Penetana Papahurihia

Who was Penetana Papahurihia?

Penetana Papahurihia also called Te Atua Wera was a New Zealand tohunga, war leader and prophet. Of Māori descent, he identified with the Nga Puhi iwi. He founded a religious sect called Te Nakahi in the Bay of Islands and Omanaia in New Zealand, around 1833. The religion was a "blend of Maori and Judeo-Christian values", and believers held that they were the descendants of the ten lost Israelite tribes, which led them to observe the Jewish sabbath, as opposed to the Christian sabbath.