There's no pihikete in my kete: from te reo to te ao Māori
Thursday, 18 October 2018
Sarah Moore has been taking part in a 12-week te reo course in an effort to show her irāmutu (niece) her whole family values her Māori heritage. This is her 12th column.
OPINION: My kaitiaki, Dean, has just arrived and I've forgotten to buy pihikete (biscuits). One thing I do know is that manaakitanga (hospitality) is a key principle of tikanga Māori; making your manuhiri (guests) feel welcome is important.
Visitors to my home usually get fed. Not today though. I've apologised for the lack of sweet treats but Dean says he's happy with a strong cup of tea so the kettle is on.
A few weeks into my study with AUT I discovered learning te reo Māori alone didn't feel enough. Something was missing for me.
**READ MORE:
* A message from an outspoken Pākehā woman to an outspoken Māori one
* Getting down with the tamariki
The connection with this old-but-new language was drawing me more closely into te ao Māori (the Māori world) because it was obvious from the outset that much of the language is connected to the land I've grown up in.
I decided to sign up to the Certificate in Tikanga Māori through Te Wānanga o Aotearoa. It's another government-funded course, a year long programme with monthly enrolments, that allows you to study from home.
While language is still a component, the course promises insights into the Māori worldview – a chance to learn about traditions, concepts, values and protocols and to understand 'why Māori do things a certain way'.
My first Te Wānanga kete arrived a week before Dean did, stuffed full of resources. As well as DVDs and study books, there were flashcards, a copy of The Raupō Phrasebook of Modern Māori by Scotty Morrison and Tikanga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead.
Over the next year I'll receive four kete – and apparently they get better each quarter (maybe future boxes will come with biscuits).
I've been most looking forward to the regular visits from my kaitiaki – my guardian. Dean has about 140 students across Auckland who he visits at their home or workplace. He'll stop by my kāinga five times over the next 12 months to discuss my self-directed learnings and to mark my completed assessments.
Dean says he loves the kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face contact) with his students, who range from their early 20s into their 70s and 80s (bet the octogenarians have biscuits ready).
Lauren Te Tai, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa's programme manager for home based learning, says tikanga and te reo are 'the pathway to gaining an understanding of a Māori worldview'.
She believes there's an increased consciousness among New Zealanders of all ethnicities and from all walks of life with regards to te ao Māori.
'Over the past six years, we have seen the non-Māori participation in our te reo Māori programmes grow from 31 per cent to 44 per cent,' she says. That growth is expected to continue.
Dean feels that there's 'been a shift across Aotearoa' when it comes to interest in te ao Māori. The majority of his students are non-Māori 'but they're people living here, in Aotearoa, and they want to feel more of a part of this country,' he says.
'Through a better understanding of tangata whenua and Māori culture they're gaining a greater sense of belonging.'
I get it; 12 weeks of study and I feel closer to New Zealand than ever before.
Demand for the course is considerable; in some regions, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa programmes have waitlists over a year long. In 2014 there were 8000 enrolled in the te reo and te ao Māori programmes. This year there are 10,611 studying.
I'm spending a little time each day learning about tikanga. Many of the concepts have long but beautiful names (whakawhanaungatanga, mātauranga, whakataukī). They're hard for me to recall, but I appreciate them more when I hear them spoken now.
I chatted to Dean today and he pointed out that through my 12 weeks of te reo studies I've already learned a considerable amount of tikanga without realising it; karakia (prayer) mihimihi (speech making) and waiata (song) are all tikanga.
I understand what Dean means when he says that tikanga and te reo go hand in hand. 'You can't really have one without the other.' Just like a cup of tea is so much better with biscuits.
My next visit with Dean is in four weeks' time. Might do some baking.