Riding the wave of cultural revitalisation

Wednesday, 8 May 2019

The force was strong on the waters of Rotoiti in the Nelson Lakes at the weekend as whānau from Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō came together to launch the iwi's new waka tāngata project.

Hoe Kia Rite, which translates as 'Pick up you Paddle' is a key project for the iwi this year as it prepares for Tuia 250 commemorations at Meretoto/Ship Cove in November.

It will see the iwi build a 13-person waka tāngata, develop a crew of kaihoe, or paddlers, and provide opportunities for members to learn more about the mātauranga, or knowledge, of their ancestors, whose feats as navigators have largely remained an untold story. But the project goes far beyond Tuia 250.

Waka ama were used for the first outing. The iwi's waka tāngata will be launched later this year.

'Really, for us, this is purely focused on cultural revitalisation,' says the iwi's cultural advisor Kiley Nepia.

'The knowledge of our ancestors in terms of waka and navigation was wide and varied, and built up over centuries. Our tīpuna were incredible navigators and the technology they developed was significant and cutting edge for those times.

Wahine toa: Paddling the waka in the foreground are, from left, waka support crew member Charmaine Payn, of Nelson, and iwi members Nellie-Jane Robinson, of Christchurch, Te Ao Marama Nepia, of Blenheim, and Manaia Mason, from Rātana Pā.

'But that knowledge has largely been lost. We talk a lot about mana whenua, which relates to our place on the land, but now it's time to revitalise our mana moana.'

The weekend event, attended by dozens of iwi members from across the country, marked the first of four two-day workshops to be held throughout the year, which will lead into the official waka launch in October.

Waka support crew member Kereama Payn, left, and iwi cultural advisor Kiley Nepia unleash 'the voice of the putātara' in a ceremony on the shores of Rotoiti.

And Rotoiti was the perfect setting.

'We couldn't have had a better or more special place to start the process of revitalising waka traditions,' says Nepia.

Manaia Mason, of Rātana Pā, and Te Ao Marama Nepia, of Blenheim, lead the paddlng at the front.

'It's ideal that we are here, coming back to this pataka kai, to this wāhi tapu, to revitalise waka tāngata and it just means so much to us.'

Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō descendant Suz Tawaka, of Nelson, travelled to Rotoiti from Nelson with three of her children.

'I've taken so much away from this [and I] can't wait for the rest. It was awesome to watch the rangatahi, yeah, just a beautiful thing to see and really inspiring.'

Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō is one of eight Te Tauihu iwi and, along with Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne o Wairau, descends from the great ocean-going Kurahaupō waka, believed to have arrived in Aotearoa around the 13th or 14th century.

Headquartered in Blenheim, the iwi's tribal area, or rohe, stretches across the top of the South Island, from Kahurangi Point on the West Coast to Nelson, and extends east to Anamahanga/Port Gore and Tarakaipa Island in the Marlborough Sounds.

It also takes in the Kawatiri/Buller River catchment and the Nelson Lakes, including Rotomairewhenua, or Blue Lake, which is the clearest natural body of water in the world.