Thousands of people packed into Moerewa's Otiria Marae over the weekend for a two-day celebration of all things Ngati Hine.
Te Ahuareka, the biennial Ngati Hine Festival, began on Friday with children showing off their kapa haka skills, followed by an evening concert by Christchurch singer Huaki Puanaki, Moerewa rockers Fat 32 and others. On Saturday marae kapa haka groups, many of them fresh from the Te Matatini national championships in Rotorua, took the stage interspersed with hip hop dancers, debate, singers and even chamber music.
A food village offered everything from taniwha burgers (made with fried bread) to raw fish salad.
Organising committee chairman Pita Tipene put the total number of visitors over the two days at close to 10,000, well up on the estimated 8000 of two years ago. Friday in particular, with huge numbers of school children from around the rohe (tribal area), was "packed."
The much-needed rain held off just long enough to prevent a repeat of 2011's soaked festival.
"We're really, really pleased with the turnout. It's been a wonderful celebration of who we are as Ngati Hine," Mr Tipene said.
Despite increasing numbers there were no plans to shift the festival away from Otiria Marae.
"We want to keep it fairly intimate. We don't want to hold it in a large field, we want it in one of our cultural hearts," he added.
"It's our culture and our reo that makes us Ngati Hine, and we want to enhance what makes us unique - our whanaungatanga (relationships), whakapapa, and above all our language and customs. We want to uphold those, and a festival like this is a chance to reflect on who we are and where we are going."
