Tommy Wilson: Snapshot of where our cultural compass is headed

NZ Open champion Zach Murray of Australia. Photo / Photosport

Korowai would have to be one of my all-time favourite words in the Māori language and readers of this column for the last 18 years will know I use it a lot.

I love everything about a korowai, how they are made, what they represent and how they can portray a mantle of mana upon those who deserve to wear one.

Personally, I have never worn one and chances are it will only happen when one is draped across my casket as I am about to be placed on the launching pad to the next planet.

We have a family korowai and a marae one, both prized beyond monetary value amongst our whānau, and we only use them for the most important of occasions, and that's how it should be.

Recently our women in our Ngati Ranginui kapa haka group performing at Te Matatini in Wellington all wore korowai woven by family members, many of them tutored by Bibbins Tangitu - a highly regarded local weaver for the past 40 plus years, who passed away not so long ago and was and still is my wife's mother and best mate.

It was my wife who was watching the presentation to the winner of the 100th NZ Golf Open championship when she noticed what was supposed to be a korowai presented to and worn by the winner Zach Murray.

Now firstly my wife doesn't know anything about golf other than it keeps me walking and not talking and the sounds of silence allow her to weave when I am out of the whare.

Weaving or raranga is something she is totally devoted to and tutors it at Te Wananga O Aotearoa, just like her mum did and her daughter is learning to do now.

Three generations of raranga - weavers - is a very cool kaupapa to have in the whare and I am blessed to have had those surroundings to nurture us all in.

Over the past 20 years, I have watched korowai being woven together. They can take up to 1000 hours.

Night after night, noho after noho, row upon row of manicured muka, all the while waiata are being sung, and korero exchanged about anything and anyone. It truly is something I regard as a richness in our lives that is beyond anything money could buy.

Korowai are taonga - a treasure like no other jewel that you could find on any Michael Hill jewellery shop window or for that matter anywhere on his beautifully manicured Queenstown Gold course where the New Zealand Open was held.

While the Mexican culture have poncho, the Arabic culture a burnoose and the Spanish a mantilla, only Aotearoa have a korowai.

Right now there is an exhibition in our own backyard of korowai at the Tauranga Art Gallery.

But back to Zach and the fake fur piece renowned weaver Veranoa Hetet referred to it as.

Hetet said not using the correct term undermines or belittles the real korowai.

An exhibition of korowai is on display at the Tauranga Art Gallery. Photo/Supplied

"Either do not use it or find a weaver who was able to create something that has a story that is specific to their competition, that has meaning and that holds mana, that holds mana in its very fabric, in its very make-up."

And that's where the untold good news story kicks in.

NZ Golf chairman Mike Smith has done just that.

What was not reported about NZ Golf is the relationship they have built between their NZ Māori Golf brethren, especially over the last two years where Mike has been part of their annual Taupo tournament.

As providence would have it, this was the first golf tournament I have ever played in and what the late great comedian Robin Williams said is true. "Golf is the only sport where a white man (and a few Māori for that matter) can dress up like black pimps and get away with it."

Mike has already taken steps to have a highly regarded weaver create a korowai with the kaupapa of NZ Golf and NZ Māori Golf embedded in the stories each stitch will tell.

If this a snapshot of where our cultural compass is headed I for one am greatly encouraged.

Yes the faux fur cloak was well below par and the past mistakes can only be learned from, and, yes, we all should know a lot more about the symbolic importance of why a korowai is worn.

However, we also must take great heart that sporting organisations and their rangatira, in this case, the chairman of NZ Golf, value their relationship with Māori and will uphold the taonga - the treasures they use to honour the champions of their sport.

Tommy Kapai Wilson is a local writer and best selling author. He first started working for the Bay of Plenty Times as a paperboy in 1966 and has been a columnist for 15 years. Tommy is currently the executive director of Te Tuinga Wha¯nau, a social service agency committed to the needs of our community. broblack@xtra.co.nz