In July 2023, Whakauae staff, board members, iwi members, sub-contractors and their whānau were invited to celebrate Puanga at Rātā Marae prior to the new Matariki public holiday. The two-day wānanga organised by Utiku Potaka, Luke Enoka and Tom Johnson provided us with a range of activities to acknowledge the Māori New Year. They included a pōwhiri for recently recruited senior researcher, Cinnamon Lindsay-Latimer, PhD student Aneta Cram and whānau new to Rātā Marae.
The pōwhiri was followed by whakawhanaungatanga in the whare where we shared our stories and whakapapa with each other. The next session was a kōrero from Meretini Bennett-Huxtable about Puanga and the maramataka. Meretini, a Ngāti Hauiti descendant, described her journey with the revitalisation of maramataka and explained how she is using it in her current role with Healthy Families Whanganui Rangitīkei Ruapehu around suicide prevention.
The group then joined iwi members in the wharekai for a delicious lunch before together picking watercress for tea that night. Some walked off their lunch while others hitched a lift with Utiku in his trailer. As the group walked across the whenua and up the Tūītahi stream Utiku pointed out cultural landmarks and related their importance to Ngāti Hauiti.
The following day, after a leisurely start and a scrumptious breakfast, Tom and Utiku set up stations for the wānanga participants to learn how to make taonga puoro. The two workshops were run concurrently with those preferring the warmth, making clay kōauau ponga ihu under Tom's direction in the wharekai. Others braved the cold to fashion wooden kōauau . The wood, a piece of tōtara found on the banks of the old pā, Te Hou Hou, at the Rangitīkei River was cut into pieces by Utiku. Wānanga participants then sanded it back until it was fashioned into a flute. Many thanks go to Utiku who provided all the tools and Tom who provided the clay.
Wānanga participants said that they appreciated the time given to them by Whakauae to reflect on the past year and to think about the coming year.
