Te haka a Tāne Rore.
I te whitinga mai o te rā, mā te kaha a Tūmatauenga ka tae i takahi ana te whenua, ka wirihia ngā ringa o Tāne Rore kia tukuna atu ōna kaha ki a tātou katoa mō tēnei wiki. I a rā, ko te manako nui kia whakakī tatou kete me he taonga iti, he taonga nui rānei kia ngāwari te haere i tēnei wiki.
As the Sun begins to shine, let the strength of Tūmatauenga trample over the lands, let the shaking hands of Tāne Rore give to us the strength needed for this week. Every day, the hope is that we are all filling our kete with something small or something big that helps make this week go that bit easier. Today we welcome both Tāne Rore and Tūmatauenga into our īmēra. Tāne Rore is our atua refering to the shimmers of the air and also begins our kōrero of how haka came into existence. Moving over to Tūmatauenga, now he’s our atua of man and also connects us with war. The inclusion of these two atua help us to acknowledge the love of kapa haka as well as an interlude into our item of the bracket for today. So without furthermore, let’s get this show on the road Haki!
Haka
The haka refers to a traditional dance of challenge or welcome, later on extended into a war dance that typically include the stamping of the feet, shaking of the hands and slapping of the various body parts accompanied with rhythmic chanting. The haka like the mōteatea has many variations, for example there is the Haka Taparahi which includes no weaponry, all slapping and body movements with little or no movement around the stage.
The Peruperu, this one growing up definitely made me tired just watching however it was the harmony and unison of the jumping with legs tucked perfectly whilst holding weaponry at the same time, mesmerising and a workout at the same time. This style of haka was also seen and referred to as the ‘true war dance’. The list of haka go on ranging from Ngeri, Pīrori and Kaioraora, but from these origins, we now see haka in spaces where haka never once existed.
Haka traditionally was performed in ceremonial times such as first encounters, in a more mordern context these times would refer to birthdays, weddings etc. Also haka was used in times of battle when wanting to stir and incite conflict within the opponent prior to battle. Traditionally only men would perform the haka. Within this you’ll see the protusion of the tongue, the widening of the eyes for the tāne (men) along with the actions needed to carry the pūrākau being performed throughout the haka, for the wāhine (women) you will see the widening of the eyes, the lips together and chin sticking out.
Haka originates from Tāne Rore where the story follows that Tamanuiterā (the Sun) had two wives, Hine Raumati (the Summer Maiden) and Hine Takurua (the Winter maiden). Tamanuiterā and Hine Raumati had a child called Tāne Rore. One hot shimmery day, when it was visible to see the light dancing, Tānerore called out to his mother to perform for her. Through this performance, the wiriwiri or the shaking of the hands could be seen, the takahi or the stamping of the feet were seen, and from this comes the origins of haka as well as the whakataukī at the very start of this īmēra.
Today’s haka is definitely my favourite haka to date, Te Pou o Mangatāwhiri 2019, that Te Matatini bracket was just something else! Feel the ihi with this watch and feel the hairs on your neck literally come to a stand!
Te waiata, tukuna mai ki te ao
Today’s waiata, we peek into the glimmer of the mastermind that is Troy Kingi. From his undeniable tunes and beats to his wardrobe (the glasses, his ponchos or just the whole lot), Troy Kingi set out on a 10-10 mission, 10 albums in 10 years where one of those albums are sure to tickle your tastebuds! Sit back and listen to the captivating waves of Ka Tipu.
Maramataka o te rā
Today thanks to the Hina app, we welcome Rakau-matohī into the midst of the day. Today is a very good day for fishing but again not so much for the eeling, if you were out in the māra yesterday planting your new seedlings and so on, today they will love you for that as it should help grow vigorously. We are also still sitting in the high energy level sides of things, for me I need to remember that even though my excitement for today’s discoveries brings me joy, passion and warmth it doesn’t mean I’m invincible to the cold so I need to remember my jersey on this cold day otherwise who knows what the day could throw at me!
Maramatanga
Māramatanga is so important as it reflects understanding of all things and how we preserve and maintain all things. Understanding who we are as people, what we bring and what we can offer is huge, but how we nurture and maintain that and share it with the rest of our communities is the whole essence of this uara. It is so important for us to really get to know and understand how things work, how they interact and what things don’t always work out in the end. From there we are able to create new pathways and opportunities based off the teachings and learnings shown by māramatanga.
For me, growing up in a world surrounding kapa haka, I was fortunate enough to crawl over to the legs of my uncles and koro who were often gas bagging over actions that would really show off their pūkenga in haka. They often would recite the meaning behind the haka and the different connections it made with landmarks, people and tribal stories. At a young age, I took in those words but it’s reflecting back now as an adult, walking along the plains that were mentioned or connecting the stories of landmarks, people to where I have been really embeds this uara for me. It’s literally, ‘Te toioranga. The circle of life.’
Kupu o te rā
Diving into our kupu kete, we look towards the kupu ‘wiri’ to give a bit more context surrounding the action. The wiri as mentioned earlier refers to the shaking or the tremble of something, earlier we refered to the shaking of the hands however we know the wiri takes form in ways of the leaves blowing through the trees. Growing up, my nanny used to say to me, ‘Moko I used to get scared and nervous sometimes too, and sometimes I didn’t even know why! But if I ever felt like that, I would let that wiri fly and all my nerves would shake away.’ She would say the more nervous you were, the faster you would shake your hands. A constant reminder for me as I take to the stage that my wiri is an extention of me moving through my body ahakoa te aha, no matter what.
Tūtū ana te puehu i runga i te whakaaro nui kia whai huarahi tika i tēnei rā kua horahia nei, nā reira kia kaha koutou i te kōrero Te Reo Māori.
Ngā mihi,
Justice
Kaitakawaenga Māori
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