Case file · Apparition / miracle
Papahurihia, the Northland prophet
In 1833 the Ngāpuhi tohunga Te Atua Wera (Papahurihia) founded a prophetic movement in the Bay of Islands that mixed Māori ritual with biblical ideas and promised a paradise for followers.
1833 CE · -35.35, 173.80 · status: account
The account
He spoke with the voice of a spirit called Te Nākahi (the serpent) and his followers kept Saturday as a holy day. Missionaries saw him as their rival; he later served as a tohunga to Hōne Heke in the Northern War.
The sceptical view
Historians read the movement as an early Māori reinterpretation of Christianity under colonial pressure; claims of contact with spirits rest on followers' testimony.