Throughout most of the past century, countless unsuspecting visitors to Whangarei, New Zealand have stopped by one of the city’s most famous landmarks, Mount Parihaka. Unbeknownst to the masses, the name of the sacred space was not “Parahaki” but “Parihaka.” Finally, in 2005, the NZ Geographic Board officially corrected the mistake.
In a moving ceremony this month, hundreds gathered at the summit for a special ceremony: the unveiling of a “kohatu,” a sacred carved rock symbolizing the spirit of the mountain. As Sheryl Mai, Whangarei’s mayor, explained in a Radio New Zealand interview: “…now we’ve got the public coming to meet our beautiful kohatu […] and the name Parihaka has been returned…”