Nga whakamoemiti ki a Ihoa o nga Mano, Matua, Tama, Wairua Tapu,
Anahera Pono ko te Mangai ano hei tautoko mai, aianei, ake nei Ae.
Tena kotou e nga whanau e noho main a i o kotou waa kainga iroto i
nga manaakitanga a te Runga Rawa.
Heoi ano he whakatu atu tenei ki a kotou mo tenai ra i tatu mai te
Wairua Tapu ki to tatou Matua a Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana i te
Tau 1938. Ahakoa he nui noatu nga whakaaturanga mo tenei ahuatanga
I tatu mai ki a ia, e kore ahau e ahei ki te whakapuaki i enei ahutanga/nga
Whakamarama i runga i tenei pouaka whakaatu – aroha mai e te whanau,
me te tau te rangimarie ki a tatou katoa.
Heoi ano nga whakamarama mo tenei wa poto.
It is indeed a special day for us as Morehu to get together and have a
combined whakamoemiti to commemorate the ‘coming’ of the spiritual
wairua tapu on to the ‘chosen’ one Tahupotiki Wiremu Ratana back in
the year 1918.but this was an extra special day for us, as I had my 10th mokopuna tuarua
iri-iried/christened today. The added pleasure we had, was that Russell
and Anya’s mokopuna Te Taonga, (Teina’s son) was the kai patu-pere (the bell ringer) who
announced that “Kua mutu te tangi o te pere, kia tau te rangimarie ki a tatou
katoa, kei te Apotoro te whakahaere a to tatou whakamoemiti i tenei ra……
(or similar words)…… The bells have stopped ringing (in our Haahi we liken the
bells to Arepa and Omeka. TWR’s two sons) and the bell ringer announces that
the “time” has now been given over to the Apotoro “in charge” who will now
conduct the proceedings of the whakamoemiti..
And when Te Taonga did his announcement, the time was ‘given over’ to
Russell who did the opening prayer/proceedings etc and Tango i te Tapae
Ripeneta etc
Now whanau, don’t think I am ‘hogging’ the scene, no….. not at all…. this
was an arrangement between the Apotoro and Russell ….. nothing to do with
me…. but that’s fine, all gud!
And as an addition to all this, I do want to say/point out to us all, what a ‘buzz’
It was for me to see on arrival at the marae, the keke which our whanaunga
Te Atawhai Polly Hall had baked/cooked/prepared etc etc – it greeted me on
my arrival at the marae – the lay-out and the way it was presented – this
beautifully decorated cake, commemorating the anniversary of this special
occasion, with the appropriate purple decorations complete with the fresh
flowers/red roses etc with a touch of greenery to ‘set it off’ – it all added to
the presentation and the trouble you went to Te Atawhai to make this occasion
such a memorable and special occasion, and it was a special occasion Te Atawhai
because it was the christening as well of my 10h mokopuna tuarua!! (I had to
add that bit in too!!) Need I say any more????? you did it girl – ok , I’m not
forgetting you Bruce! – thank you to you as well my dear……send me the invoice please.
Just as another addition……. when I was still in Auckland, our parishes were very
active in fundraising for our Temple in Whanganui as well as general fundraising
for the Manuao at the Pa, and over the years, when the 8th November came
around, all the different Parishes would have a Waru keke made and all these
cakes would be taken down to the Pa for the 25th January celebrations (this
was the date of TW Ratana’s birthday) and a Special Train would be run, starting
off from Kaikohe where passengers would be picked up along the way and when
the train got to Auckland, another 5 carriages would be added to cater for the
pick-up stops at Frankton – this is where the Tauranga band and other areas
would join in. As time went on my brothers sister and I would “bag’ seats in
the ‘middle’ carriages as they would be closer for the older people (like my mother
and all her Haahi contemporaries) to have easier access to the refreshment tearooms.
Well, as time went on, we younger ones would have ‘latched’ on to our fans from
other areas and we would save them seats in the back carriages away from my
Mum and her cronies!! Dobson Paikea was usually in charge of seating everyone
as the train got nearer and nearer to Marton, the cut-off point from the main line
to detour to Ratana Pa station which ended up at Turakina pub, where everybody
hopped out of the train and waited there where the Pa ran a shuttle service to
transport everyone to the Pa. Of course as we got older we’d all hop off at
Turakina and make a bee-line for the pub where we awaited the shuttle service.
Everybody who were shuttled to the Pa, would await on the area outside the
Temple until all the bods arrived and then nga Reo would lead everyone into the
Temple for our thanksgiving Service. – such exciting times!!
Sorry people, I’ve got a bit carried away with my Waru Report, I’ve gone off on
another tangent!!
But thank you people, all of you for your presence, your contributions – my jellies
are still sitting in their packets in my pantry, my trifle sponges are still in their
packets from the shop, my tray of eggs with which I was going to do savoury eggs,
I boiled them all then turned the stove off too early and they all ended up
soft-boiled!! – so you see whanau, definitely not my role as a cook!!
Anyway, I’ll stop here and forward this to Anya to send on to you all,
Happy reading!
Na te dead-loss kuki o te marae o Te Rawhiti.