Te Tahawai Marae
On Monday 25th August 2014, Year 5,6, 7 and 8 went to
Te Tahawai Marae in the morning.
We had left by the bus and had arrived to the Marae at 10 O’clock. Wondering what to expect , I have never been to a Marae before, So I did not know what to expect.
A lady had appeared from the Marae and started calling in Maori which I think was the start of our school welcoming.
The year 7 and 8’s answered back to the Maori lady, and we started walking towards the house and entered the house by taking our shoes off first. Boys sat in front of the Marae and the girls sat at the back of the boys.
We were greeted again by the Maori ladies and then one boy named Bronson spoke for our school said Kiaora after saying his speech. Our school brought a koha of a koru drawing that had be drawn on paper. When our koha was placed on the ground, the students had done the hongi. The Maori culture of saying you are welcome to the marae. After the hongi, of touching noses, together we had washed our hands and shown to the wharekai (kitchen), where we ate biscuits and drank water. “We are finished” . When they finished drinking their tea and coffee they separated the year 6 boys. The girls went to a different area for their activities and the boys and intermediate girls years 7 and 8. I was surprised wondering what we had to do. “Poi’s Yay ” I said to Bronson.
We learnt about Poi’s but for boy we were meant to learn how to swing a spear and attack their enemies. We finished our Poi dance and then drew koru patterns on paper knowing where your family stays. At our last activity it was to know our ancestors and what they did for us and also where they came from, in Maori called tangira. One of the ladies had given us a paper showing the tangiwha, which we could drew a pattern on it . It was fun knowing our ancestors.
We finished our trip at the mare by singing a song for the tangata whenua and to say thank you, being grateful to us. We hopped on the bus and drove a long way back to school. I really enjoyed the mare trip because I learnt a lot about the Maori cultural and I hope to learn more .
