Tall order but kids quick to cotton on

Rotorua's Te Kura Kaupapa Maori o Te Koutu students have celebrated the exploits of their famous ancestors Tamatekapua and Whakaturia.

The kura held Te Ra o te Wae Rakau (stilt day) last week, the children spending the day enjoying many activities based centred around the traditional activity.

According to tradition, the captain of the Te Arawa canoe, Tamatekapua, and his brother Whakaturia used stilts in an incident that led to Te Arawa leaving the ancient homeland of Hawaiki and migrating to Aotearoa. The brothers built stilts and stole breadfruit from neighbouring chiefs Toi and Uenuku. A battle ensued over this and other events and ended in the death of Whakaturia and his father Houmaitawhiti.

Te Koutu kura principal Uenuku Fairhall said wae rakau was being used as part of efforts to develop different physical education activities.

He said the children showed great skill in stilt walking and it brought to life a legend that was taught in school.

Stilts were made both at home and on the day.

"We had events where they had to walk through sand, up and down steep banks and a slalom event."

One event had to be called off because the children were too good - a competition to see how long the children could stand on their stilts.

"It went on too long - some of the young ones were still on their stilts after 17 minutes."

In emulating the theft of the breadfruit the school used apples that were hung up around the playground and the stilt walkers had to see how many they could get.