Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata—the Waikato edition!
This week we’re continuing our Māori creatorverse roady to meet a mighty taniwha, a reo legend, and some extremely VIPs in a royal wero/challenge—plus a whole lot more to fill your cultural kete.
First up/Tuatahi, choose your favourite Macintosh and settle in, kua tae mai te wā/the time has come for ‘talk of the tāone’.
- Te Taura Whiri is launching a new speech competition for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori with a sweet pūtea/cash prize.
- Kapa haka leaders are talking the future and pulling the Te Matatini draw live at this online wānanga (and you’re invited).
- A new fantasy adventure series by Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, and Ian Morris will hit our screens later this month.
- The second stage of this stunning Māori artwork in Tāmaki Makaurau is complete. Sing to it and it'll listen and respond!
- Six60 frontman Matiu Walters teamed up with international sensation Teddy Swims for this epic performance of 'Rivers'.
- The world’s first koha app is ‘taking the hōhā out of koha’.
Inspired by the mighty and much-loved Waikato River, local ringatoi/artist Jimmy James Kouratoras’s painting ‘Taniwha’ is the perfect place to start this roady. Seeing King Country horanuku/landscapes through ngā whatu/the eyes of this local artist—brimming with glimmering greens and golds—is a truly beautiful thing. Follow his socials to improve your feeds!
Find: ‘Taniwha’ on his facebook page, then follow his insta too I Time: however long you want I Cost: prints are $1k+, follows are free I Credits: Jimmy James Kouratoras, (Tainui).
Tainui is definitely a big name kinda iwi and they don’t get much bigger than mātanga reo/language expert, Pānia Papa. In Ōpaki she hosts real manuhiri/guests in a tv-land whare/house for fun reo-based games that audiences can play along with too. It’s one of our hands-down TINO/FAV beginner-intermediate rauemi/resources. We’re just waiting for our call up…
Find it: on Māori+ I Time: 25min episodes I Cost: free I Credits: directed by Ariki Spooner, produced by Pānia Papa and Monowai Panoho, executive produced by Eruera Morgan.
Anō/Once again, it’s Tāringa to the ‘holes/ in our cultural mōhiotanga/knowledge’ rescue. This time, they team up with Rahui Papa, spokesperson for Kīngi Tūheitia, to take us deep into the Kīngitanga movement, giving us the rundown on who’s who, how, and why it came to be. It’s Ngāti Nerd confidence boosting solid gold e hoa mā.
Find it: on Spotify I Time: 50mins I Cost: free with your account I Credits: produced by Te Wānanga o Aotearoa
Through beautiful pikitia/illustrations, and great, unfussy storytelling, this pukapuka makes the New Zealand Wars (by all means a fairly massive kaupapa/topic) accessible for kids aaaaand adults reading to them who may have somehow missed these lessons in school (ahem, us). All the names and places you need to know, including those in the Waikato, are kei kōnei/right here fam.
Find it: on the Penguin website I Time: 64 pages worth I Cost: $40 I Credits: written and illustrated by Gavin Bishop, published by Penguin Random House
Our virtual roady to get to know our country better from a Māori perspective goes on and the rolling oceans of Te Tai Tokerau are now fields of mighty Waikato green.
The DEKA sign flies past, Han sips her choccy Primo, I blow on my pie, Grace calls her 347th “horse!”, and we discuss our picks o te wiki/week.
Our picture of the Waikato is definitely getting clearer. This is the whenua/land that shaped Pānia Papa, there’s the swollen river that inspired Jimmy James, we can now whisper karakia as we drive past battle sites we’ve learned about in ‘Patu’ like Rangiriri and Ngāruawāhia.
But again, I have one awkward whakaaro/thought echoing throughout my mind; this is Kīngi/King and Kūini/Queen Country… and… reconnector admission #842, I don’t know my kings and queens.
It’s time to put a little mahi in dear reader, because I want to pay my respects to this area, because in current times the Kīngitanga movement feels pretty darn relevant, and because with that Tāringa episode on our picks list this week, I kinda don’t have any excuses left…
Nō reira/And so, if you’re in the same waka, let’s make some progress together with a little royal roady challenge, nē?
This week’s feature is a handy list of all the Māori monarchs that we’ve pulled from the Tāringa podcast to help us all get our royal whakapapa straight.
Before you read it, try to name as many as possible in your own mind starting with our current Kīngi, then work your way back…
Hit struggle street yet? Ka pai, time to check ngā whakautu/the answers.
- Kīngi Tūheitia, (son of Te Atairangikaahu, known for his enthusiasm to support rangatahi and being future focussed) August 2006 till now.
-Kūini Te Atairangikaahu, (2nd eldest daughter of Korokī, our longest reigning monarch, a huge advocate for sports and kapa haka with a demeanour that could defuse just about anything) 1966-2006.
- Kīngi Korokī (son of Te Rata and a reluctant king who was more comfortable under the hood of a truck than the paepae), 1933-1966.
- Kīngi Te Rata (son of Mahuta, often suffered illness and did his best to seek better outcomes for Māori by travelling to meet with King George), reigned 1912-1933.
- Kīngi Mahuta (son of Tāwhiao, known for the dog tax and attempting to unite with parliament—also a big fan of a brass band), reigned 1894-1912.
- Kīngi Tāwhiao (son of Pōtatau, fundamentally a bit of a pacifist who popularised poukai, started a parliament, and newspaper), reigned 1860-1894.
- Kīngo Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, (the first Māori King who finally agreed to the position the third time he was asked) reigned 1858-1860
How’d you go? If you, (like us), came out with anything (well) below 7/7, celebrate rather than commiserate—it means we’ve learned something new today, nē?
With that royal kete top up it’s time to swing west e hoa mā. He tīwhiri/A clue on our next destination? Well, let’s just say it’s a good thing we packed ngā papa eke ngaru/the surfboards.
That’s us e te whānau. We hope this newsletter helped you to learn from, connect with, and just ruddy well enjoy te ao Māori today.
Hei ā tērā wiki/Till next week!
