The Pai Mārire movement (commonly known as Hauhau) was a syncretic Māori religion founded in Taranaki by the prophet Te Ua Haumēne. It flourished in the North Island from about 1863 to 1874. Pai Mārire incorporated biblical and Māori spiritual elements, and promised its followers deliverance from European domination. Although founded with peaceful motives—its name means "Good and Peaceful"—some followers of Pai Mārire became known for an extremist form of the religion. These extremists were labelled as "Hauhau" by the Europeans. The rise and spread of the violent expression of Pai Mārire was largely a response to the New Zealand Government's military operations against the North Island Māori, which were aimed at exerting European sovereignty and gaining more land for white settlement;
Governor George Grey launched a campaign of suppression against the religion in April 1865, culminating in the raiding of dozens of villages in Taranaki and on the East Coast and the arrest of more than 400 adherents, most of whom where incarcerated on the Chatham Islands. Elements of the religion were incorporated in the Ringatū or "Raised hand" religion formed in 1868 by Te Kooti, who escaped from incarceration on the Chatham Islands.
Rise of the prophet
right|thumb|350px|The prophet Te Ua Haumēne, about 1866. Te Ua Haumēne was born in Taranaki, New Zealand, in the early 1820s. He and his mother were captured and enslaved by a rival tribe in 1826. He learned to read and write in Māori while in captivity and began studying the New Testament. He was baptised by the Rev John Whiteley in the Wesleyan mission at Kawhia in 1834 and given the name of Horopapera Tuwhakararo, a transliteration of the name John Zerubbabel. and Waikato War, in which he also acted as a chaplain to the Māori soldiers. By the early 1860s, Te Ua was part of a runanga (local board of management), which administered local government and also ensured that the boundary of the land that was covered by the mana of the Māori King was undisturbed.
By then, the cornerstones of Te Ua's religious teachings were set. He believed Māori had a right to defend the boundaries of their territory; believed in national salvation of the Māori from the white settlers; and suspected that missionaries were aiding and abetting the loss of Māori land.
The elevation of Te Ua to the role of prophet followed an incident in September 1862 in which the British steamer Lord Worsley was wrecked off the Taranaki coast and local Māori debated what action should be taken with the cargo and crew. Te Ua – then living at Wereroa Pā, near Waitotara – argued that goods salvaged from the vessel should be sent to New Plymouth untouched, but was ignored and the cargo was instead plundered.
There are conflicting reports over Te Ua's response to the vision: he is claimed to have killed his child, explaining in a letter circulated to iwi that it was as a redemption for his people, "forgetful, desolate and in doubt". To help him propagate the religion, Te Ua chose three men – Tahutaki, Hepenaia and Wi Parara.
The embracing of the religion by some Māori also signalled a rejection of Christianity and a distrust of missionaries over their involvement in land purchases.
The religion gained widespread support among the North Island Māori, but became the cause of deep concern among European settlers as it united tribes in opposition to their authority and helped to inspire fierce military resistance to colonial forces, particularly during the Second Taranaki War, already underway at that time.
Ahuahu attack, April 1864
Among settlers, the existence of the new religion was brought into dramatic focus with a series of attacks in April and May 1864. On 6 April, a force led by Tahutaki and Hepenaia mounted an expedition to Ahuahu village, set amid dense bush south of Ōakura, near New Plymouth, believing some Europeans would be delivered into their hands.
The easy victory over the numerically stronger British-led force gave a powerful impetus to the Pai Mārire movement and confirmed in the minds of many Māori the protection of the Archangel Gabriel. Te Ua was now regarded as a prophet. The number of adherents swelled and Pai Mārire rites continued to develop, some incorporating the severed heads of the slain soldiers, through which Te Ua claimed to communicate with Jehovah.
In a 1920 interview with historian James Cowan, Te Kahu-Pukoro, a fighter who took part in the attack, explained: "The Pai Mārire religion was then new, and we were all completely under its influence and firmly believed in the teaching of Te Ua and his apostles. Hepanaia Kapewhiti was at the head of the war-party. He was our prophet. He taught us the Pai Mārire karakia (chant), and told us that if we repeated it as we went into battle the bullets would not strike us. This we all believed."
Relieved settlers erected New Zealand's first war memorial at the site—today known as Moutoa Gardens—with an inscription that read: "To the memory of those brave men who fell at Moutoa 14 May 1864 in defence of law and order against fanaticism and barbarism".
East Coast killings, March, April 1865
thumb|450px|Routes of the Pai Mārire emissaries on the North Island, 1865
The reverses at Sentry Hill and Moutoa Island reinforced Māori belief in Te Ua's movement, with the conviction that the defeats had been caused by disobedience to the leader by the prophets Hepanaia and Matene. More iwi attached themselves to Te Ua. In early 1865, emissaries were instructed to carry "smoke-dried heads" The killing was claimed to be in part revenge for Völkner's activities in spying on local Māori for the government to Governor Grey, Grace, who had fled from Taupō to Opotiki, was arrested and put on trial by the Pai Mārire party. He was rescued from captivity two weeks later by a British man-of-war, HMS Eclipse, after an attempt by local Pai Mārire leaders to exchange him for Tauranga chief Hori Tupaea, who was in prison.
Horomona and Kirimangu were hanged for their 22 July killings on the schooner Kate, and a coalition of government and loyal Māori forces led by Hawke's Bay Province Superintendent Donald McLean embarked on a mission to crush the movement on the East Coast. From June to October 1865, there was a civil war on the East Coast culminating in the battle of Waerenga-a-Hika in Poverty Bay in November. The "angels of the wind" were said to be present during the service, ascending and descending the ropes dangling from the mast's yard-arm. – had a literal meaning of "wind" but referred to the life principle or vital spark of man, while the wind angels were named "Anahera hau".