260809aw5 Wetini Mitai - general manager of the Mitai Maori Village.
Te Ingoa/Name: Te Matarae I Orehu.
Nga kaiwhakahaere: Wetini Mitai Ngatai.
Manukura Tane/Male Leader: Wetini Mitai-Ngatai.
Manukura Wahine/Female Leader: Miriama Hare.
Te Wahanga/Pool: Te Haumi, Pool B, Friday 7th March.
Wetini Mitai-Ngatai is one week away from his 12th national's appearance. It'll also be his eighth as tutor and male leader of Te Matarae-i-Orehu
once they descend upon Otautahi in ten days. He says the campaign is going really well. "We're getting things we need to do out of the way, learning the words, everything is starting to converge. I think we're making good time, good progress." Te Matarae-I-Orehu celebrated 20 years last year by taking out the Te Arawa regional competition in May. Since making its national debut in Rotorua in 1996, Te Matarae-i-Orehu has qualified for the finals every time they've competed, taking top spot in Ngaruawahia in 2000 and again in Gisborne in 2011.
The group now prepares to carry that mana down to Christchurch for the first time. It's an opportunity to tell stories about the haukainga and honour them as hosts of the festival and more than 35,000 people expected to attend.
"It's a Maori thing to do, whereby when visiting another land, you whakarangatira
those people. Acknowledge them by the knowledge that you have about them, their
history," said Mitai-Ngatai. As the field of performers gets younger and younger by the festival, Mitai-Ngatai reflects on his early years with Ngati Rangiwewehi and Tuhourangi kapa haka. He says he was lead into it at the age of 13 by his elders, the most influential, master of weaponry and oratory, Irirangi Tiakiawa Tahuriorangi. He chose Mitai-Ngatai to continue the teachings that he was given by their kuia and koroua, a bond that, after the transmission of invaluable knowledge, eventually lead to the birth of Te Matarae-I-Orehu. "To take the group has been something I never set out to do myself. So, I kind of got put into that role by my uncle."
"At a big meeting of all the Te Arawa delegates there were votes that were cast. Of course he didn't have a group at the time, so he wasn't allowed to participate in the voting. He did get up to make a vote, and the hui said, 'no you don't have a group.' Then he got up and walked to the front of the meeting and he wrote this word, 'Te Matarae-I-Orehu, that's my group,' so he was able to participate in the voting."
