Noho Marae
“Is everybody buckled in?” Dad asked. We were heading to the Arahura Marae for our Noho Marae visit.
When we’d arrived at the Marae we were waiting for everybody else to arrive. When everybody had arrived we walked quietly to the gate and patiently waited for the Tangata Whenua to call us through. Everyone remained quiet as we were waiting for the karanga.
The karanga had started. Miss Hanley called back to the karanga and everyone slowly walked forward. Miss Hanley had stopped walking and the Tangata Whenua begun calling again, this time, we all bowed our heads. Miss Hanley called back to the karanga and we all walked onto the Marae and took our shoes and socks off. After taking our shoes and socks off we walked soundlessly into the Marae and sat down.
Ariana – one of the Tangata Whenua at the Marae – rose from her seat and said a whaikorero. Once she had finished her whaikorero, she was supported with a waiata supplied from the other Tangata Whenua. Our speaker Mr De’goldi had stood up to say his whaikorero, once he had spoken we sang Tutira Mai to support him. After the speeches were said Ariana taught us how to do an air hongi which all did together.
We then got told where the Wharekai and the Wharepaku were and where we were and weren’t allowed to go. We then got invited into the wharekai to get some kai and for morning tea we got savouries, apples, oranges , hot chocolate, tea and shortbread biscuits which were absolutely delicious.
Afterwards we went back inside the wharenui and sat down in one massive circle and one by one introduced ourselves by saying our mihi. Most of us had a mini booklet with our mihis written in it to support us. After we all introduced ourselves, Ariana began showing us some of the pou and the purakau behind them and what the colours on the pou represented.
After Ariana talked about the pou and their purakau we headed to the vehicles to grab all our gear. We all sat our gear down and grabbed our sleeping bags and pillows and headed into the wharenui to grab our mattresses and bed sheets to go over the mattresses. We sat our sleeping bags and pillows neatly on the mattresses. When the gear had been organised we grabbed our lunches and sat down either under the veranda or on the concrete that was exposed to the sun.
After lunch we got organised to go to the river to have a chance to find pounamu. Before we went down to the river Aroha and Ellie showed us some of the types of pounamu that you can find. After talking about pounamu we made our way down to the river. Everybody stretched out across the river bed and started searching for pounamu or any rocks that they found interesting. Several people found pounamu but not everybody. After being down at the river for about 45 minutes we walked back to the Marae and put our stones in our bags.
We all got a Noho Marae booklet to do. We had to finish 3 pages before we could go out and play. There were people playing quietly on the grass, there were people playing on the court and there were people just sitting down talking quietly.
Afterwards we went into the wharekai for dinner but before we ate we sang a karakia. For dinner we had lasagna, salad, chicken, garlic bread and chips and for dessert we had vanilla ice cream and chocolate cake. The year 6-7 girls had to wipe down the tables after dinner and the year 8 girls had to wash the dishes while the boys got to play outside.
After cleaning we all got spread into groups to do 2 activities like harakeke weaving with Ms Kemp, soap carving with Ms Barrow, fashion show with Miss Panther, moi rakau with Poula and hakinakina with Miss Hanley. My group and I did a fashion show where we had to make an outfit for Poutini and Waitaiki with Miss Panther. We also did the moi rakau with Poula where we were learning how to use them.
After the activities we all got organised for bed. After getting ready for bed we all sat in front of the fire and sang waiata and made s’mores. After s’more making we brushed our teeth and headed off to bed.
In the morning we got up and got ready for our walk. For breakfast we had cornflakes, weet-bix, peaches and toast as well as hot chocolate and tea. After breakfast the year 6-7 boys had to wipe down the tables and the year 8 boys had to do the dishes. Everybody all packed up their gear, brushed their teeth and then Ms Kemp told us about the walk we were doing, who we were travelling with and if we were in the short distance with Miss Panther, medium distance with Miss Hanley or long distance with Ms Kemp and I was in the long distance.
When everybody in my group arrived to where we were starting, we started walking. We were all taking turns at walking at the front of the group and when there were bikers coming Ms Kemp would yell out “To the left!”. We were running parts of the way so that we could get to the end quicker. When we met up with the other groups we continued walking to Mahinapua Lake, where we sang a waiata and got offered apples, oranges and biscuits. When we made it to the end of the walk we all sat down to have a drink and something to eat.
We all got organised in the vehicles we were travelling in and we headed back to school. I really enjoyed the Noho Marae experience and would definitely recommend going to the Marae.
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Hi my name is noah today we had a visitor and her name was Riley. She told us about the sea and I learnt how to pick up plastic to stop it from going into the ocean.