People gather round the fire yesterday morning to remember those who have died. Photo/Bevan Conley
People gather round the fire yesterday morning to remember those who have died. Photo/Bevan Conley
Prayers, talk of celestial navigation, remembrance of the dead, rousing singing and a magnificent breakfast were all on offer at Putiki yesterday morning.
The occasion was the riverside karakia that start Puanga/Matariki, the Maori new year.
Missing this year was kaumatua John Maihi, who is part of a team meeting Whanganui descendants nationwide in the process of ratifying their Whanganui River treaty claim.
A crowd of about 200 gathered at the Putiki slipway in the blustery dark of 6am.
Putatara (shell trumpets) were sounded, and then prayers, incantations and responses were chanted at the waterside.
A waka carrying the traditional fire slipped slowly down the river. It grounded and paddler Ned Tapa brought a flaming torch ashore to light a second fire.
Beside the fires by the river, master of ceremonies Kemp Dryden read the names of those who had died since the previous Puanga. The crowd contributed more, including the name of Wanganui mayor Annette Main's late husband, John Blythe.
Mark Lee talked about the star Maori call Puanga, which signals the new year for Whanganui and Taranaki Maori.
He pointed to where it would be, if not obscured by cloud.
People were then called to nearby Putiki Marae for breakfast, with a joyful kapa haka performance to watch as they entered and were seated. Each was served a huge breakfast, and Awhina Twomey talked about the significance of Puanga.
She said it was a time to prepare, reflect, learn, give, share and celebrate.
It was winter, storehouses were full and people gathered inside around fires to talk about "who we are and where we come from".
"We need to learn a little bit more about ourselves, not just our Maori selves," she said.
She urged those present to research their own whakapapa (ancestry) - some in the hall could trace it back 25 generations "to a waka".
Her own went back to early Scottish settler Jock McGregor.
Mayor Main gave a short speech, followed by one from Margaret Tolerton, the mayor of Lisburn in Northern Ireland who is in Wanganui to renew a friendship treaty signed between the two cities in 1994.
The link between them is that early Wanganui settler and politician John Ballance came from a place near Lisburn.
Mrs Tolerton said Putiki's singing was beautiful and moved her to tears, and she presented kaumatua Dardi Mete-Kingi Mato with the Lisburn coat of arms and a piece of the linen for which the area was once famous.
