b'-DOING: MAORI BIRTHING TRADITIONSThe word for placenta and land is also the same. Its poignant because its returning the essence of the child and the woman back to the land so that the child will never forget where theyre from, explains Tikao. They always have a spiritual and physical connection to what we call the place of standing, your tribal place of standing.Another important Ma- ori birthing prac-tice concerns the removal of the umbilical cord. Muka Pito is the natural fibre cord that Ma- ori use to tie off the umbilical cord, instead of the plastic clamps stan-dard to Western medicine. This flexible fibre comes from the leaves of the flax plant in long strands. When you strip away the outer and the back sheath of the leaf, youre left with whats called Muka, Tikao says. Muka is the white fiber that you can twist or leave as is, keep it clean. We wrap it around the umbilical cord in two places, then cut it in the middle.After tying with the Muka, some Ma- ori also use a natural tool to cut the umbilical cord. In a vaginal birth (even in hospital), this usually isnt a problem. But things are different when its a C-section, where stan-dard practice in Western medicine is for the doctor to cut the cord right after the surgery. Tikao has found a workaround. We ask them to cut the cord long. When the mother and the family are taken into a side room, they can redo the process using customary practices, she says. You can quietly go about recutting it and making it closer to the baby because its not designed to be left that long.SWEET MUSICOne of Tikaos most exciting projects is sharing knowledge about orioriMa- ori songs or chants that tell stories. Oriori is a particular type of song that transmits knowledge, hopes, aspirations, things that happened in the past, and genealogy throughout conception, pregnancy, birth and afterwards to that child, she explains. It was a form of singing their child intoONWAs Indigenous Housing partnerthis world, into the physical realm with the knowledge of their past, and what theirServing the housing needs of Indigenous women, girls, ancestors want them to do for the future.2SLGBTQQIA+ people, their families, and their communities.Sharing oriori was the inspiration for Tikaos website. She realized that many1-866-391-1061of her thesis recommendations werent possible for her to achieve alone, as theyOntarioAboriginalHousing.carequired big changes across education and health care systems. But with much data now in the cloud, she was able to create a website where people could access@OntarioAboriginalHousing @OAHSSCa variety of oriori free of charge. Designed chiefly to support Ma- ori midwives who Ontario Native Womens Association43'