Māori Christmas carols, hāngī tips, and DIY harakeke decorations 🎅🤶
Kia ora e te whānau,
E hika!/Holy heck! How did we get to December 19?
Somehow we’ve arrived e hoa mā. It’s the week before Kirihimete/Christmas—time to accept that Wiremu in marketing is feeling just as checked out as you are and won’t mind if your email reply comes next year.
Let’s turn our attention instead to Christmas day plans and initiating wind-down so we can milk whatever time off we’ve managed to get off.
Today we bring you four ideas to celebrate your connection with Māori culture in this last festive week. Scroll on down for help bringing the wairua Māori into your wind-up, beats, feasts & decorations.
“Tangi tangi pere, tangi tangi pere, tangi tangi tōnu rā…”
- Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way… just one of Wihongi’s waiata
Skip Mariah, scroll past Bublé, and proceed straight to this Kirihimete playlist packed with talented Māori musicians.
Stand outs include Rei’s ‘Pōhutakawa’, Marlon William’s ‘Tapu te Pō (Holy Night),’ and anything from Maisey Rika’s album ‘Tira’.
Heoi our tīno/favourite spot has to go to Pere Wihongi’s classic carols i te reo Māori. Āe, they are full cheese, that’s why we like them.
We also like the person behind them. Pere is aunty to some, uncle to others, courageous to all. He’s a country-raised kōhanga kid, an outrageous fashion icon, and leader of hugely successful, gender-norm challenging, kapa haka group, Angitū.
Behind her carols is a secret message to anyone getting drilled on career, relationships, or appearance by THAT aunty at Christmas lunch—to hell with society’s boxes, you’re epic as is.
Find it: on Spotify
Time: 1 hour, 38 mins
Cost: free with your account
“There’s actually a bit of a science behind a good hāngī...”
- Tāmati Rimene-Sproat brings in the hāngī experts.
The Taringa team are talking koha and their advice is clear; don't turn up for Māori hui/meetings empty-handed. Remember to stop off at the ATM or pick up a packet of biccies for koha on the way!
Te Aka Maori Dictionary defines the concept of koha as a ‘gift present, offering, donation, contribution’ that ‘has connotations of reciprocity’ and is ‘central to maintaining social relationships.’
Sounds simple enough, heoi/but which option is right for which event? And who should we hand it to? And how and when?
This episode takes us on a gentle but thorough deep-dive into koha, discussing tips, tricks, and tikanga to ease any anxiety we might have and set us up to be the best manuhiri/visitors ever on all our roady stops this raumati/summer.
Find it: on Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts
Time: 25 mins
Cost: free with your account
“That looks pretty cool...”
- Veranoa Hetet plays around with ways to present whiri mekameka
Want an affordable way to inject more soul into your pressies, table set-ups, and tree? You’ve got to go hand-made.
Not the best at crafts and don’t want Christmas dinner to look like a ‘Nailed It’ episode? No worries, we got you.
In this video, weaving kuīni/queen, Veranoa Hetet, clearly demonstrates the simple process for making whiri mekameka, step-by-step.
A whiri mekameka is a flat four-plait made with harakeke/flax. Traditionally they were mostly used for tīpare/headbands, heoi we reckon they’d also look beautiful wound around presents, laid on the table, or looped from the tree.
The best part? One 15cm strand takes these non-nimble hands about 5 miniti/minutes to make.
Harvest with care and remember a karakia (which doesn’t need to be i te reo Māori).
Find it: on youtube
Time: 9 mins
Cost: free
"Santa! It's urgent! I'm not sure if you know - down here Christmas is in summer!
It's blue, blue skies and if you get fried in that suit it'll be a bummer."
- an excerpt from Coddington’s ‘He Kirihimete Kahurangi/Blue, blue Christmas’
‘He Kirihimete Kahurangi/Blue, blue Christmas’, created alongside illustrator, Story Hemi-Morehouse, is a story about how we do Christmas, southern hemisphere styles.
It’s available in te reo Māori and te reo Pākehā and has all the pīwari/cute details expected of a Kiwiana Christmas; pōhutakawa, surfing santa, and beach cricket included. However the stand-out element is definitely the accompanying soundtrack for sing-alongs.
If you’re attached to a little person, this pukapuka/book provides a ‘night before’ reading session worthy of a Hallmark card.
If otherwise, you’re not missing out because we’re setting this puppy for your te reo Māori homework. Āe, no Te Arawhata reader is getting holiday rusty on our watch!
Find: the pukapuka here and the soundtracks here
Time: 10 mins
Cost: $20.99 for the pukapuka, free for the soundtrack
Meri Kirihimete readers,
We wish you an epically fun and truly restorative Christmas break. Please drive and play safe.
We’re taking a break with this newsletter until Jan 8th but you can follow us on insta and facey for your holiday fix.
Thank you so much for your support so far, we truly love having you on this waka.
Kia pai, kia haumaru ngā hararei e hoa mā/Have great and safe holidays crew.
Heaps of aroha, Liz, Han, & Grace from Te Arawhata
