Maori new year begins with fire and food

Guests help themselves to breakfast at the Puanga river karakia morning. PHOTO/ LAUREL STOWELL

The new year has been welcomed in with prayer, fire and remembrance beside the Whanganui River.

For the last 10 years Whanganui's Puanga river karakia have been held at dawn on a June morning. Puanga is the Whanganui and Taranaki version of the Maori New Year, which begins with the first new moon of the first month of the cold season.

The crowd was smaller this year, as it assembled in the dark beside Putiki Slipway on Wednesday morning.

Kaumatua John Maihi led everyone down to the water and recited karakia as a waka carrying a drum of fire moved downriver. When it reached the slipway a traditional Whanganui chant began, and the paddlers led everyone up the riverbank with their flaming torches.

Another fire was lit there. Kemp Dryden welcomed everyone, speaking of the warmth of the mountain, the warmth of the river and the warmth of people together.

He gave the names of people who have died during the last year, and the crowd added others. They included Tamara Smith, Rangi Wills, Nohi Wallace, Chris Cresswell and Jo Maniapoto.

As the sparks rose up from the fire Mr Dryden said those people were now stars, "there to be with us and support us".

Then the group was called onto Putiki Marae and into its meeting house, where Te Tai Hauauru MP Adrian Rurawhe and Labour leader Andrew Little spoke. Mr Little said such occasions were part of the richness of an inclusive society.

Inside the marae dining room a huge breakfast was waiting - porridge, fruit, weetbix, toast, pikelets, scrambled eggs, pork, venison and sausages.

After people had eaten there were speakers. Mr Dryden said Puanga was about sharing "who we are as tangata whenua, as Maori" with the community.

His wife Nicole talked about the origin of Whanganui's Puanga celebrations. They started because kaumatua wanted to continue celebrating who they were after the Te Awa Tupua exhibition at Te Papa finished in 2005.

She said the significant new moon happens in seven days, and the time is usually marked by both fire and the first snowfall. In old times people made kites, large and small. Messages to the gods were attached to them, and the kites were flown.

People spent time learning and talking, and gathered winter foods such as komata (cabbage tree), pigeons fat with miro berries, and lamprey. There was lots of food and they hosted guests, planted trees and shrubs and wove new clothes.

Mrs Dryden listed Puanga events for this year's celebration - a talent quest at Raetihi's Putiki Marae on July 2, a whakapapa day at Whanganui's library on July 15, an exhibition opening at Gallery on Guyton on June 24, a documentary screening on June 21 and talks from Nga Rauru and Ngati Apa leaders.

Whanganui Mayor Hamish McDouall said he loved Puanga for being special to Whanganui - like the word donko, which means smoko room and is not used anywhere else.

Mr Maihi closed the occasion, thanking the cooks and Kemp and Nicole Dryden for keeping the ceremony going.

He said there would be more wananga (learning sessions) at region marae in the next year, because the old people wanted them. Whanganui iwi had "got lost" for a while, with their strong focus on the Whanganui River settlement, and it was time to get back on track.

"Kaumatua have told us very clearly that we have got to have wananga back on marae to build up the paepae, and make sure histories are still being told and can be passed on to the next generation," he said.

The Puanga celebrations are supported by the Whanganui Maori Regional Tourism Organisation, Whanganui District Council, Te Puni Kokiri, Ngati Rangi, the Sarjeant Gallery and Whanganui Regional Museum.