🤓 Waitangi events, nerdy Tiriti game-changers, and Mike King's biggest life regrets.
Kia ora koutou e hoa mā,
Nau mai, hoki mai/welcome back to Te Arawhata, where we share inspiring Māori arts, media, and events ia wiki, ia wiki to help keep your cultural kete full.
This week’s kaupapa is…. Waitangi Day!
We know those two kupu/words bring up different things for all of us e te whānau; harikoa/joy, guilt, awkwardness, anger, pride, confusion, mamae/pain, passion, nerves—it’s a right old smorgasbord.
We also know this year is going to be particularly big and that all of our media feeds (and probably dining, work break room, and pub quiz tables) are about to get tino/very loud.
Nō reira, today we want to just quietly offer some options from the Māori creatorverse to help you feel more takatū/prepared.
The picks below are full of mātauranga/knowledge, uber interesting opinions, friendly encouragement, and tips for Waitangi Day events. Also—belly laughs and face painting.
"Lost in Translation is a fantastically positive show ... without a shadow of a doubt, it's the best thing that I've ever done.”
- Mike King on ‘Lost in Translation’
Lying in hospital after a stroke that near killed him, all Mike King could think about was two regrets;
- he hadn’t spent enough time with loved ones
- he hadn’t done his treaty project
‘Lost in Translation’, is the resulting television series, where he follows the historic trails of the nine treaty sheets across Aotearoa, meeting Māori and Pākehā descendents of those involved in its signing along the way.
It’s honest. The challenges of the filming process—stonewalling from both taha/sides and vulnerabilities in his own cultural hononga/connection (perfectly demonstrated by a hui scene showing 40 seconds of painful silence as he forgets his mihi) become just as captivating as the hītori/history uncovered.
Insightful, funny, and touching, this is great Māori storytelling and the perfect after-mahi watch for this wiki.
Find it: on NZ On Screen
Time: 10 episodes, 30mins each
Cost: free
“We look forward to hosting everyone at this year’s Waitangi commemorations with respect to Te Tiriti, te whenua, and to another.”
- Waitangi Treaty Grounds, Te Tii Marae, and Ngāti Rāhiri Māori Kōmiti invite you to Waitangi.
We’re tino hiamo/super excited to be heading up to Waitangi next week!
Heoi/But,—full disclosure—we’ve never been before and after organising accommodation, kind of realised we had no idea what else to do or expect…
Thanks to the Waitangi Treaty Grounds programme, I can now share the plan which includes; pōwhiri, dawn ceremonies, kapa haka performances, markets, wānanga/educational discussions, bands, arts and crafts, bouncy castles, sports comps for ngā tamariki, and even a karaoke competition.
Rawe, nē/Awesome huh?!
Come join us e hoa mā! We’d love to see you there and Tame Iti wants you to walk on with him.
If you can’t make it to Waitangi itself, here are our picks for other events in Tāmaki Makaurau, Kirikiriroa, Rotorua, Ngāmotu, Tauranga, Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Whakatū, Otautahi, Otepoti, Te Anau, and Waihōpai.
Find it: on the Waitangi Treaty Grounds website or google your local area
Time: one special day
Cost: free
“Tūtira mai ngā iwi… Tātou, tātou e…”
- Lyrics on the Waiata Māori youtube channel
‘Tūtira Mai Ngā Iwi’, it’s one of the most rorotu/popular Māori songs ever and with its themes of kotahitanga, likely to be heard echoing through Waitangi ceremonies across the country next week—wrong.
Āe. For years and years, the vast majority of us have been getting ngā kupu/the words wrong!
How?! According to Ngatai Huata,The Ministry of Education popularised the waiata back in the day without checking in with or acknowledging its composer, her pāpā, Canon Wi Te Tau Huata. Somehow in the process they just, kind of, invented a kupu.
Auē alright…
Luckily, Waiata Māori feature the tika/correct Māori and English lyrics clearly on their new youtube channel. It’s just one song in their extensive library, which is an absolute treasure chest for anyone wanting to bush up on their waiata before any Māori event.
Find it: on youtube
Time: 1min 30 secs
Cost: free with your account
“Fletcher establishes beyond a doubt that the intentions behind intervention were, to borrow Sinclair’s words, noble. That’s an unfashionable finding.”
- Morgan Godfery summarises fascinating findings from ‘The English Text of the Treaty of Waitangi’ by Ned Fletcher.
Ned Fletcher’s highly academic pukapuka, ‘The English text of the Treaty of Waitangi’, hosts some mighty curveballs that (uniquely) shake up the worlds of both left wing activists and right wing conservatives.
In this equally academic but much more to the point article, Morgan Godfery (Ngāti Awa, Lalomanu) makes those points accessible to those of us who will never read 720 pages.
The biggest bombshell? The translation of the word ‘sovereignty’ to ‘kāwanatanga’ was no screw up—and not because the English were purposely trying to deceive Māori, but because their own concept of the word included plurality i.e. they meant for Māori to maintain their own government and law.
Yep. Game changer. Don’t settle for our over simplification here, get Godfrey’s full breakdown before forming your opinion.
Find it: on The Spinoff
Time: 10mins to read, a day to let it sink in
Cost: free
Kāti, that’s us this week e hoa mā.
We hope you’re feeling a little more ready for Waitangi Day. If anyone is going up, chuck us a message on insta. We’d love to say hey and Grace is looking for a karaoke partner.
Next week we’re bringing a different wairua to your inbox. It’s Valentine’s Day so we’re getting lovey dovey and we’re not sorry about it.
Till then,
Liz, Han, and Grace
