KEY POINTS:
Tainui will look back on the life of the Maori Queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, today as they evaluate the future of the Kingitanga.
A year ago Dame Te Ata delivered her last public speech at Turangawaewae Marae. The occasion was Koroneihana, the 40th anniversary of her instalment as head of the Kingitanga.
Today, nine months after she died, 2000 people are due at Ngaruawahia where the Koroneihana will be marked with little of last year's fanfare. Instead, kowhai trees, one for each of Te Ata's seven children, will be planted.
And it is likely that Ngati Pikiao of Te Arawa will ask the Maori King, Tuheitia, that May 23, the anniversary of Dame Te Ata's coronation, become their Poukai day - when commitment to the Kingitanga is reaffirmed.
Since Dame Te Ata's tangi in August Tainui have been asking how the Kingitanga should be strengthened. Should it move into the mainstream political sphere and, if it does, how does Tainui protect the King's mana?
The confederation that makes up Tainui - Waikato, Ngati Haua, Raukawa, Ngati Raukawa ki te Tonga, Ngati Rarua and Ngai Tai - have been meeting since November.
The confederation's recommendations are due to be put to King Tuheitia at Tainui's parliament on Saturday.
It is, said Kingitanga spokesman Tom Roa, time for "reassessment," and Dame Te Ata started the process before she died because she saw tribal leadership needed a nudge.
"It's well known in Tainui she wanted to make the rangatira [chiefs] think about what they should be doing. It was a subtle call to leadership."
The Kingitanga evolved with Dame Te Ata over 40 years, he said, and King Tuheitia's reign would do the same.
