The Burning Mattress

Episode 20 - The Burning Mattress (Based on a True Story) 

You're supposed to burn the mattress that a tūpāpaku lies on. It's based on an old tikanga whereby a small 'whare mate' was built specifically to house the tūpāpaku, and then burned immediately after the body was taken to the urupā. I mean, would you really want to sleep on the same mattress after a dead person has been on it?Today's Māori are different, and the old ways are often traded off for convenience and expedience. Young Māori of today, beware. There is a reason our tipuna put laws in place – unbreakable laws to be broken at one's own risk, as the unfortunate man in our story soon discovers. If you think you can hide behind the "I didn't know" card, don't be surprised if a kēhua chews it up, spits it out, and blows hūpē on it. Don't say you weren't warned. 

 

T.A. Whero