“We are Waitaha…”

Ata whakarongo ake e moko
Ki enei korero
o ou matua tupuna
I haere tawhiti mai ki tata

Listen carefully moko
To these words
of your grandparents
that have come from afar

With these waiata oriori, the grandmother sets in motion the telling of the great pattern of journeys. These journeys, to and from the shores of these lands and to and from the shores of ancient lands, are still held in the minds and memories of the elder grandmother and grandfather teachers of the Waitaha Wananga. Kurawaka, Rakaiwaka and Pakauwaka are the keepers of these ancient memory kits of Waitaha. The time has come to share some of these treasures.
The whispers of the grandmothers speak first to the decision and preparation for journeying. They then speak of much of the sacred knowledge guiding all decisions in travel, landing and living. Finally, the words speak of the laying down of trails and tikanga in a new land.

‘Yes, moko, we are Waitaha. We are Kurawaka, Rakaiwaka and Pakauwaka …’

The grandfathers have set the sail of the waka korero into the future for our nation through the Song of Waitaha, Histories of a Nation, and now we the grandmothers reach into the future with our mind song and our spirit and say to all who venture into the tides of Rehia and Rehua,

Piri mai
Kake mai
Haere mai

Draw closer
Climb onto our waka
Welcome aboard

The three sacred voices of sound and power are now set free from the time of silence, from the time of the Pipiwharauroa. It is now time for the grandmother voices to be heard and to bring about the absolute truth of the belief systems of our people of Waitaha who follow the matriarchal truths, for Papatuanuku our Grandmother Earth is now in her time of rejuvenation.

`We speak with the voices of the mothers’

Let us move into the tides of the universe, with the greatest gift of birth and rebirth as the pattern to follow. Let us heed the old information of planting not one but many to replace that which we have use for. Let us return to the tilling of the land for the joy and the happiness that comes with sustaining those of our families with the produce of our own sweat and knowledge.

`We speak with the voices of the grandmothers’

Let us in our old age hold onto the children and grandchildren in their time of need and provide the information from the kits and voices of knowledge from our inherited past. Let us as well join the spirit of the great Creator with the spirit of our families and extended families to bring about the warmth and the binding with the greater spirit of the universe.
Let the three sacred voices of

Te Pupatea
Te Putorino
Te Putatara

echo forever in the lives of the whanau and hapu of our lands, of our seas, of our waterways and of our whanaunga throughout the many nations of the world.

May we grandmothers of Kurawaka, Rakaiwaka and Pakauwaka always hold onto the cloak of Rongomaraeroa, keeper of peace and plenty in the universe.