Blazing portents at pre-dawn marae opening

DOUG LAING
As they say in the theatre, it'll be right on the night. And that was the case as Napier's Pukemokimoki Marae opened on Saturday - heralded in remarkable fashion when two meteorites blazed across the sky as about 400 people were called onto the marae just after 4am.
The marae was built over the last two years at a cost of more than $1 million, realising a dream dating-back half-a-century. Hundreds who would become tangata whenua passed quietly through the waharoa at the entrance, off Riverbend Road, and walked right up to the paepae, paused for the blessing, removed footwear and entered the meeting-house, Omio.
That was essentially the end of the pre-dawn formalities, as people trod the inner, to see for the first time the carvings, tukutuku, and artwork, telling the story of the marae, from ancestral waka to the present.
It did include an informal korero from Tiwana Aranui, who sits on the Pukemokimoki Marae Trust, which was last week handed the marae by the Maraenui Marae Establishment Trust ,which guided the fundraising and building project.
Mr Aranui's parents, Hector and Dolly, were among those who sewed the seed when they came to Napier from Raupunga and settled in Maraenui, and who had tried to establish a marae in the area, without living to see the big day.
There was the first open performance of waiata, developed by Piri (Bill) Prentice, for the marae, as Pukemokimoki awaited the 9am arrival of about 200 visitors. They sat patiently on the southern flank of the paepae for for about four hours as representatives of 18 marae and waka spoke and offered their best wishes.
Later, Minister of Maori Affairs Parekura Horomia, representing the Government and Ngati Porou, who had maintained close contact with the project, said it was "incredible" the way the community had come together to see the project to completion.
He said he could think of no other marae that had opened in such a complete state in the modern era.
Napier Mayor Barbara Arnott, seated in the front of the meeting house with kuia Te Maari Joe, spoke of the the need for all Napier to support the marae as a working project for the benefit of the city and all its people.
"For what is relatively small group or community, this has been a huge amount of work and effort," she said.
"I see this has being the beginning of a big future - this is something special that belongs to everyone."