By SCOTT KARA
Canadian Indian Julie Ouellet was moved to tears as she joined 2000 others in a haka at the first dawn of the new millennium.
Ms Ouellet was part of a haka powhiri that welcomed a flotilla led by Ngati Whatua waka taua Mahuhu o te Rangi at Auckland's Okahu
Bay on New Year's Day.
"When the waka was coming in I had tears in my eyes," she said.
The waka landed on the beach at about 6 am as the sun rose above the hill on which Orakei Marae sits.
Ms Ouellet has lived in New Zealand for 12 years. She has ancestors in the Huron tribe around Quebec and stood out from the 15,000-strong crowd in her traditional dress.
She was just one of the many cultures represented both in the haka party and among the crowd which packed Okahu Bay and Orakei Domain for the dawn ceremony.
Ngati Whatua departed from tradition for the sunrise ceremony to allow women and other races to perform the haka, which meant a series of rehearsals in recent weeks.
The echoing cries of the haka were drowned out only momentarily when four Air Force jets did a series of fly-bys.
Ms Ouellet hopes to see other occasions of cultures coming together in the new century.
"People tend to hide their feelings and if people are willing to represent their country and ancestors then it's a good thing," she says.
Crowds packed the beachfront at Okahu Bay, others lined Tamaki Drive and many filled Orakei Domain to see performances, which included Dame Malvina Major, Maori culture groups and singing group Ma V Elle.
Linda Bercusson, one of the event's producers, said it was designed to include everybody.
"It's about welcoming people to a new century and sharing each other's cultures and each other's land. We're on Ngati Whatua land here and they've welcomed the whole of Auckland with open arms.
"It's a celebration. It's the transition from darkness to light, when the world wakes up," she said. "And it's amazing how many people felt the dawn is a special time."
Mr Man Tin Lee, from Hong Kong, joined the mass haka group because he wanted to take part in a "coming together" of cultures to celebrate the new millennium.
Doris de Pont, from Grey Lynn, also took the chance.
"It's nice the spiritual aspect of it and bringing in the new beginning that way," she said.
"It's an example for all the world to see all of these cultures coming together."
By SCOTT KARA
Canadian Indian Julie Ouellet was moved to tears as she joined 2000 others in a haka at the first dawn of the new millennium.
Ms Ouellet was part of a haka powhiri that welcomed a flotilla led by Ngati Whatua waka taua Mahuhu o te Rangi at Auckland's Okahu
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