physical needle that reacts to magnetic fields, the conceptual compass divides the 360-degree horizon into 32 quadrants or “houses” (whare). Navigators used the rising and setting points of the sun, moon, and over 200 distinct stars to orient themselves and accurately chart their path across vast ocean expanses.
PoO turned to Google to ask if we could liken a star compass to a sundial (which can’t easily be strapped to one’s wrist or tucked into a pocket, come to think of it).
The answer:
A star compass is conceptually similar to a sundial in that both rely on the predictable, celestial mechanics of the Earth’s rotation to determine direction or time. However, their primary functions and mechanisms are quite different [1]: [1, 2]
- The Mechanism: Both tools use the sky as a reference, but a sundial tracks the sun’s daily shadow to tell the time of day, whereas a star compass (such as the traditional Polynesian kāpe or modern Stella compass) uses the fixed positions of stars to determine geographic direction. [1, 2]
- The Output: A sundial provides temporal data (hours/minutes) by measuring the sun’s angle relative to your fixed location. A star compass provides spatial orientation (North, South, East, West, or specific navigational headings) by aligning with rising, setting, and zenith stars. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
Our next question to Google was to establish the comparative merits of a star compass and a European compass.
We were told:
Neither compass is universally “better” than the other. They are completely different tools built for different purposes, and each outperforms the other depending on the situation.
The European compass wins for simplicity and operating in sightless conditions
- No Sky Needed: A European magnetic compass relies on Earth’s magnetic field. It functions flawlessly in absolute darkness, fog, or heavy cloud cover without requiring the navigator to see anything external.
- Low Skill Barrier: Anyone can look at a needle and instantly know where North is. It does not require years of training, memorisation, or deep cultural knowledge to operate.
- Works in Dead Calm: If the ocean is completely flat and the sky is blank, a magnetic compass still works.
- Immunity to Magnetic Errors: Magnetic compasses can be thrown off by iron deposits in ship hulls, local geological anomalies, or lightning strikes. The Kāpehu Whetū (star compass) is immune to these errors.
- All-in-One Information Tool: A European compass only tells you direction. The Māori star compass is a complete mental database. By looking at the stars, a navigator simultaneously determines direction, latitude, local weather patterns, and time of year.
- Never Breaks or Rusts: A magnetic compass can shatter, rust, leak fluid, or be lost overboard. Because the Māori compass exists entirely in the navigator’s mind and the surrounding environment, it can never be physically destroyed.
A European compass tells you where to go by isolating you from the world and focusing your eyes on a single metal needle.
A Māori star compass requires you to know where you are by forcing you to intimately connect with the stars, the wind, the waves, and the wildlife. It treats the navigator as the fixed centre of the universe, and watches the ocean and islands move past the vessel.
So there we have it.
Apple, Samsung and the others might feel threatened. But (we suspect) not for long.
Bob Edlin is a veteran journalist and editor for the Point of Order blog HERE. - where this article was sourced.
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