Hi, I'm back again and today I am going to tell you about our Marae trip last Thursday and Friday. This term we have been learning about Horua and one of the things that we had to do for it was go to our School Marae. Our School Marae is Te Poho o Rawiri. Te Poho o Rawiri was built almost 90 years ago. Even though it is very old the Marae is not in the exact place were the first one was built. Where Te Poho o Rawiri stands today is not where it originally was built. Te Poho o Rawiri was originally built down by were the port stands today.
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| The Marae with all our stuff in it |
When I first got to the Marae I was not excited at all. I didn't really want to do a Powhiri. I thought it would be boring and well not that fun. We sat out in the parking lot waiting for Aunty Buba and Uncle Albe to welcome us into the Marae. A couple minutes before we went into the Marae we had to take our shoes. I learnt that it is disrespectful to wear shoes into a Marae. Finally Koka Terri got us into our Powhiri line and Aunty Buba welcomed us onto the Marae. Her clear powerful voice made us feel welcome. After she had finished Koka Terri replied just like Aunty Buba had. Then we sang our school song and did a hungi.
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| The Kapa Haka Performance |
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| Kids Doing Rakau |
After the Powhiri we broke up into different groups to do activities around the Marae. There were games like handball and skipping and then there were more traditional games like Rakau and games with Cabbage Tree trunks. There were also things like flax weaving and walking up Kaiti Hill to see the place where Cook landed and where the Marae used to be. Each group missed out on two activities. The two activities that I missed out on were flax weaving and handball. I was really bummed that I missed out on flax weaving as I want to be able to make different things out of it. That night we had a performance and our parents came to watch. We performed our Kapa Haka bracket and some school groups did Ukulele and told Jokes. The next day everyone was tired and gobbled up breakfast. After we continued with our activities and welcomed Wai onto the Marae. Packing up was very stressful and we were all glad to be back at school and back to our own beds to sleep.
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| A group doing Maori art |
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| Flax Weaving |
What a great experience and opportunity! Thank you for letting me share in the pōwhiri welcoming ceremony and morning presentations. The history and stories explaining the different designs and symbolism of the tukutuku flax woven panels was fascinating. You and your classmates did an amazing job with your waiata, haka and poi performances that night. Thank you for asking me to attend. xx
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