The Waka Journey

The waka was identified as the grandmother caretaker of the voyaging families, and it became a part of the total in the stories and songs of the people as they rejoiced in their whanau and hapu history-making tikanga and kaupapa.

Waitaha have a distinctive way of recognising and concealing their travelling waka in our mythologies and our stories. It is all a part of the great pattern given to us by our ancestors. Who are they? To think that we are other than who we say we are! Are they the elemental keepers of the world? Are they trying to be what they are not? Are they trying to take away the ability of our people to say and do those things that we want to do? Do they affect us in our lives? And all the grandmothers of Waitaha say “no!”

Te Waka e!

In the absolute base concept of the waka in Waitaha mythology and tradition, the waka is seen as the `spiritual vagina’, Te Wairua Whare Tangata. This spiritual house of humanity is connected to the spirit womb of the designated grandmother, and the resulting marriages and mixes of the voyaging crew became connected to that grandmother as the eponymous ancestor of the crew of the waka. When the travelling companions, men and women, stepped ashore from the waka, the oral tradition states that they were given birth to by the ‘waka designated grandmother’.

Te Haere Waka Sewesewe i ro’

Moana The hissing of the waka through the sea

Te haere waka sewesewe moana is related to the cautioning sounds of the grandmothers of the nation. As a consequence, the waka in the long journey became the grandmother for all the voyagers, and was spoken of and into the present.

This is why our grandmothers can tell who is speaking of the dreams of Waitaha. If they tell of the people holding onto the particular grandmother quoted for the journey, and it fitted to the whakapapa of those who were the crew, the accuracy of the account was validated.