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Thousands Descend On Ōtiria Marae For Three-day Te Āhuareka O Ngāti Hine Festival
More than 5000 people are expected to descend on Northland's Ōtiria Marae as one of the region's biggest iwi celebrates its culture, kai and unique dialect.
The three-day Te Āhuareka o Ngāti Hine Festival got underway on Friday with kapa haka performances by children from 15 schools across the region.
The action continues on Saturday with music and kapa haka by more than a dozen top cultural groups, some fresh from Te Matatini, as well as discussion panels, a debate in Ngāti Hine's distinctive mita or dialect, touch rugby, and even a golf tournament.
The free festival also features children's activities and dozens of kai stalls pumping out favourites such as chowder, hāngī and chop suey.
Organising committee chairwoman Tapeka Henare said she was expecting huge crowds.
"We're excited to see our people come home to Moerewa. This is a celebration of all things Ngāti Hine," she said.
Ngāti Hine leader Pita Tipene said the festival had been held every second year since 2008 and had grown into one of Northland's biggest cultural events.
"The reason we hold the festival is to uphold our language, our culture, our tikanga, and to celebrate who we are as a people. It also aims to showcase talent on stage, of course, and to nurture leadership."
Tipene said it was an intergenerational event that brought young and old together.
"You can see the tamariki on stage and if you look in the audience you'll see their grandparents, parents, friends.
"Everyone wants to celebrate their tamariki, who're really enjoying what they're doing and just celebrating who they are."
Tipene said eight-year-olds who had made their stage debut at the festival in years gone by were now MC'ing the event and "doing wonderful things in the community".
"It's a special thing to witness, to see them grow in confidence and project themselves into the world," he said.
The theme of the 2025 festival was "Ka kakati te namu", which translates as "the sandfly is nipping".
Tipene said that might not mean much literally, but figuratively it said much about issues currently facing Māori.
The words came from a speech by the Ngāti Hine chief Te Ruki Kawiti, shortly after the Battle of Ruapekapeka Pā in 1846.
The full quote translated as, "When the sandfly nips at the pages of the book, it is time to rise up and resist".
The book he referred to was the Treaty of Waitangi, which had been signed just a few years earlier.
"So it was a prophecy to future generations to always uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi and He Whakaputanga [The Declaration of Independence].
"Given the government is undermining Te Tiriti, we decided we needed to remind our people to stand up for who we are … to hold tight, in 2025, to Te Tiriti and never let it be undermined by anyone," Tipene said.
Among those taking part on Friday was Horace Maunsell, a kapa haka tutor based in Dargaville.
"For me the festival's about bringing all different walks of people together. It's not just kapa haka, it's about celebrating us as Māori, from kohanga reo level all the way up to our marae, it's all-inclusive. It's just a big whānau. I love it," he said.
Maunsell had trained a group from Opua School for their first performance at Te Āhuareka.
"They were really excited, they loved it. They put in so much mahi. I'm so proud of them."
Maunsell was looking forward to two other things, apart from kapa haka: "The food ... and just reconnecting with people I haven't seen for a while".
Eight-year-old Touarangi, who led Kawakawa Primary School's performance, said being on stage was both "scary and pretty awesome".
"You get a chance to perform in front of millions of your whānau that you haven't seen in a long time," she said.
Tipene said the people of Ngāti Hine were descended from and took their name from, Hine ā Maru.
She came from Hokianga and settled in Waiōmio, south of Kawakawa, in the mid-1600s.
Te Āhuareka, which translated as "pleasant, agreeable, entertaining", was the name Kawiti gave his whare at Waiōmio in the 1820s.
With a record crowd likely for the 2025 festival, extra traffic control measures have been put in place and a shuttle bus is operating between the car park at Moerewa School and Ōtiria Marae.
On Friday the marae grounds were packed by 9am, even before the morning mist had burnt off. In past years Saturday has been by far the busiest day.
Go to [www.teahuareka.com teahuareka.com] to see the full programme.
-RNZ
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