Te Kūititanga o Ngā Rangatahi in action
TE KŪITI High School was a kapa haka paradise last Friday when it hosted this year’s Waiwaia festival.
The hui taurima is officially called the Maniapoto Secondary Schools’ Cultural Festival 2023.
Each kura involved put in weeks of dedicated practice and noho marae (overnight stays at marae) ahead of the big day.
As part of the opening, which included whaikōrero (speeches) and karakia by local speakers, Te Kūiti High School welcomed the manuhiri (guests) with a haka pōwhiri. Manuhiri and tangata whenua (guests and home people) included a who’s who of kaumātua from around the rohe.
The schools performing were Ōtorohanga College, Te Awamutu Intermediate, Te Wharekura o Maniapoto, Te Awamutu College, Te Wharekura o Ngā Purapura o Te Aroha (a Te Awamutu reo Māori immersion school), Piopio College and Te Kūiti High School.
Stella Stewart, TKHS deputy principal hauora, kaiako reo Māori and kapa haka tutor – was thrilled with how the day turned out.
“It was amazing. We haven’t held the kaupapa for three years, due to Covid. And overall, it went really well.”
Stella thanked fellow kaiako reo Māori and kapa haka tutor Te Oranga Anderson for her hard work as the main project manager.
“She did a wonderful job managing a lot of different jobs for the day.”
A lot of mahi went into making Waiwaia a success, she said.
“Other staff were pitching in throughout the whole week, cleaning and dressing up the stage, and to beautify the school.” Students helped to set up the tents and helped out with the kaumātua room.
She herself spent the day getting ready with the Te Kūiti students, in a separate pavillion.
“I felt a bit of FOMO [fear of missing our] staying in the pavilion, looking out and seeing all the different schools here. But we focused on our team for the day – our main job was to perform well.”
It was the first time Te Awamutu Intermediate had performed, Stella said – and the school told her afterwards how welcome they felt.
She is proud of the school’s manaakitanga or hospitality.
“A lot of people are raving about how it brought the community into the school – it was a bit of a carnival going on.”
Year 13 student Nicholas Dave was part of the TKHS rōpū, or group.
He said he appreciated his cousins coming down from Auckland to watch – alongside many who had supported him.
“They were hyping me up – pretty proud of me too. I’m sad that I missed out on watching my cousin’s performance, from Ōto – but we were in the pavilion all the time.”
His cousins are from the Cook Islands and Niue, and they’d hoped to give him a money lei – but this didn’t fit into the Māori cultural format “so they just gave me money instead.”
Nicholas’ favourite piece was the haka Te Kūititanga, composed by Layelin Stewart.
“It was basically around our school motto – Kia Hiwa Rā, or always prepared. First part, it’s a haka so I like that. My favourite thing is yelling it out and being really loud, because I like being loud.
“And also some of the words, like the line, ‘He kohurū, he kahika, nō te ata o Motukiora’, or ‘a sapling rising from the shadows of Motukiora’ in English.”
It was a reference to the shadow cast by the local maunga just after dawn, as the sun started to shine over the hills, fellow year 13 student, cousin and kaikōrero Kauri Calvert said.
There were many “behind meanings” contained within the small sentence, he said.
Both students also liked Mamae Ngau Kino, a waiata about yearning and grieving for those who had gone.
“You feel that hurt and mamae in your heart,” Stella said. It was composed by Arana Hughes.
Kauri’s highlight was giving the whaikōrero (oratory) – part prepared material, and part speaking from the heart.
“Speak what you think is going to grab peoples’ attention. That’s how you should speak. If you speak like you’re not going to grab their attention, you won’t,” Kauri said.
For those who don’t know much about whaikōrero, it is the Māori art of oratory. More specifically, in Kauri’s words, its purpose is:
“To honour those traditions and values which are most important – our atua, our gods, our tūpuna, the dead, and of course everyone gathered there.
“It was a formal speech of thanking everyone and making sure that nobody is missed out on that list. That’s the importance of whaikōrero.”
He said he was lucky to belong to Te Ahoroa marae at Rangitoto, where rangatahi were encouraged to speak on the paepae if they were capable and comfortable with it.
Both students agreed the bracket by TKHS had been a success.
“When we got on stage the hall was packed, which was great,” Kauri said.
They both enjoyed wearing ta moko – in this case, hand drawn individually with Vivid by their kapa haka tutors. Kauri’s took an hour, he said, while Nicholas’ was more straightforward.
Stella said she and Matua Layelin were proud of the rōpū.
“They did a wonderful job – absolutely phenomenal.”
