New Zealand's Maori crown new queen

The chiefs of New Zealand's Maori tribe – the Indigenous people of the country's mainland – anointed a 27-year-old as their new monarch on Thursday in a "break from tradition."

Thousands cheered as Nga Wai hono i te po Paki sat the throne in a ceremony on the country's North Island.

Nga Wai is the youngest daughter of King Tuheitia, who died on Friday after heart surgery.

A young Maori queen

The New Zealand Herald reported that she was favored and long groomed to take the throne after her father, however, her appointment was not set in stone as she is the late king's youngest child and only daughter. 

The new ruler is chosen by the heads of the community's tribes on the day of the previous monarch's funeral.

Local media reports suggest that Tuheitia's eldest son was initially tipped to be the next monarch, but Nga Wai emerged as the possible successor in recent years. 

"It is certainly a break from traditional Maori leadership appointments which tend to succeed to the eldest child, usually a male," Maori Cultural Advisor Karaitiana Taiuru told the AFP news agency. 

He said it was a "privilege" to witness a young Maori woman become queen.

Nga Wai is their eighth monarch and the second woman to hold the position. The first Maori monarch queen was her grandmother Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu, who died in 2006.

The king or queen's position is largely ceremonial and doesn't enjoy legal powers but holds significance in the community.

What happened at the ceremony?

Once the council of tribal heads selected the young queen, she was escorted to her wooden throne by a platoon of tattooed, bare-chested men who held ceremonial weapons. They chanted and screamed in praise and applause.

Adorned in a wreath of leaves, a cloak and a whalebone necklace,  Nga Wai sat beside her father's coffin while ceremonious rites took place.

Tuheitia has been laid in state for six days and will now be taken to his final resting place on the slopes of the sacred Mount Taupiri. 

Maori community faces challenges

The selection comes amid mounting challenges the Maori community faces, one of which is an aging leadership. 

"The Maori world has been yearning for younger leadership to guide us in the new world of AI, genetic modification, global warming and in a time of many other social changes that question and threaten us and Indigenous Peoples of New Zealand," Taiuru said.

The Maori community makes up 17% of New Zealand's population. Studies and data show they are more likely than other citizens to be unemployed and live in poverty.

Another challenge is life expectancy for the Maori people, which is seven years less than other New Zealanders, facing greater chances of suffering from cancer, heart disease, diabetes and suicide.

mk/sms (AFP, dpa)