Te Ururoa Flavell: Marae rule: look after your visitors

If a topic is to be discussed, it should be placed at the marae to allow people to respond, without it becoming a shouting match and without belittling people.

Greetings again to everyone and Happy New Year.

It's a new year, with new stories to be told, new dreams so all of the very best for 2015.

It is not as if I actually had a holiday. I ended up going from funeral to funeral. No one "closed the gate", so I ended up attending tangi.

But that is Hinenuitepo at work, and she has the final say. One thing that really got me were the young people who lost their lives.

To see our young people grow from babies to young adults is wonderful. But to see them taken before they even flourish is heart wrenching. But what can we do? Let me leave that there.

While I was attending a tangihanga recently, I ended up watching the activities of the dining room, indeed those who look after the hospitality, who cater and look after their visitors, and was full of admiration. Our marae are a source of wonderment.

I saw the men and women, young girls and boys working together. There are a huge number of tasks, of course, peeling potatoes, serving food, preparing meat, washing dishes, preparing tables and so on.

Those of us of the Maori world know and understand this but I was pondering on the difference to how we operate and those of the non-Maori world.

We put aside all of our differences and work as one, the solidarity of the marae, the pride of the people at large and looking after visitors is the number one priority. That is the beauty of the Maori world at its essence. It is a place where those in the iwi who might be truck drivers by day become ministers to conduct the services at night; where the accountants by day might take up the all-important role of marae masterchef, where the researchers join the spud peelers team and where young people learn the much-guarded secrets for the making of fry bread. It too is where we see the angry become peaceful, the mischievous settled, the idle hands turned to hard work - indeed, where everyone's skills are celebrated. That is te ao Maori.

Come what may, the major saying on our marae is, "Look after your visitors."

I know and recognise that the marae can be a place of frankness when appropriate, too.

If there is a topic to be considered, it should be placed on the marae. When attending Waitangi events, and in particular Te Tii marae, I have at times been known to get a little frustrated. This is the marae where the Treaty itself was discussed and it is appropriate that people go to acknowledge that. Unfortunately, the occasion is marked by disruption - all, it seems, for the media - and very little is seen of the celebration.

If we have issues, they should be placed on the marae to allow people to respond without it becoming a shouting match, and without belittling people.

So let's celebrate being Maori this year e hoa ma.

Maori translation

Kei nga poupou o te whare o te ao Maori, tena ano tatou i nga ahuatanga o te tau hou (Pakeha) nei. He tau hou, he korero hou, he tumanako hou no reira kia kaha ki a tatou katoa.

Ehara i te mea i tino whakataa ahau. Ko te hunga i whakaoma nei i a au, otira i etahi o tatou ko a tatou mate. Na tetahi te keti i waiho kia tuwhera no reira ko taku he whai haere i a tatou mate. Heoi ano, koia na te ahua o Hinenuitepo. Kei a ia te kupu whakamutunga. Ko te ahuatanga i tino ngau nei i a au, ko te hunga taiohi i mate nei. Kia kite i a tatou tamariki e tupu ake ana, mai i te pepi, ki te taiohi, katahi te ahuatanga ataahua. Kia katohia, kia tangohia e te ringa o aitua i mua tonu o te puawaitanga, katahi te ahuatanga pouri nei. Te taea te aha? Heoi waiho tera ki reira.

I a au i tetahi tangihanga inatatanei, i te ata matakitaki au i te whare kai, ara ko te hapaio, ko nga hoa o te kai, ko nga ringawera, nga kaimanaaki me te miharo ano hoki. Katahi nei nga wahi whakamiharo ko a tatou marae. I kite atu au i te tane, i te wahine, i te kotiro me te tamaiti e mahi tahi ana. E hia ke nei nga mahi, ko te waru riwai, ko te heri kai, ko te whakarite i te miiti, ko te horoi rihi, ko te whakatika tepu, ara noa atu ara noa atu. Ko tatou o te ao Maori e marama ana ki tenei ahuatanga engari i te whakaaro ake koia tetahi rereketanga o te ao Maori ki tera o te ao Pakeha.

Ko nga wehewehenga, ko nga riri, ko nga taupatupatu ka parea ki te taha, ko te mahi tahi, ko te whakakotahitanga o te marae, ko te mana o te iwi, ko te tiaki i te manuhiri i te marae te mea nui. Ko te ataahua o te ao Maori tera i tonu tuturutanga. Ko te taraiwa taraka, ka minita, ko te tangata kaute moni ka tunu kai, ko te mohio ka ako ki te waru riwai, ko nga kotiro ka ako ki te tunu paraoa parai. Ko te tangata riri ka humarie, ko haututu ka taau, ko te mangere ka pukumahi (na te aki a tetahi), ka whakanuia nga pukenga a tena a tena. Koia te ao Maori. Ahakoa pehea, ko te korero e korerotia ana i te nuinga o a tatou marae e penei ana "Tiakina i ou manuhiri".

Kei te mohio tonu au, ko te marae areare a Tumatauenga te wahi o te riri mena e tika ana. Mena he take ta etahi, ka whakatakotohia ki mua i te aroaro o te iwi i te marae.
Koia na taku hoha i aku haerenga ki Waitangi ki te marae o Te Tii. Koia te wahi i korerotia ai ko te Tiriti o Waitangi no reira e tika ana kia haere ki kora ki te whakanui ai i tera ahuatanga. Engari ia tau ia tau, he mahi whakatumatuma te mahi, he whakaporearea te mahi, mo te painga o te nupepa te take. Mena he take ta tetahi, whakatakotohia ki runga i te marae engari tukua te tangata ki te whakautu i nga take, a kaua e whakaiti i te mana a etahi atu.

No reira me whakanui tatou i a tatou ano i tenei tau e hoa ma.

-I welcome your feedback. Email: mpwaiariki@parliament.govt.nz. Phone, (07) 3503261 or post, PO Box 12028 Rotorua 3045.

Te Ururoa Flavell is the Waiariki MP and the co-leader of the Maori Party.