Tikanga Māori practice and Clean Cloth Nappies

Clean Cloth Nappies admin member Jes reflects on her cultural roots and how to balance them with modern science to achieve success with cloth nappies.

Recently there was a post in our Facebook group asking about how best to respect tikanga Māori practices whilst doing cloth nappies the Clean Cloth Nappies (CCN) way. This post got me thinking that, as a millennial, I am out of touch with the cultural practices of my ancestors and my people.

I know the science behind why there is no problem with cross-contamination when washing our nappies in a main cycle with items like flannels, hand towels, tea towels and other things that are avoided when practising tikanga.

In saying this, just because I know on a scientific level that it is fine, this doesn’t mean I shouldn’t respect people’s reasons for not wanting to do this. 

One of the reasons I feel so at home within our CCN community is because we are built on respect, knowledge and supporting each other. It wouldn’t be a safe space to educate and learn if this wasn’t the case.

An overview on tikanga

For those who didn’t grow up in a Māori family like myself, tikanga might not be something you are aware of or if you are, it may only be limited. Tikanga practices vary from iwi (tribe) to iwi, even from hapu (subtribe) to hapu but some are pretty standard for all of tangata whenua, like not wearing shoes inside the house or a hat at the kai (food) table. Tikanga is a set of rules or guidelines on how to live with respect to your whenua (homeland), tipuna (ancestors) and culture, societal expectations if you will.

I’ll be focusing on the ones directly relating to the use of cloth nappies and general laundry and will be pretty common practice in most iwi and hapu throughout the motu (land). There are probably many indigenous cultures who have similar customs and it’s worth talking to family or elders in these cultures if you wish to incorporate their customs into your life.

Separating laundry as part of tikanga practice

The tikanga practice that most interested me was the separating of the laundry. Tikanga Māori states that the head should be washed and dried with its own towel, as should the body and then again from the hips down. Practising tikanga and following CCN guidelines on this is an easy one, you just use more facecloths! This isn’t a bad thing – they are reusable items and can be reused over and over again.

Tikanga also states that bedding should be washed separately from everything else, this is also easy to follow using CCN as we often advise people not to bulk their loads with bedding as it can tangle around nappies and prevent agitation which is important to achieve a thorough clean.

This next one is a bit more challenging, anything that touches food or comes from the kitchen should not be washed with anything else, especially not something that touches the bottom/genitals. 

At CCN we often encourage people to add tea towels and hand towels to their nappy main wash loads to bulk them up, achieving better agitation for maximum cleaning power.

Adapting your nappy washing routine when practising tikanga

Does this mean you can’t use the science behind CCN’s recommendations if you wish to practise tikanga Māori? 

No, not at all! It simply means you have to work a little harder or make a few changes. 

Instead of adding tea towels to your nappy laundry, you will need to wash them separately. Washing these on hot (60ºC) or adding chlorine bleach is a good idea. 

Without tea towels and kitchen cloths, you might end up pushing your main wash out a day. 

When it comes to sanitising wool which we recommend doing with a pot on the stove, you can work around this by using a second-hand pot from the op shop and having this be a dedicated sanitising pot. You could even have a separate gas burner and do this somewhere food isn’t prepared if this is part of your tikanga customs.

Remember that tikanga evolves

At the end of the day, tikanga evolves from one generation to the next and as long as the root of your intentions is respect for your whenua, tipuna and whanau, that is what is the most important thing.n

I’d like to see more of my generation embracing and adding our own twist to tikanga Māori, giving it the mana (power) to keep going and carry on for our tamariki and mokopuna and theirs as well. In fact, this is the kick in the pants I need to start practising in my daily life. Better late than never, right?

Aroha nui,

Jes