Te Tau Ihu iwi celebrate in style, learning from the past and living for the future

Friday, 12 July 2019

Members of Ngāti Kuia prepare to launch the waka Te Hoiere that's being used in the Tuia 250 celebrations, while Layton Smith stands on the foreshore in the Marlborough Sounds.

It was a special occasion for Te Tau Ihu iwi Ngāti Kuia, who not only celebrated Matariki last week, they also recognised the waka Te Hoiere, that was completed exactly one year ago.

The weather was perfect for iwi members, who came from all over Aotearoa to celebrate Matariki at Te Hora marae in Canvastown, Marlborough.

The early frosty morning start provided an opportunity to view Matariki from the marae.

Participants were informed of traditions and stories of ancestors that braved the elements, using star navigations and ancestral knowledge to discover and populate Aotearoa 1000 years ago.

It was a frosty start, but once everyone was out on the water, it was all plain sailing.

* Captain Cook party takes 'two birds with one stone' approach**

Ngāti Kuia paddlers Marshel Rimine, front, Kelly Tahiwi, Faith Henare, DJ Smith, Paakira Tawaka, Patariki Hippolite, Marick Jefford, Ngakau Moka and Raymond Smith.

Perfect weather conditions allowed the Ngāti Kuia kaitiaki and kaihoe to take the waka to Anakiwa/Totaranui for sea trials.

Whanau members of all ages enjoyed the training and then the ability to travel in a new but traditional method of transport. Vessels who saw the waka on the water all slowed to see it and wave.

For those lucky enough to see the waka out on the water, the paddlers gave them a traditional salute.

Some were treated to the traditional waka salute with the paddles and pukana.

Ngāti Kuia built Te Hoiere to enable iwi members to participate in a cultural revitalisation of moana navigation and to support the Tuia 250 commemorations in November this year.

Raymond Smith is kaitiaki of the waka and a descendant of the people who met Tupaia, Cook, Banks, Solander and crew.

Three more waka should be joining Te Hoiere by the end of the year.

He is also the chairperson of Totaranui Trust, which is the landing site trust responsible for the delivery of a week of events beginning at Meretoto/Ships Cove which will celebrate the 2000 years of Pacific Blue water navigational history and to commemorate 250 years of 'Dual heritage and Shared future'.

'When our chief Topaa went out to great and challenge the Endeavour at Meretoto, Tupaia - chief and navigator from Tahiti - answered in a language that was very familiar. It was the beginning of a reconnection with the Pacific roots of tangata whenua Maori,' Smith said.

The visiting voyaging flotilla consists of 2 waka Hourua – Haunui and Ngahiraka mai, the Tahitian Vaka Faafaiti, Spirit of New Zealand and the HMS Bark Endeavour replica.

Ngati Kuia are proud to have the only Te Tauihu iwi initiated traditional waka built in contemporary times and look forward to the completion of three more iwi waka later this year.

Tuia 250 is all about weaving and binding things together, in that context our two cultures are bound together in a life long journey.

Ngati Kuia continue to say: ' learn from the past and live for the future.'