This weekend I went to the Wairewa Marae to stay for a few days. That’s probably a uniquely kiwi thing to do, so I’ll blog about it for a bit. I arrived late because I had to wait for a video to render before I left town. As it is anywhere, arriving late for a pÅ�whiri is considered rude. But when you arrive late to a marae, you can’t simply sneak in the back door, as with any home, you don’t just wander on uninvited. So, you have to wait at the gate and hope that someone notices you. And then everyone gathers around to welcome you, which is nice, but then your tardiness is very much exposed. Then on top of being late, I had to leave in the middle of the night and drive down to Dunedin for a family emergency. Obviously leaving the marae while everyone’s asleep in another show of poor form. Heoi anÅ�, ko te whÄ�nau te mea nui.

In the Wharenui , you have to formally introduce yourself, part of this introduction includes stating the name of the mountain where your ancestors are from. Being of Scottish ancestry, my mountain has a Gaelic name, which means I have to stand in front of a large group of people and get my tongue around MÄ�ori and Gaelic in the one sentence. I’m not the most confident public speaker in my first language, so that makes me nervous.

There’s a Chicago/America tie-in coming up….

Another Wharenui that I’ve visited fairly recently is Ruatepupuke, it once stood at Tokomaru Bay on the East Coast, but now stands at the field museum in Chicago. According to MÄ�ori legend Ruatepupuke discovered the art of Whakairo (Carving), and this Wharenui is an amazing example of traditional whakairo, with nearly every piece of wood in this 100+ year old Whare meticulously carved.

Here’s a photo of Ruatepupuke in the Chicago Field Museum.

ruatepupuke.jpg

And to change things up a bit, while sort of keeping with the theme, here’s some Hip-Hop…



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The artist is from Christchurch, you can find out more about him here .

N�ku noa, N� David

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