The Essence
Many of you will have far more knowledge than I of the cultural aspects and the protocols that take place on the marae. As a child I spent five years living in and around Matarāua,
I got to understand how important our marae was to our grandparents, our parents and aunties and uncles. It was the focal point for Sunday karakia, Weddings, Christenings, and Hui Mate. Traditionally it afforded the local people (tangata whenua), the opportunity to welcome, and give service to visitors (manuhiri) during our gatherings.
Our marae is that special place where the heights of Māori Dom and its values are expressed. Only in such a place can the high levels of Wairua (spirituality) Mana (prestige) and Tikanga (customs) take place in their true settings.
The marae is that place that our people can stand tall on mother earth and speak. Here they may truly express themselves, weep, laugh, kiss and hug one another. Where all the emotions can be shared with others , shared not only with the living, but also with the generations that have gone. ‘Ki tua o te arai’(Beyond the veil).
Our Marae needs people, and people need the Marae.
He aha te mea nui. What is the greatest thing?
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata. It is people, it is people, it is people.
Looking down from my sunny spot I see our matua Uncle Pat rise. I hear his magnificent voice drifting from the past carrying his beautiful message
Te marae e takoto nei tēnā koe. The marae lying here I greet you.
Papatuanukau e te whaea. Papatuanuku the mother earth.
Tēnā koe. I greet you
I ahau e tū ake nei. As I stand here.
ka huri ōku whakaaro. My thoughts return.
Ki a rātou ōku tūpuna. To them my ancestors.
I tū ake hoki i ngā wā o mua. Those who stood in years gone by.
While I stand here on you mother earth I feel good, I feel safe for I know that on this very place my ancestors have stood before me. They stood here, they wept here, they responded to the echos of the ancient karanga that weaves thru from the past to the now and into the future As I stand so to my father and his father before him, we bow to you mother earth, It is through you that all life is sustained. You give us food. From you grow the children of Tāne the mighty forests who share their seeds to the birds and the strong timbers for our whare, and from you the kōrari (flax) dyes for our artefacts and our houses.
Our bodies will return to you again for your keeping, How proud we are to be your trustees in our lifetime and as our ancestors gifted you to us we will ensure that we protect you for the future generation.
Marae-ātea, representative of mother earth, we share life and death with you.
How clearly, I see my people stamping on you in haka. ‘Ka eke ki te wiwi,’ sharing among themselves and with you, their pride and their confidence.
I hear the bell tolling as my mother is taken away ‘Ki tona okiokinga’ to her resting place. I hear the wailing. I can picture the hupe (mucus) and roimata-tears falling, For I also wept here for my father. I know that you have absorbed the roimata of my people.
Marae-ātea you could never be for me a bit of grass or dirt or clay. You are indeed a sacred place.
Overlooking the marae ātea is my spiritual home Tūmanako, my Whare Tūpuna (ancestral house)
I salute you again as I have done before.
Te Whare e tū nei. The house standing here.
Tēnā koe, tēnā koe, tēnā koe. Greetings, greetings, greetings.
I te wao nui o Tāne e tū ana. In times pass you stood in the forest of Tāne.
Kati iāianei ko Tāne hakapiripiri. But now you bring people and bind them together.
Tō tātou whare Tūpuna. Our ancestral house spanning the generations.
Tū tonu tū tonu. Continues to stand.
Whānau, I dedicate these thoughts and expressions ,
to uncle Paddy, William Patrick Whiu and his father, our Uncle Pat, Wiremu Te Korohū Whiu.
I do this in memory of the vision, and the huge mahi that they donated to our marae.
Needlesss to say, they in turn had accepted the Baton left to them, by our Grandfather Wiremu Te Korohu Whiu.
The baton now sits with us.