Rangi Mclean - Ta Moko!

When Rangi Mclean was 18, he had dreamt about a moko. He could still picture the moko in his head and decided to draw it. He didn’t know what it meant so his parents suggested to take the drawing back to the elders. They had a big meeting at the marae and the elders asked what the moko meant to him. All Rangi could say was that it came to him in a dream. Rangi wanted to get their blessings so he could get his moko done but they said he wasn’t ready. 20 years passed and the elders continued to mentor him whenever he got home. Then one day the elders told him he was ready to get his moko done. They said because the moko came to him in a dream, the wairua (spirit) should dictate who would do it. Rangi visited seven ta moko artists. Six of them were his own people, but the wairua didn’t feel right. The seventh was a ta moko artist in Papakura. He was a Pakeha. After Rangi shared his story to him he was honored to complete his journey. It took 9 hours straight to do the moko and something in the tattoo artist encouraged him to keep on going no matter how tired he was. After his ta moko was done, he felt relieved and blessed.