At the Marae we went to the office to wait for whaea Tiri for five mins, once she came we walked over to Whataranui a Ngarue’s house. She asked when it was made and how long it was here for? The answers were 140years and 1886.
After that we walked to ko Tama Wahine which means house for women. Whaea Tiri asked what the little holes in the panel meant. Most people said whaitaranui or Matariki but only one person said flounder or patiki she said that was right. Later on she said that was where they eat on Saturdays.
Then we walked to Tama Tane and Whaea Tiri asked what it was called. Everyone said Tama Tane then Whaea Tiri said that when she asked different people they said Tama Tane March which was completely wrong.
Now we walked to Sir Maui Pomare’s statue most people couldn’t see his foot so they thought he didn’t have one but they just were not on the right angle so Whaea Tiri said to go to Marae atea then they saw his foot. I learnt there is a vault under the statue and some of his whanau’s ashes are with him and another thing I learnt is his toe got cut off in parihaka when he was around 5 or 6 years old.
After, we walked to the emergency bell and I learnt that it hasn’t been rung in decades. If someone rang it thinking it was funny the whole town would panic and the person would be fined a lot and be in MASSIVE trouble!!
After learning about the emergency bell we walked to Te Ika Roa a Maui but, first we had to take of our shoes but while waiting whaea Tiri told us how her toe got cut off when she was a kid then after that we got to look around and we saw younger pictures of Sir Maui Pomare then whaea Tiri told us to look at the Tuku panels then told us what each one means. Whaea Tiri told us a story about the curi after talking about meanings of the carvings on the wall Eria said a speech to whaea Tiri we went back to school to have morning tea.
This week my class has been writing about our trip to Owae Marae.
My favourite bit there was Sir Maui Pomare’s Statue
What do you think?