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New Māori Monarch Steps Onto The National Stage
Emma Andrews, Henare te Ua Māori Journalism Intern
The new Māori monarch Kuini Nga wai hono i te po has made her first appearance on the national stage for the national hui for Māori unity in Christchurch.
The hui - named Te Pūnuiotoka - was the last in a series of hui began by her father Kiingi Tuheitia, whose life and legacy are still being celebrated.
But many are now looking towards the future his successor will bring.
Walking behind Te Hāhi Rātana Brass Band, the newly anointed Kuini Māori was led onto Tuahiwi Marae on Wednesday.
Her father was still being remembered and acknowledged by the more than 2000 people at the hui.
Ngāti Porou leader Sir Selwyn Parata said the late King reawakened kotahitanga (unity) among Māori.
"Kotahitanga is an age old kaupapa, it started way back in the 1800s and it's had different forms, Te Arikinui Kiingi Tuheitia re-ignited kotahitanga at his own marae at Tuurangawaewae."
Kiingi Tuheitia's chief of staff Ngira Simmonds also paid tribute.
He thanked local iwi Ngāi Tahu for finishing the kaupapa the King started by holding the last of the series of national hui.
The new queen will continue the work her father started, he said.
"He was impassioned and determined that we live kotahitanga, we do kotahitanga and he was also impassioned by doing it very simply and very beautifully and turning up today is an expression of how we can live into that kotahitanga."
He went to say he was going to "spill the beans" about Nga wai hono i te po at her first hui.
"When Te Arikinui was a child she would be given money by her grandmother Te Arikinui Te Atairangikahu, and then what Te Arikinui would do is gather all her cousins at Waahi Paa, and if you've been to Waahi Paa in Huntly you'll know on the corner there's a dairy, I think you know where I'm going with this, [she would] go to the dairy and buy some lollies and then share those lollies with her cousins."
Te Pati Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi said he had high hopes for the 27-year-old Kuini.
Seventy percent of Māori are under the age of 40 and this is the demographic that will be her tai tuara, the backbone of her reign, he said.
"But I think Nga wai hono i te po will take our people into the future, and it's going to be a bright future with her at the helm of the kotahitanga movement and I'm looking forward to her first showing on a national scale and looking forward to what she brings."
The hui ended with Ngāi Tahu gifting a pounamu taonga to the Kuini.
The taonga named Ngā Wai Tahutahi - was given as thanks to her father for calling Māori to his kaupapa of kotahitanga and to celebrate the ascension of Nga wai hono i te po as head of the Kiingitanga.
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