Te Hau Kōmaru 2024

Ko te kaupapa kōrero o te mārama nei ko te huihuinga waka o Te Hau Kōmaru ki Kaiteretere i Te Tauihu o Te Waka a Māui I haere tā mātou kaitiaki kaupapa mō te pou waka - me tā mātou Tangaroa Ara Rau pēpi a Maiata i te taha o Tairāwhiti waka, me te whānau a Hauteruruku ki Puketeraki hoki.

He paku kōrero hei whakamārama, he aha tēnei kaupapa o Te Hau Kōmaru - nō te tau rua mano rua tekau mā tahi tēnei rōpū tū ai, hei whakatairanga, whakawhanake i te kaupapa waka hourua hurinoa i Aotearoa. Ka tū te hui ahurei tuatahi ki Tauranga Moana i te tau 2021 - katahi ka tahuri ki te Te Tai Hauāuru i te tau 2022 ki Kawhia Moana. Ko tēnei te hui ahurei tuatoru a Te Hau Kōmaru, ā, te wā tuatahi ka tū ki Te Waipounamu.

I haramai ngā whānau waka mai i ngā kokonga katoa o te motu! Otirā e whā ngā waka moana e whakatere ana kia tae atu ki te kaupapa. Ko Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti mai i Tauranga Moana (mai i Te Tokerau hoki). Ko Hinemoana nō Tamaki Makaurau/Kawhia Moana, Te Matau a Māui nō Ahuriri/Te Matau a Māui - Ko Tairāwhiti nō Turanganui a Kiwa/Te Tairāwhiti whānui.

I tīmata te hui ahurei i te rā 6 o Apereira - ka pakaru mai te ata i Kaiteretere ā ka tau mai ngā waka ki uta. Ātaahua rawa te kite i ngā waka, ngā kaumoana, kaihautū hoki i tae mai nō te moana me ngā whānau katoa i karapinepine mai i tatahi kia pōhiritia. Te reka hoki ō ngā kōrero e hora atu i ngā kaihautū me ngā māngai o te hau kāinga.

Ko te rangi whaimuri i te pōhiri he rangi wātea mō te marea kia haramai ki te tūtaki i ngā waka me ngā kaumoana, kia ako hoki i ngā mātauranga waka nā ngā kaumoana me ngā kaihautū i toha. Ko ngā rā whaimuri i tērā, ngā rā mō ngā kura o te Te Tauihu, he rā wātea anō te Rāhoroi kua pahure - I poroporoakitia e te haukainga, ngā waka me ngā kaumoana ā kua ea te kaupapa. Hei te tau 2026 te kaupapa tū ai ki Te Tai Tokerau! Karanga mai Te Aurere waka, Aurere whenua.

Tēnei te reo o mihi ki a koutou te hunga e pānui ana! This month’s blog post is focuses on the recent National waka hourua festival - Te Hau Kōmaru, held in Kaiteretere last week.

Te Hau Kōmaru National Waka Hourua Festival is a bi-annual event that brings together kaumoana (crew), kaihautū (captains/skippers), kaiwhakatere (navigators) - waka experts from around Aotearoa and Te Moananui a Kiwa to celebrate mātauranga waka, showcase waka hourua (voyaging canoes) and waka culture more broadly. This years festival hosted by Te Tai o Awatea took place in the beautiful waters of Te Tai-o-Aorere and on the golden sands of Kaiteretere. This is the third time Te Hau Kōmaru has been held, with the previous two festivals taking place in Tauranga Moana (2021) and Kawhia Moana (2022).

The breaking of dawn on the 6th of April 2024 signalled the beginning of Te Hau Kōmaru with the arrival of 4 waka moana in Kaiteretere. The fleet were led in by the kuia waka Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti, followed by the pōtiki (youngest) of the fleet Tairāwhiti Waka and her tuākana (elder siblings) Te Matau a Māui and Hinemoana. It was a beautiful scene to behold with more than 10 kaikaranga lining the shore and a rōpū of kaiwero, enveloped in the symphony of pūmoana and pūtātara. The waka crews were called onto land and welcomed into the Te Hau Kōmaru venue on the Kaiteriteri Recreation Reserve. Beautiful kōrero was shared by both the haukāinga, kaihautū of the arriving waka and pou of the kaupapa Matua Hoturoa Kerr and Uncle Stan Conrad - check out the Tahu News for some stunning highlights.

*Kaihautū Jay Love laying a toka mauri from Tairāwhiti Waka next to Te Au o Kupe - Maungaroa te mauri o Te Hau Kōmaru. Photo Credit: Ahurei Visual.*

The completion of the pōhiri and laying of the various mauri kohatu carried to Kaiteretere by each waka declared the kaupapa of Te Hau Kōmaru open - with the day following being a public open day for whānau of Te Tauihu and also outside of the region to come down meet our waka, kaumoana and kaihautū. The rest of the week and festival saw Te Hau Kōmaru hosting tamariki from all around Te Tauihu o te waka! The workshops offered by our kaumoana and kaihautū included:

Ngā kaupeka o te tau hau, an introduction into Māori understandings of the seasons and their associated kōrero, whare whetū (stardome), kapehu whetū (star compass), maramataka, and Te Iho Pumanawa, a Ministry of Education funded research project by Te Hau Kōmaru and waka hourua tours. During the school visits the foreshore of Kaiteretere was alive and buzzing with the sound of the tamariki engaging in the workshops and soaking up every bit of mātauranga they could. The days were ended with poroporoakī and a sharing of kōrero from each of the school rōpū on what their highlights were.

In addition to the school visits and public open days, another highlight of Te Hau Kōmaru was the captains panel held on Tuesday night - an opportunity to hear from kaihautū and kaiwhakatere waka from around the motu, along with a couple of trainee skippers. The following reflections are excerpts taken from the kōrero to highlight the āhuatanga it takes to be kaihautū waka (to watch the full panel check out this video) which highlight the importance of kaupapa wai and kaupapa waka.

One of the patai (questions) addressed to the panel was, “what is the difference between being a kaihautū waka versus captaining any other vessel” - one of the answers that speak to the heart of what it means to be a kaihautū rather than purely a ‘skipper’, was beautifully articulated by John-Reid Willison (kaihautū mō ngā waka o Te Toki Voyaging Trust, me etahi atu o Te Moananui a Kiwa) he explains that for us, our waka - their ingoa and what they represent carry much more than just a name for example:

“Te Aurere - you carry the mana of that waahi as well … Te Mātau a Māui, that’s their waka and your responsible for their waka, you’re carrying up to 16 crew but you have a whole iwi behind you, a whole iwi to let down, or a whole iwi to make proud. Tairāwhiti even more so - you have the whole of Tairāwhiti watching that waka … Hinemoana the entire Moananui a Kiwa behind that waka within the name - so I think with the tikanga, kawa and the mana that our waka carry that’s one of the primary differences if we’re talking about vessels, lots of sailing vessels just are that - for us the mana and the mauri that our waka carry is a pretty big difference between the two worlds”

On leadership - Kaihautūtanga, mātanga waka Uncle Stan Conrad (Kaihautū mō Te Aurere waka) shared learnings embedded in his journey shared with him and others by Papa Mau Piailug:

“As kaihautū you’re the light that’s it - you’re the light, everyone looks up at you that’s the light you keep shining, so that these things can happen, so that this gathering can happen, so this learning and sharing of knowledge that’s what it’s all about, so you’re the light, we’re the light. And we need to make sure the light is always there”

Finally, Mahara Nicholas (kaihautū mo Ngahiraka Mai Tawhiti) spoke about the joy and happiness experienced by the whānau of Kaiteretere, and laid the challenge to keep the the flames of the kaupapa burning - for the next generation, he said:

”Hearing the stories of the local people here in Kaiteretere talking about the joy and the happiness that seeing these waka on the shores of their beach brings to them. That melts my heart … so I love these sorts of kaupapa that rejuvenate and bring this waka culture, that’s been quite dormant in Aotearoa, bring it back to life and like Stan talks about a light, when these waka come into these shores it sparks a light and this light will hopefully, it will blaze into a burning inferno and will keep on burning, and these waka will carry on to another shore and to another beach and spark another light - and that’s my vision for our waka out here and for what we’re doing here [at Te Hau Kōmaru] so i’d like to thank these guys [fellow kaihautū] and not only these guys but their crew, these waka couldn’t get here without crew - so all our kaumoana out there e mihi nui ana atu ki a koe mai i ahau mai i ngā kaihautū, tēnā koutou - and please share the kōrero, me kaua rawa tēnei ahi e tinei, tukuna te ahi kia kopura kia pukauri, hei mahanahanatanga hei awhirotanga mā ā tātou tamariki mokopuna e noho mai nei”

Nō reira e te whānau - nōku te whiwhi kia toha i enei whakaaro rerehua o ngā kaihautū o tā tātou kaupapa - otirā te tuku kōrero e pā ana ki te hui ahurei o Te Hau Kōmaru. There is so much more to share and wānanga e te whānau, so if this has inspired you to learn more - be sure to follow the links mentioned throughout to check in and follow our waka on their next haerenga and kaupapa, or find a whānau waka near you to grow and be a part of! Our waka consistently need mahi and aroha, so new kaumoana are always welcome. If this kōrero has sparked interest or your own small flame inside check out Te Hau Kōmaru for more content, or get in touch via the contact us page to see how you can be involved.

Nāku iti nei

Nā Ngahuia Mita i tuhi.

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