Waitangi Day wrap: Dawn ceremony, waka and a 1,000-strong hīkoi

It’s an early start for tens of thousands here, with a summer dawn ceremony meaning a 5am programme at te whare Rūnanga.

5am Dawn ceremony
6am Raising Te Kara – He Whakaputanga accompanied by a Scottish bagpiper
9am Waka parade in front of Te Tii Waitangi Marae
10am Interdenominational church service at te whare Rūnanga as well as the expected arrival of hīkoi ki Waitangi 2024.

As dawn ceremony processions happen at Te Whare Rūnanga at the Treaty Grounds, a couple hundred people are gathered at Tou Rangatira at Te Tii Marae for a roll call of tūpuna who signed Te Tiriti on Waitangi.

Tou Rangatira, where important wānanga occurred for He Whakaputanga (The Declaration of Independence 1835) and Te Tiriti o Waitangi 1840.

The dawn ceremony is underway at te whare Rūranga, led by bishop of Te Tai Tokerau, the right reverend Te Kitohi Pikaahu and will include readings from te Tiriti o Waitangi. Thousands have gathered on the Upper Treaty Grounds with thousands more making their way through (the line for parking was intimidating). If you’re just tuning in and would like to watch the ceremony live, it’s broadcasting on ThreeNow and Whakaata Māori.

Today’s dawn ceremony is a denominational service, with leaders from many faiths speaking, Māori and non-Māori (have heard one Sāmoan reading). A quirk of non-denominational services is the hesitancy to commit to any congregational responses as each faith has different sayings. As a result, you mostly just get silence, for example in response to the catholic “the word of the lord” where typically you’d hear a “thanks be to god”. All faiths (or lack thereof) are equal in silence.

In the first vocal assent from the crowd gathered, hundreds have murmured their agreement to historian and theologian Alistair Reese’s sermon. “If the Treaty was an act of love by Victoria to Māori, by extension it needs to be an act of love by our government to Māori,” he said.

To his left sat the government, with prime minister Christopher Luxon sitting alongside governor general Dame Cindy Kiro and her husband, chief justive Dame Helen Winkelmann, Act leader David Seymour, Labour leader Chris Hipkins and health minister Shane Reti.

Reese spoke further of the applications of the Treaty throughout history, including times when the “great fruits” of the original document were well and truly “rotten”.

“It’s time to honour the Treaty and unequivocally restore its mana.”

As the dawn ceremony takes place on the Upper Treaty Grounds, a concurrent gathering is underway on the grounds of Te Tii Marae. At Te Tii, the readings of the Treaty of Waitangi have been received more vocally.

The Treaty of Waitangi and Te Tiriti o Waitangi are read comparatively in English and Māori at Tou Rangatira. The reading of the Treaty of Waitangi has met with heckles from a growing assembly at Te Tii. People are shouting, “kei te hea?” (Where?), “he tinihanga!” (It is fraudulent!), and “Hika mā!” (Heck!). The protests are “pai ana” says a speaker.

The prime minister has given a reading at the dawn service, from 1 Corinthians, about the need for diversity and unity within the body. It’s a popular reading, and one used often to bring people together despite their differences. Full text below:

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

After a lively speech yesterday, the Act leader has been met with humoured groans as he delivered a prayer this morning. “Mōrena tatou let us pray,” he began, only to have the crowd, particularly those gathered on the grass and watching on the big screen, respond with laughs and groans.

The rest of Seymour’s short prayer passed without incident. He was followed by Green MP James Shaw, who read a rather emotional love poem and was met with a round of applause at its completion.

The names of 240 signatories of the total 521 rangatira who signed te Tiriti o Waitangi have been called out at the wake of dawn. Descendants of the signatories mihi to their ancestors as their names are read. Some respond with a waiata, karanga or a simple “kia ora!”.

The sun appears as the lord’s prayer is recited. The forecast shows a swelteringly hot day today but for now it is still, cool and calm.

This morning’s Sāmoan reading was done by the aptly named Waitangi Mika. At the end of the ceremony he received a birthday shout out as he turns 50 today, which explains his name. It’s a common practice in Sāmoa to name your child after the notable events of the day they were born.

The sun is shining and the coffee lines are long as more and more people arrive at Waitangi for the day. With the waka parade scheduled for 9am in front of Te Tii Marae, crews are practicing on land as the markets and food stalls open their doors. The dawn ceremony saw more attendees than its had in years, and the imminent arrival of a hīkoi led by activist Rueben Taipari will be the conclusion of the morning programme.

A hīkoi led by Rueben Taipari has arrived at Te Tii marae. The convoy of an estimated 1,000 people has travelled 200km from Te Rerenga Wairua (Cape Rēinga).

“There’s a few more than just me,” hīkoi leader Taipari told The Spinoff.

He said it wasn’t him that brought the people together but the new government. “How dare they represent this country. We’re not here just to go for a walk. This is so much more.”

The group that has been on foot since Thursday are bringing the good wairua, Taipari says.

The waka parade had a huge crowd today, helped by the hīkoi which had paused at the bridge on its way up to the Treaty Grounds. A dozen waka paddled along the shore as spectators sung waiata in return.

After some delays to allow the waka parade to pass through, the thousands-strong hīkoi from Cape Reinga was formally welcomed to the Upper Treaty Grounds, in the last act of peaceful protest against the new government’s policies like Act’s Treaty Principles bill and the scaling back of te reo Māori within government agencies.

At the front were people holding pictures of loved ones who had passed, and a strong showing of tino rangatiratanga, and te whakaputanga flags. As they waited to be welcomed, Dr Alistair Reese spoke from the non-denominational service happening at te whare and could be heard across the grounds. Having spoken earlier in the week, he spoke again of the Treaty as an act of love from Queen Victoria to Māori and therefore the need for it to remain an act of love from each government to Māori. He also challenged the Church to consider its own role within te Tiriti and its responsibility in honouring it now.

And as if on cue, Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki arrived with a handful of followers. He watched from the bank and stepped aside as the hīkoi passed through, with ground security were keeping an eye on him.

As waiata rang out from te whare Rūnanga, talks continued on the Lower Grounds at the forum tent, and markets were open on either side of the bridge to Te Tii Marae. Total numbers are unclear at this point but if the aim was to give a clear showing of Māori unity, the crowds are hard to miss.

In the interests of not sitting in standstill traffic for hours, this live-blogger is clocking off to head home. The markets are just getting started, with kapa haka performances, more kōrero and movies planned well into the night. There are also events all throughout the motu which I’d highly recommend checking out if you have the day off.

And again, if you’re wondering what Waitangi Day is all about, see here for a whole bunch of handy resources to learn more about te Tiriti o Waitangi. Mauri ora!