Araiteuru Marae

The Arthur Street School visited the Araiteuru Marae last week. I joined Ginny’s Room 8 class on Thursday and Fa joined Hank’s Room 2 class on Friday. We had all been practising our “mihi”, or our little speech about ourselves for a couple of days before. Ginny wrote about hers here. I tried to memorize one just like hers, and Fa had given hers at the MBA last week.

I walked down the hill to the school with the kids. I met Mr. Clayton, Ginny’s teacher, before the bell. He introduced me to some of the other parents, including the one other American, Tim, from Washington, D.C. His son Gareth is in Ginny’s class. Having 2 kids from the United States, from Washington State and Washington, D.C. causes never ending confusion for the Kiwis. Just about everyone we meet thinks we are from the same place. Sometimes people comment to me about the President or the White House or the Capitol. I guess the U.S. is a big country and many New Zealanders don’t know much about our geography. Of course I must admit many Americans get confused too! I often say I’m from Seattle, or outside Seattle, or West Coast, near California, just to make it clear.
Ginny and I and about 100 others boarded buses for the trip to the Marae. New Zealand does not have school buses so the kids ride on charter buses. They are very nice compared to the yellow school buses in the States. They would look like any other charter or tourist buses except they have big fluorescent green “School” magnetic sign slapped on the back. We rode over the hill to Wakari and the Marae, which is very close to Hank’s home soccer field, a five minute trip. We unloaded and assembled, many of us nervous about what was going to happen. We were warned to be very quiet and respectful at all times and to keep quiet and follow instructions.
The ceremony began very formally. When we were ready Mr. Clayton and Ms. Copeland, the music teacher, led us in a loose line around about the edge of the grass until we were lined up straight into the building. The men were asked to kind of circle around the group of kids and women as “protection” as we were moving towards the Marae. A woman at the entrance sang a song of welcome as Ms. Copeland responded with a song of reply. Eventually we reached the entrance, left all of our shoes and backpacks outside, and filed in. The important people, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Robertson (principal), and Toma, our Maori guide, sat at the front in nice cushiony chairs. I and the other men sat right behind them. Then the women and kids sat behind us. Once the benches were full only kids were allowed to sit on the floor.
At first I didn’t know what was going on and in fact my only real complaint was that there was no introduction of the people and for the ceremony. An elderly man began speaking in Maori. I believe he greeted us and explained some of what we would be doing, but I’m not quite sure. Mr. Clayton spoke, then someone sang and Ms. Copeland again sang back. Now I wasn’t quite sure what was going on much of the time, as there was some more speaking and singing followed. We eventually got into a queue to be welcomed with the “hongi”, which is the pressing of noses together. This is to exchange life forces with each other. We did it with 2 younger women, Lucy and Amber, and I and some of the adults did the hongi with the elderly man. The older women did not do the hongi but only a cheek-to-cheek touch. It was very moving. It’s certainly an intense experience to get that close to someone you don’t know. I guess you can’t be an enemy with someone you’ve done that with.
Feeding the guests is very important at the Marae so this was followed by tea time. After eating we sat down and had a song, I believe, and the then broke off into 3 groups for the rest of the day.
Once our group got settled we started in on our mihis. Lucy began ours and then the kids, parents, and teachers went around the circle doing theirs. All of the kids did theirs in Maori, and most of the parents and teachers as well, although a few spoke in English. Ginny did a fantastic job on hers. I was pretty nervous and so cut mine short, but I did eke out the following:

• No Olympia ahau. (I’m from Olympia.)
• Ke Te Au toku kainga. (I live in “The Mist” (Roslyn, Dunedin))
• Ko Gary toku ingoa. (My name is Gary)

Mr. Clayton said, “Ka Pai!” (Good!)
Some of the kids and parents sounded fantastic, with what was, to my ears, perfect pronunciation.
We headed outside for the first of the day’s three activities, Harakeke, or flax weaving. Lucy showed us how to cut the flax plant without hurting it, although there were so many kids crowding around I really didn’t see how to do it. She and some of the kids then cut each of us a harakeke “blade”. Then we grouped around here as she showed us how to weave it into a flower. After some initial struggle Ginny and I figured it out and finished ours. Although we weren’t the first, we certainly weren’t the last to finish. Some poor kids took a long time or never got them done. It wasn’t easy.
After the first activity we broke for lunch. I sat with Ginny and her friends outside facing the north so we had a nice warm sack lunch in the sun. I had fun watching the kids interact and tell jokes. Then they got in a quick game of “octopus” tag. Ginny will have to describe what that is. While Ginny was playing I talked to Tim, the American, who is a vegetarian and so gave me some tips on dealing with that in New Zealand. Thanks Tim.
After lunch our group met for Maori singing. We learned the “Whakarongo” song. Unfortunately, I didn’t think fast enough to get a recording of it while I was there. Funny thing is, I can’t seem to find either the lyrics or a recording of it on the internet. Any ideas?
As the day wound down we had a quick stop at the 3rd activity – poi. This is not the Hawaiian food but a ball on a line that you swing around in dance and song. We got a very brief demonstration but did not have time to create any. We do have the instructions an so can do it at home or maybe Ginny will do it in school.
Eventually we got back together as a big group and had a song, some people gave thanks, and I believe a prayer or blessing. Then we filed out and away. Back on the buses, we were soon at school for the final bell. About the bell: it is a literal bell with a striker that someone, usually a kid, rings, kind of like the bell on a boat or ship. Pretty cool.
We waited for Hank and then walked home. Wow what a fantastic day!
On Friday Fa went with Hank to the Marae. This time there were only a couple of classes so much fewer kids. She can write about this but from what she said it was pretty similar. Hank said that Fa had the best mihi of the visitors. They did the poi, which we didn’t do, and the harakeke, but didn’t get through much of the singing. She had a great time but the kids ran the adults ragged by the end of the day, it sounded like, so she was wiped out.