Poukai ceremony

KINGI Tūheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII will be at Te Kūiti Pā this weekend for the annual poukai ceremony.

The two-day event is part of a royal tour of marae around and beyond the Waikato, taking place over several months.

The poukai is a dual-purpose gathering.

Whānau gather to remember lost loved ones, but there is also a political angle: a forum for groups and individuals to discuss concerns in the presence of the Kīngitanga.

Te Tokanganui-a-Noho is not the only local meeting house to host a poukai.

Others in the annual round include Marokopa, Raakaunui in Hauturu, and Waipapa marae in Kāwhia.

The poukai held at Ookapu Marae at Matakowhai Bay on the Aotea Harbour near Kāwhia was first established in 1897, but will not be happening this year.

As Ookapu Marae is currently under construction, there will be no poukai there in 2023.

The poukai tradition dates back well over 100 years.

When he instigated the series of gatherings in 1884, Kingi Tāwhaio explained that the kaupapa was around “te pouaru, te rawakore and te whanau pani: or the widowed, the destitute and the bereaved.”