Rāpare: Te Wiki o te Reo Māori with Justice

Mauri ora e te whānau i tēnei rangi, E rere tōnu ana te mihi ki a koutou mō te hiki i te wero i tēnei wiki, ara ko kia kaha i te reo Māori, kia ūhia koutou ki te nui o te aroha, ki te nui o te manaakitanga o tēnei wā. Anō nei he rā anō kia ako tātou he uara hou, he atua hou, he kōrero hou mō a tātou. Inanahi I tīkina atu rā te hautapu o ngā ariki mai ki te whakawhiti kōrero kei roto i te kēmū Wharewhare, kei runga noa atu koutou kia hīkina atu tērā Kaupapa, kia puawai ngā kupu hou kia whakamana i tō kōrero puta noa ki te ao.

The ever-flowing thanks and praises to you all who are taking up the challenge this week, kia kaha I te reo Māori, to be full with the abundance of love and support at this time. Today brings another day for us all to learn a new value, a new atua, a new kōrero. Yesterday we sought out the food of the chiefs through the exchange in conversations and newfound knowledge through the game Bingo, to you all that came to that, let the new words blossom and strengthen your everyday sentences with a small sprinkle of te reo Māori.

Today we let ngā hau e whā sweep us away and carry us into what today’s atua has in store for us. Ahakoa ngā piki me ngā heke, koia he tohu, he mea āwhina ki a koe mō ngā mea katoa puta noa koe ki te ao.

Tāwhirimātea – god of the weather

Ko Tāwhirimātea tētahi tamaiti a Ranginui rāua ko Papatūānuku. Ko Tāwhirimātea tētahi tamaiti kia whakahē ia te wehenga o ōna matua, he tino pai ki a ia mō te noho kei rō I te piri tahi o ōna matua. Engari, i wehe ngā matua mā ngā waewae o Tāne Māhuta. I tino pukuriri a Tāwhiri, ā, i tukuna atu ōna tamariki ara ko ngā hau e whā,kia hāpaitia he pakanga kei runga i ōna tuakana. Whakapaua a Tāwhirimātea ki tōna riri, I tīkarohia ōna karu, I kōnatunatu ngā karu a i whiu ōna karu ki runga, ko te ingoa o ngā mea I kōnatunatu ia ko Ngā Mata o te Ariki a Tāwhirimātea.  I tēnei wā, ko te kōrero a Tāwhirimātea, kua ngaro ia me te kitenga i te ao nei, koia te tohu mō te āhua o te hau me te huarere, ka whakawhiti haere i a rā, i a rā. Ko tōna mahi, I kaitiaki ia mō te huarere.

Tāwhirimātea was a child of Ranginui and Papatūānuku. Tāwhiri was one of the children who didn’t agree with the separation of his parents, he enjoyed being in their embrace. But it was of the legs of Tāne Māhuta that separated the parents. Tāwhiri became enraged, in turn, he sent his children to wage war on his brothers. Tāwhirimātea was so engulfed in his rage that he tore his eyes out, crushed them together and through the pieces into the sky, the name of these is The eyes of the god Tāwhirimātea, or better known as the star cluster Matariki. To this day, the story of Tāwhirimātea is that he is now lost to the winds and can no longer see the world, this is the sign we see with the ever-changing patterns of the weather

Mauri

Continuing on from yesterday’s kupu mō te rā, mauri comes in to our uara (values) as we consider the mauri (energy) that is within ourselves and understand the similarities of the ever-changing patterns of our emotions, our way of speaking and the output of our different deliveries of everyday things. My nanny would tell me stories about how she would see my siblings, my cousins and myself playing and living a carefree life as an uri (descendant) of her own. She would often compare us to different tīpuna or atua, kōrero like ‘he ōrite koe ki a Māui, you’re just like Māui’, sometimes in times of distraught she would reassure that it is okay to be in our kare-ā-roto and to allow them to flow through our tears and our voice, she explained about how our emotions and feelings carry an energy that flows in through us and out into the world, as well as sharing that energy between our different relationships. Mauri often is something we try to explain in such a complex way when in actual fact, mauri is as simple as a smiling to someone, acknowledging the successes of someone or something, mauri is about seeing the bigger picture and rather than seeing just the object or thing at hand, you see the life essence that the object takes on and embodies.

Maramataka

Mutuwhenua – Today’s mauri (energy levels) is one to be mindful and careful as the whole day even into the night can be quite unproductive. Considering the energy levels that will carry into the night, the mauri can be reflected all the way to our moon as tonight’s sky will be total darkness. In times like this, set small goals like ‘make your bed, brush your teeth, walk in the taiao (environment) and breathe in some fresh air’ these small steps help to keep us moving through the day and makes the day feel less like a chore and more like a game for the day.

Te waiata, tukua ki te ao

Ko tēnei waiata, he hokinga mahara ki tōku tipuranga kei runga i te marae, nā Hōhepa Tamehana i tīto te waiata Mā te kahuhura. This song takes me back in time to the days when I was growing up on the marae, written by Hōhepa Tamehana, this song is called Mā te kahukura. This waiata was written for the play based off the book He Kahurere for a segiment where Roimata, one of the young characters begins to unravel the feathers from her korowai (cloak) and binds them to a little manu (bird).

Kupu mō te rā

Today our kupu reflects the idea of consolidating information, comprehending and really understanding the foundations of what is being displayed at hand. Ko te kupu mō te rā, ko ‘aro’ tērā. When using aro, this gives emphasis to the information or the thing at hand in the sense that we are wanting to zone in and really comprehend and consider the specific factors of what has been asked. In examples for aro, you can use it when saying things like, ‘now that we have this idea, let us have an aro around how this came to be, what this thing is etc’. Think back to situations where you are really needing to sit in the moment to truly understand what has just been asked of you, when you are really trying to wrap your brain around the different tasks or decisions that are in front of you, that moment there is what we call ‘aro’ so you do it naturally already.

I tēnei wā, kia haumaru te whakawhiti kōrero ki i a tangata, kia mānawatia mai tō ngakau māhaki puta noa ki te ao, kaua e wareware koutou kia kaha i te reo Māori.

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