tohunga

British  

/ ˈtɒhʊŋə, tɒˈhʊŋə /

noun

1. a Māori priest, the repository of traditional lore

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Example Sentences

The heir-male was always regarded as the head of the family, and in the olden times was its priest or tohunga.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume III (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von

The voice all through, it is to be remembered, was not the voice of the tohunga, but a strange melancholy sound, like the sound of a wind blowing into a hollow vessel.

From Myth, Ritual and Religion — Volume 1 by Lang, Andrew

Then Kawiti, who is himself a tohunga, threw a rakau for his own path—he threw one for himself and people, and one for the soldiers, and one for the town.

From Old New Zealand A Tale of the Good Old Times; and A History of the War in the North against the Chief Heke, in the Year 1845 by Maori, A Pakeha

On the next day he was suffering from a chill and fever which defied the kindly attentions of Nicholas, who visited him daily until the tohunga forbad his admission.

From A History of the English Church in New Zealand by Purchas, H. T. (Henry Thomas)

The Pakeha Maori was present in a darkened village-hall when the spirit of a young man, a great friend of his own, was called up by a tohunga.

From Myth, Ritual and Religion — Volume 1 by Lang, Andrew