Day 49: Tangihanga

Thursday, 19/8/10

I kēia la wau i hele ʻole ai i ka papa ma muli o ka hele ʻana i ʻelua mau hoʻolewa Māori. ʻO kēia pule ka hoʻolauleʻa o Ka Mōʻī Māori. He hoʻolauleʻa nui no ka poʻe e kakoʻo aku i Ka Mōʻī Māori. No laila, ʻAkahi no wau a hele i kekahi hoʻolewa Māori. Na ʻAnakē Sandy i lawe ʻia mai iaʻu i nā hoʻolewa Māori. ʻO ia koʻu kumu e aʻo aku ana iā mākou e pili ana i ka palapala ʻae o Waitangi. Aia ka hoʻolewa mua ma ka marae o Tūrangawaewae ma Ngāruwāhia. Nui ka poʻe i hele mai ai i aneʻi no ko lākou mau ʻohana i hala ai. Lawe ʻia kekahi kiʻi a ke ʻohana i hala ai. Ke ukali mākou ma waho o ka marae a hiki i ke kāhea ʻana. Ua komo mākou a noho. Hoʻomaka ʻia nā haʻiōlelo e nā ʻelemakule. Ma hope o kekahi ʻelemakule e ʻōlelo, ua hīmeni lākou. Hiki i nā haʻiōlelo ke ʻōlelo ʻia a hiki i ka ʻelemakule hope loa e ʻōlelo ai. I ka hola ʻumikūmālua pea mākou i haʻalele ai i Huntly i ka hoʻolewa ʻē aʻe. Aia ua wahi ma luna o Ngāruwāhia. No kēia hoʻolewa, kamaʻāina wau i kēia ʻohana. Na lākou i mālama a hānai iaʻu. Ua hala kekahi ʻohana a uwē wau i koʻu hoʻolohe ʻana i ia mea. ʻO mākou ka poʻe hoʻokipa, ukali mākou i ke kāhea ʻana a komo mākou i ka hale nui. Ua uwē nō wau i ka ʻike maka o ke kino o ia ʻohana. Ua noho mākou. I ka moʻomeheu o ka poʻe Māori, noho nā kāne i mua a noho nā wāhine i hope o nā kāne. Hoʻomaka ʻia nā haʻiʻōlelo, ma ke ʻano he hoʻolewa mua a mākou i hele ai. Na ʻAnakala i hoʻomaka i nā haʻiʻōlelo, i kona ʻōlelo ʻana, nāna i hoʻomaopopo iaʻu mai Hawaiʻi mai. Maopopo iki i kāna ʻōlelo ʻana. Ma hope o nā haʻiʻōlelo mākou i honi aku i ka poʻe. I ka hale ʻai mākou i ʻai ai ka ʻaina ʻauinalā. Hō ka ʻono nō ka meaʻai!!! Ma hope, piha ka ʻōpū!

Today, I skipped class to attend several tangihanga (funeral). It is the Māori way of when a family member passes away. Also, this week is called Koroneihana (Coronation). The biggest gathering of followers of the Kīngitanga movement. It is celebration of the anniversary of the anointing of the King or Queen. And so, I had a first hand experience attending 2 tangihanga. The first tangihanga was part of the Koroneihana. Whaea Sandy, who also teaches my Treaty class, was very nice to pick me up, meet her whanau and attend the tangi. We left to Ngāruawāhia, an hour drive heading towards Auckland. The tangi was at Tūrangawaewae marae. It was my first time going to a marae and it's pretty big! We arrived here about 9am. People were all in black and lining up, waiting for the karanga (calling). From what I was told, people bring a picture of their family member that passed away. There is a whole bunch of people and then we started heading into the marae. You have the tangata whenua, the people belonging to the marae and the manuhiri, the visitors. Everybody comes in and sits down. Then, there's the kōrero (speeches). You have the kaumatua (elderly men) speaking whaikōrero (formal speech) for how ever long it takes until the last kaumatua speaks. It can take as long as half the day, which it practically did. So one kaumatua would speak from the tangata whenua side and then a waiata or some kind of singing follows. Then a kaumatua on the manuhiri side would speak on behalf of the whanau, present a koha (offering) to the tangata whenua, followed by a waiata or something, which the whanau of the deceased person would go up to sing. Also got to meet Whaea Sandy's whanau. It rained off and on, the sun would sometimes come out, but it was still cold most of the time. We stayed here a little after 12.

We then headed to Hunty, which was further up. On our way there, we passed Taupiri. A mountain were many Māori are buried along where the Māori Kings and Queen are buried. We headed to Ohaki marae. The tangi we were heading to, I really wanted to attend this tangi as I knew this whanau (family), this is my whanau here in Aotearoa. So I really wanted to come to show my respect to this whanau, who has taken care of me and the other Hawaiians here, while we are away from home. So as the manuhiri to this marae as well, we had to wait until the kuia (elderly woman) karanga (call) to us. She would karanga and then Whaea Sandy karanga and it went back and forth until we reached the steps of the wharenui (meeting house). We came in and uwē for couple minutes and then sat down. In Māori protocol, the men sit in the front and the women sit behind. So Whaea Sandy's sons sat in the front row, then myself along with her mokopuna (grandsons) and then her, her daughter and other moko. Then the whaikōrero began again and the koha was given. Just like the first one, although it was shorter, because there weren't too much people. After that then there was kai (food)! This was about 2ish in the afternoon. ʻOno food! In the wharekai (food house), is where you eat your food and the pretty much had tables set and plates already made, so that when people would visit for the tangi or something, kai was provided. Steak with onions, sausage, potato salad and coleslaw. Had to plates! Arrived back at my room about 3pm, had my history class at 4pm and didn't wanna go, I had already missed my kapa haka class and I was so full! I actually ended up going! Went it didn't pay attention.