Found 1 result matching "mana"

• mana

  1. (noun) prestige, authority, control, power, influence, status, spiritual power, charisma - mana is a supernatural force in a person, place or object. Mana goes hand in hand with tapu, one affecting the other. The more prestigious the event, person or object, the more it is surrounded by tapu and mana. Mana is the enduring, indestructible power of the atua and is inherited at birth, the more senior the descent, the greater the mana. The authority of mana and tapu is inherited and delegated through the senior line from the atua as their human agent to act on revealed will. Since authority is a spiritual gift delegated by the atua, man remains the agent, never the source of mana. This divine choice is confirmed by the elders, initiated by the tohunga under traditional consecratory rites (tohi). Mana gives a person the authority to lead, organise and regulate communal expeditions and activities, to make decisions regarding social and political matters. A person or tribe's mana can increase from successful ventures or decrease through the lack of success. The tribe gave mana to their chief and empowered him/her and in turn the mana of an ariki or rangatira spread to his/her people and their land. Almost every activity has a link with the maintenance and enhancement of mana and tapu. Animate and inanimate objects could also have mana as they also derive from the atua and because of their own association with people imbued with mana or because they were used in significant events.   I tērā tau i mātakitaki tātau ki te ānga haeretanga a Tiamani i a Rūhia, me te mea nā anō kua pēpē te mana o Rūhia (TKO 15/8/1916 wh8).Last year we watched Germany drive away Russia and it would seem the mana of Russia has been crushed. (Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 238-240;Te Kōhure Video Tapes (Ed. 1): 6;) See also mana atua, mana motuhake, mana tangata, mana tangata whenua, mana whakatipu, mana whenua, ariki, rangatira.
  2. (stative) be legal, effectual, binding, authoritative, valid.  
  3. (verb) to be effectual, take effect.  
  4. (noun) jurisdiction, mandate, freedom.