Guardian of the Dead

by Karen Healey

Kapa haka: A performance displaying traditional Mori performance skills, including haka, poi dancing, and several styles of singing. Kapa haka groups comprise individuals linked in some way (for instance by family, by iwi or institution) and exist in many high schools.

  Kaumtua: A respected elder, chosen by the people, with great status, wisdom, and expertise in at least one area of traditional knowledge, such as genealogy or oratory.

  Kia ora: Literally ‘be healthy,’ this is a fairly informal greeting, the equivalent of ‘Hi.’

  Koru: Literally, an unfurling new fern frond. Koru patterns, important in Mori and Mori-influenced art, echo this curved shape.

  Marae: A meeting place, central to community life and identity. Various protocols and instances of tapu surround the proper use of the marae complex.

  Mere: A short, teardrop-shaped club, carved from bone, wood, or stone. Mere made from greenstone are especially valuable.

  Moko: Moko are traditional tattoos, most often applied to the face, thighs, and buttocks (men) and chin and lips (women), by a tattoo machine or in the traditional tmoko method, which involves slicing the skin in patterns and rubbing pigment into the cuts. They can convey ancestry, status, and the completion of rites of passage. Non-Mori traditionally cannot wear or apply moko; ‘tribal’ styles that are aesthetically influenced by ta moko are actually kiri tuhi (‘skin art’) designs.

  Ngi Tahu: (Also Kai Tahu.) The principal South Island iwi.

  Pkeh: Usually refers to New Zealanders of predominantly white European ancestry. Also sometimes used to refer to non-Mori of any ethnicity.

  Taiaha: A long club, about five feet long, with a blunt clubbing end and a pointed stabbing end.

  Taonga: A treasured thing, tangible or intangible, culturally or personally significant. The Mori language is a taonga, for example, as are pieces of land, or physical heirlooms like dogskin cloaks.

  Tapu: The concept of tapu applies to especially sacred and protected things, places, knowledge, or people. Tapu means a restriction has been placed and this can be permanent or temporary. Breaking tapu (often by touching or approaching) can carry serious spiritual consequences. Today tapu is most often observed in circumstances of sickness, death, and burial, and areas of land or people can become restricted as a consequence, keeping others safe from harm.

  Tupuna: (Also tipuna.) Ancestors.

  Whnau: Family, including extended family. Several whnau often make up hapu, which make up iwi.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I AM INDEBTED to many, many people, not all of whom I can mention, but all of whom I remember.

  First, I owe a great deal to the storytellers who made and handed down the myths I make use of in this story. I was fortunate to have Lauana Thomas, Olive Roundhill, and Dr Jane McRae lend their cultural expertise and advice on various portions of the manuscript; any remaining errors are mine.

  My thanks to Holly Black, Libba Bray, Delia Sherman, Dawn Metcalf, Becca Fitzpatrick, and Stephanie Burgis for encouragement and inspiration, and to the Tenners for sharing those debut author jitters with so much style and fun.

  I’m grateful for my first readers: Tui, Jeff, Willow, Carla, Betty, Rachel, Gina, Terry, Jameson, and my mother, Mary. They caught innumerable problems and wielded the clue–stick with enthusiasm. Special thanks to Robyn for always reading, over and over (and over!) again.

  I have an amazing editing team, who have made me look so much smarter than I really am: Alvina Ling, Connie Hsu, and Melanie Sanders at Little, Brown, and Eva Mills, Susannah Chambers, and Nicola McCloy at Allen and Unwin. I’m lucky to have my most excellent agent, Barry Goldblatt, and his English counterpart, the wonderful Nancy Miles.

  Finally, my thanks to the University of Canterbury and its Drama Society, for five great years and oh so much material.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Karen Healey is a New Zealander living in Australia writing a dissertation on American superhero comics. She likes World of Warcraft, movies about cheerleading, and tripartite sentences. This is her first novel.