It's been 111 years since the Chinese-chartered freight ship SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga coast, spilling over 499 coffin "boxes" and two full-sized coffins into the sea.
Now the so-called "hungry ghosts" from its wreck have finally been laid to rest.
About 100 Chinese people from around New Zealand and Australia gathered in the Waipoua Forest and Mitimiti to ensure their ancestors - mostly goldminers from the 1800s - received the "good afterlife" at an unveiling, blessing and dedication to the Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi who found their calico-encased bones along their shoreline and buried them in their own urupa (burial grounds).
April 4 and 6 were chosen to coincide with the Ching Ming Festival when the Chinese honour their dead and visit their graves.
Saturday, April 13, 2013
David Fung and Te Roroa's kaumatua Fraser Toi
It's been 111 years since the Chinese-chartered freight ship SS Ventnor sank off the Hokianga coast, spilling over 499 coffin "boxes" and two full-sized coffins into the sea.
Now the so-called "hungry ghosts" from its wreck have finally been laid to rest.
About 100 Chinese people from around New Zealand and Australia gathered in the Waipoua Forest and Mitimiti to ensure their ancestors - mostly goldminers from the 1800s - received the "good afterlife" at an unveiling, blessing and dedication to the Te Roroa and Te Rarawa iwi who found their calico-encased bones along their shoreline and buried them in their own urupa (burial grounds).
April 4 and 6 were chosen to coincide with the Ching Ming Festival when the Chinese honour their dead and visit their graves.
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