Le Pays De France - New Zealand's Maori anoint new queen

Nga Wai hono i te po Paki was cheered by thousands as she climbed atop a high-backed wooden throne during an elaborate ceremony on the country's North Island.

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

After being selected by a council of chiefs, Nga Wai was ushered to the throne by a phalanx of bare-chested and tattooed men bearing ceremonial weapons -- who chanted, screamed and shouted in acclamation.

Wearing a wreath of leaves, a cloak and a whalebone necklace, she sat beside her father's coffin as emotive rites, prayers and chants were performed.

He has laid in state for six days and on Thursday will be taken by a flotilla of war canoes to his final resting place on the slopes of sacred Mount Taupiri.

As the king's only daughter and his youngest child, Nga Wai was perhaps considered an outside choice to become his successor.

One of her two elder brothers had taken on many ceremonial duties during their father's periods of ill health and had been tipped to take over.

"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 AFP.

Taiuru said it was a "privilege" to witness a young Maori woman become queen, particularly given the ageing leadership and mounting challenges faced by the community.

"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," he said.

"These challenges require a new and younger generation to lead us."

- Passing the torch -

New Zealand's Maori make up about 17 percent of the population or about 900,000 people.

Maori citizens are much more likely than other New Zealanders to be unemployed, live in poverty or suffer cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and suicide.

Maori life expectancy is seven years less than other New Zealanders.

The Kiingitanga, or Maori King movement, was founded in 1858 with the aim of uniting New Zealand's tribes under a single sovereign in the face of British colonisation.

The Maori monarch is a mostly ceremonial role with no legal status.

But it has enormous cultural, and sometimes political, significance -- as a potent symbol of Maori identity and kinship.

Queen Nga Wai is the eighth Maori monarch and the second queen.

Her grandmother, Queen Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu, held the position for four decades until 2006.

The new queen studied the Maori language and customary law at New Zealand's Waikato University. She also taught "kapa haka" performing arts to children.

To mark the anniversary of the king's coronation in 2016, she received a traditional Maori "moko" tattoo on her chin.

King Tuheitia, a 69-year-old truck-driver-turned-royal, died on Friday, just days after heart surgery and celebrations marking the 18th anniversary of his coronation.

Tens of thousands of Indigenous citizens and "Pakeha" -- those of European ancestry -- visited to pay respects, mourn and celebrate New Zealand's rich Maori heritage.

Among them was Auckland-based Darrio Penetito-Hemara, who told AFP the king had united "many people across Aotearoa (New Zealand) who don't often see eye-to-eye".

The king leaves a legacy forged "through respect, through aroha (love)", Penetito-Hemara said.

After the queen's coronation, the late king's body was taken to the banks of the Waikato River, flanked by a tribal guard of honour and by members of the New Zealand military.

A fleet of four "waka" -- long, decorated war canoes -- carried his body to Mount Taupiri, where three rugby teams will carry him to the summit.

He will be laid to rest alongside previous Maori monarchs, including his mother.

(M.LaRue--LPdF)