The three winners of the 2023 Tōkihi Ki Tua secondary school kapa haka competition were Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rāwhitiroa who will go on to represent Tai Tokerau at the national competition.
The three winners of the 2023 Tōkihi Ki Tua secondary school kapa haka competition were Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rāwhitiroa who will go on to represent Tai Tokerau at the national competition.
Thousands braved the wet weather to attend one of the most anticipated annual regional school competitions last weekend.
Kaitaia’s Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa hosted this year’s Te Ahurea o Te Tai Tokerau Festival and Tōkihi Ki Tua secondary school kapa haka competition.
For two days the kura (school) was alive with waiata (song), kai (food) and festivities, including a range of school kapa haka performances.
Friday’s event featured 15 schools performing in the non-competitive section.
Saturday’s Tōkihi Ki Tua event featured nine rōpu (groups) competing to represent Tai Tokerau at the national competition.
While competition was fierce, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rangi Āniwaniwa, Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Kaikohe and Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Rāwhitiroa were the winners of the top three spots.
Te Rangi Āniwaniwa deputy chairman Hone Harawira said he was uplifted by the energy of the festival and celebration of what it meant to be Māori.
“I’m surprised we’ve had so many people despite the weather, the place is jam-packed,” Harawira said.
“This is a celebration of Māori life and life in the Far North, I love seeing this place buzzing like this.
“Two of my mokopuna and one of my daughters have gone on to perform at Te Matatini, so this is definitely a good pathway towards that.”
Hone Harawira with his mokopuna (grandchildren) Maiohi (Te Rangi Āniwaniwa) and Te Oranga (Tikipunga High School), who both performed kapa haka with their schools.
According to Harawira, Te Rangi Āniwaniwa was only one of two facilities in Northland with the capacity to hold an event of this scale.
The other was McKay Stadium in Kensington, Whangārei.
Harawira said a lot of work had gone into preparing and running the festival and was something everyone could be proud of.
“We’ve got all the facilities, the grandstand, the punawai (swimming pool area), which wasn’t set up for the kai (food), but because of the weather we had to move inside,” Harawira said.
“We also converted the outside to a meeting area with a large TV screen so people can watch the performances from outside.”
Nga Papahu o Whangaroa-Whangaroa College was one of 15 schools that performed in the non-competitive event on Friday.
ANT Trust and Te Rangi Āniwaniwa organised and ran this year’s event, with more than 200 census enrolments said to have been registered at the festival.
Northland was one of the regions provided with an extension for census collections following disruption due to Cyclone Gabrielle.
