kete to families
Families giving birth in Wairarapa Hospital are now being offered special baskets if they wish to take home their baby’s placenta for burial.
The handmade, biodegradable ipu whenua is the brainchild of Wairarapa midwife Carole Wheeler.
“In traditional Maori culture, the whenua was buried in a special place within tribal land of the whanau,” says Carole. “Many women still follow this practice and often plant a tree or create a significant landmark to indicate the place of burial.”
When she realised that women were being given a non-biodegradable plastic container in which to take home their placenta, she decided it would be nice if they had something special instead. And so she has designed ‘cocoons’ made from flax kete and decorated with paua and harakeke flowers. Each one contains a corn starch bag – a material that breaks down completely in the soil.
Wheeler said Wairarapa midwives had been very supportive of the project and contributed towards the cost of the first 35 ipu whenua, which are being given as a gift to the birthing women of the Wairarapa.
She has also made baskets as ipu taonga (a vessel for treasure) for tiny babies miscarried or stillborn before 20 weeks that parents wish to take home for burial and larger baskets for babies stillborn post-20 weeks that parents are required to bury or cremate.
The small lined flax cribs come in different sizes and there is no charge for them at all. “I wanted parents to have something special to place their tiny baby in, and when I realised a casket from the funeral director costs $300-$400, I thought I could design and make something cheaper, culturally sensitive and more appropriate. These late miscarried or early stillborn babies can be placed in the specially prepared crib after birth and rest there until burial or cremation.”
