Every two years, the eight iwi of Taranaki come together and compete against each other at Taranaki Tū Mai.
The festival itself is a celebration of everything that connects us as uri of Taranaki Mounga and all those other things that make us special and unique.
No two events have ever been the same. Each iteration of Tū Mai has taken place in a new rohe, under the leadership of a new iwi. This year it was hosted deep in the south of Taranaki in Te Hāwera by my own iwi, Ngāti Ruanui, and was attended by over 2000 people.
Though connected by the northern invasion, the 10-year Taranaki war, the Pai Marire movement, the mahi of Te Whiti and Tohu at Parihaka, te muru me te raupatu – the confiscations and the plunder, and the many feats of Ruaputahanga – a young chieftainess famed for her beauty, each of the eight iwi recognised by the crown is renowned for their unique whakapapa, many of which have been passed down through generations in the form of whakataukī.
Ngā Rauru Kitahi – Ngā Rauru whose word is their honour.
Ngāti Ruanui Mohoaonui – Ngati Ruanui of the bush.
Ngāruahinerangi ka ora taku toa – Ngāruahinerangi who flourish and survive.
Ngāti Maru Tuatinitini – Ngāti Maru great in number.
Taranaki Iwi He Ika Ūnahi Nui – Taranaki iwi who is like a fish with great, thick scales.
Te Ati Awa Nō Runga i te Rangi – Te Ati Awa of the sky.
Ngāti Mutunga te Wai Here Taniwha – Ngati Mutunga guardians of the waterways.
Ngāti Tama Ringa Kumu – Ngati Tama with large hands.
It is in the spirit of this inter-connectedness with important differences that the iwi of Taranaki first acknowledged each other, shared history and then clashed on the rugby field and the netball court and the stage. Nearly 30 competitions took place over the three-day festival, ranging from esports to rugby league 9s, from housie to basketball, from kaumatua Olympics to kī-O-Rahi to sack races to kapa haka.
What was evident throughout the whole of whakataetae was the foresight of everyone involved, the deepness of the thinking weaved into every ture and tikanga. Nowhere was this more evident than in the whakaaro that surrounded the kaupapa of succession – i.e. who will pick up the mauri when this generation of leaders answer the call of their tūpuna and go into the long night.
On the debating stage, this meant that one of the three speakers could only speak in Māori, demonstrating the poetry and the power of our reo. In the relay races, it meant that someone in every 10-year age bracket from under 10s to over 70s was represented, ensuring the hononga from tauheke to tamariki was fixed firmly through every generation.
The theme of succession and te mana o te reo Māori was seen even beyond the ture and tikanga. It was seen in the nannies sharing kōrero and kai with their moko, the uncles sharing geneology and games with their nieces, Tamzyn Rose-Pue marching onto the kapa haka stage to call to te iwi o Maruwharanui hand in hand with two of the next generation of wāhine toa, and Raewyn Maraki playing finish the lyrics with iwi anthems. In every instance, the young ones nailed not only the kupu but the rangi also.
While it came as no surprise to us as uri of Ngāti Ruanui Aotea Utangaui mō te Kai mo te Kōrero – Ngāti Ruanui of Aotea waka of plentiful food and stories – that we were, in the end, the overall winners of Taranaki Tū Mai (Tauke King put it best when he said “the humble pie must have been left in the fridge”), the real winners of the festival were all of us as uri of Taranaki Mounga and the whakataetae itself which has gone to strength to strength and become like Koro Taranaki himself, a pouherenga for all of us in the rohe.
In the beginning, Taranaki Tū Mai was a humble affair, first hosted in 2009 in the rohe of Te Ati Awa. It was said by many that this kaupapa was doomed to fail. The same critics asked how so many iwi, with so many competing interests, could collaborate on such a scale. 13 years later the proof is in the pudding and the answer to their question is threefold: whānaungatanga, kotahitanga and Taranakitanga. It is by those three heke that Taranaki Tū Mai has stood and will continue to stand for a long time to come.
While typically the festival takes place every two years, due to interruptions caused by Covid, the next whakataetae will be hosted next November by Ngāti Tama in the north of Taranaki. Thus the festivities opened with our kawe mate, an acknowledgement of those who have passed between the last Tū Mai and this one, and closed by the handing off of the mauri from this year’s hosts to next year’s, the last of the eight iwi of Taranaki to host the whakataetae.
Rirerire hau Pai Marire!
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