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A Proud Member Of
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The Sacred Place
WAHI TAPU
In Māori society, the marae is a place where the culture can be celebrated, where the Māori language can be spoken, where intertribal obligations can be met, where customs can be explored and debated, where family occasions such as birthdays can be held, and where important ceremonies, such as welcoming visitors or farewelling the dead (tangi-hanga), can be performed. Like the related institutions of old Polynesia, the marae is a ‘wāhi tapu’, a ‘sacred place’ which carries great cultural meaning.
In Māori usage, marae is technically the enclosed space in front of a ‘wharenui’ or meeting house (literally “big house”). However, it is generally used to refer to the whole complex, including the buildings and the open space. An unambiguous term for the area in front of the wharenui is ‘marae ātea’. This area is used for ‘pōwhiri’ – welcome ceremonies feat-uring oratory. Some marae do not allow women to perform oratory there.
The meeting house is the locale for important meetings, sleepovers, and craft and other cultural activities. The ‘wharekai’ (dining hall) is used primarily for communal meals, but other activities may be carried out there. Many of the words associated with marae in tropical Polynesia are retained in the Māori context. For example, the word ‘paepae’ refers to the bench where the speakers sit; this means it retains its sacred and ceremonial as-sociations.
The Marae can have special occasions such as weddings and funerals held in it, a Marae can also differ in size with some being a bit bigger than a double garage and some being as big a town hall or bigger.
LEGAL EXISTENCE
A marae is a meeting place registered as a reserve under the Te Ture Whenua Māori Act 1993 (‘The Māori Land Act’). Each marae has a group of trustees who are responsible for the operations of the marae. The Act governs the regulation of marae as reservations and sets out the responsibilities of the trustees in relation to the beneficiaries.
Generally each marae has a charter which the trustees have negotiated with the beneficia-ries of the marae. The charter details matters such as:
- the methods used to select trustees;
- general governing principles of the marae;
- the name of the marae, and a description of it;
- procedures for amending the charter, and for ensuring adherence to its principles.
- principles governing appointment and recognition of committees to administer the ma-rae;
- the ways in which the trustees may be held accountable by the beneficiaries, and meth-ods for conflict resolution; and,
- a list of the beneficiaries: usually iwi (tribes), hapū (sub-tribes) or whānau (families); in some cases, the marae is dedicated to the common good of the people of New Zealand.
Most tribes and sub-tribes and even many small settlements have their own marae. Since the second half of the 20th century, Māori in urban areas have been establishing inter-tribal marae. For many Māori, the marae is just as important to them as their own homes.
MULTI FUNCTIONAL
Some New Zealand churches also operate marae of their own, in which all of the functions of a traditional marae are carried out. Churches operating marae include the Anglican, Presbyterian, and Catholic churches.
In recent years, it has become common for educational institutions, including primary and secondary schools, technical colleges, and universities, to build marae for the use of the students and for the teaching of Māori culture. These marae may also serve as a venue for the performance of official ceremonies relating to the school.
The marae of the University of Auckland, for instance, is used for graduation ceremonies of the Māori Department, as well as welcoming ceremonies for new staff of the University as a whole. Its primary function is to serve as a venue for the teaching of whaikōrero (ora-tory), Māori language and culture, and important ceremonies for distinguished guests of the University.
Smoothing The Pillow
Ko Tainui te waka
Ko Waikato te awa
Ko Taupiri te maunga
Ko Ng?ti Tamaoho te hapu
Ko Waikato te iwi
Ko Pukekohe te kainga
Ko Nga Hau e Wha te marae
A RACE REVIVED
Two decades before the end of the 19th century a steady Māo-ri population decline led to the belief that the Māori and their culture would soon disappear forever. The first Māori census of 1859 showed a population of only 56,046 and, on that basis, it was predicted by 1928 there would only be 19,041 Māori left and, that by 1990, not a single Māori would survive. It was said then that all that the New Zealand Government could do was to “smooth the pillow of a dying race and to ease its passing so that history would have nothing to reproach them with.”
Looking at the past, the chiefs of various tribes in 1907 laid the blame squarely on the Pakeha door: “You brought us your civilization, and you decimated our ranks with dtrange diseases, and modern armaments”, they said. “You supplied us with firearms, and then when in the lust of war we had slain almost half of the flower of our race and a few of yours, you punished us as rebels and confiscated our lands. We retrograded, and the gap between us widened.
It also was a succession of Māori voices – the Māori kings Tawhiao and Koroki, the Princess Te Puea Herangi, Sir Maui Pomari, Sir Peter Buck, Apirana Ngata and Queen Atairangikaahuu, who spoke most eloquently of the condition of the Māori people and in their own individual ways exercised a considerable and subtle power in the development of Māori affairs. And so it was that the dying of the race never happened as was predicted. In the 1996 census 523,374 persons accounted themselves as belonging to the Māori ethnic group accounting for 14.5% of the population.
But struggles of another kind accompanied the regeneration of the Māori race.
TWO RACES, TWO LAWS?
Many cases of racial segregation were experienced by the Māori community across Aotearoa. In Pukekohe particularly in the early fifties, the town barbers were not willing to cut the hair of Māori clients. Māori were being banned from sit-ting upstairs in the gallery of the local theatre. Separation of Māori children in certain school activities from the other chil-dren were the norm. Prior to the 1950′s, Māori in Pukekohe would mourn their loved ones in their own homes, which proved to be a health problem.
Against this tide, some powerful Māori groups stood firm and fought for their identity as Māori and rights as citizens under the Treaty of Waitangi and not as just being ‘brown pakeha’. Finally, the Government’s standing policy of assimilation was finally abandoned. A new policy would be adopted that would combine (not fuse) the Māori and pakeha elements to form one nation wherein Māori culture would remain distinct. It would be a nation governed under one law regardless of race.
CELEBRATION OF CULTURE
In 1952, a Community Hall on Ward Street in Pukekohe was used as a place for Māori to congregate. The hall was origin-ally named, ‘Nga Hau e Wha Marae’ by Princess Te Puea He-rangi who also died that year.
For just over 30 years and in celebration of Māori culture, a community hall had served the Māori community of Pukeko-he until opposition to its use as such arose which led to Coun-cil involvement. To diffuse the situation, the Council offered the old rubbish tip site as a new site for a marae.
In 1984, after an arduous journey, the Marae Committee opted to relocate onto the pre-sent 25-acre site on Beatty Road in Pukekohe, which initially was a market garden over-grown with wild blackberry.
QUEEN’S BLESSINGS BESTOWED
In 1987, the late Dame Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu (23 July 1931–15 August 2006) (see photo above) bestowed her blessings upon the Nga Hau e Wha O Pukekohe Marae by opening its dining hall ‘Te Puna o Te Ora’. Dame Te Atairangikaahu was a descendant of the first Māori king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, and succeeded her father, King Korokī, be-coming queen the day Korokī was buried.
The office of the Māori monarch holds no constitutional function, but Te Atairangikaahu was an avid supporter of cultural and sporting events and commonly appeared in a figure-head role at locally-held, international political events involving indigenous issues. Dame Te Atairangikaahu lived in the Turongo House in Turangawaewae, her official residence.
Te Atairangikaahu died on 15 August 2006 at age 75, at her official residence. She is buried on Taupiri mountain in an unmarked grave, as are her ancestors, as a sign of equality with their people.
MULTI-FUNCTIONAL PURPOSES
The grounds of the Nga Hau e Wha O Pukekohe Marae today are made up of the following:
- A workshop
- A Sports fields
- A Kohanga Reo
- Kaumatua Flats
- A large ablution block
- A Kokiri Training Centre
- A dining hall ‘Te Puna o Te Ora’
- A meeting house ‘Nga Hau e Wha’
The carvings which adorn the marae buildings were commissioned from an access scheme run in Mananui, near Taumarunui.
Today, the Nga Hau e Wha O Pukekohe Marae is used by numerous community organisa-tions and various cultural groups and continues to be a haven of support for the Māori community of Pukekohe.
