toi maruata

Ko te akoraka tuatahi - the first lesson: Aoraki 

Ko Aoraki te mauka… Ko Aoraki te mauka…

and your aromatawai (assessment): tākina tō pepeha.

Ka aronui au ki kā kare ā-roto e koropupū ake

e panapana ana, anō nei he pūwaha awa puni.

I pay close attention to my emotions bubbling up

pulsing like water against a blocked river mouth.

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Ka whakaakona e Marewa te tohu o te haehae.

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He aha hoki te haehae? Black & white translation:

it is a laceration, a slashing, the parallel grooves

of whakairo (carving) and it delineates two things,

Marewa says. Like protection. = me karakia pea.

We practice drawing haehae around koru.

Or is it koru? Marewa asks us: are you sure?

What’s its kaupapa? Otherwise it’s just a spiral.

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We fill our kete with mangōpare & koru & poutama

We knot kupenga pūtangitangi from jute string

wider than the lengths of our arms but not as wide

as the manaaki we are shown

through the transmission of mātauraka

and observance of tikanga & kawa.

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The last class has made a manu tukutuku,

he kaitiaki mā te whare, Te Puka Whakauka, 

Māori Māori Māori ake rā. Marewa asks us: 

Have you found out the meaning of Maruata yet?

and He aha ngā tae o te taiao ki Ōtepoti?

What are the colours of the taiao in Ōtepoti?

rangahau raranga rauangi Rongo & Tama-nui-te-rā!

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<< >> pātiki x x x purapura whetū ## roimata toroa

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I am thinking about how my confidence is growing

every day // Ka pakari haere tōku wairua ia rā, ia rā.

Ko tōku reo Māori, he toroa e mānu ana ki te aumoana.

rauangi raupō takitahi takitimu takitini toetoe Toitū… 

Each kupu, each line, each tae layered on tae…

Mā te whakapapa ka whakahoki anō au i ahau anō 

I am returning myself to myself through these layers,

upon layers, upon layers, which in itself is enough.

Rauhina Kohuwai-Banks

02/4/2026, Ōtepoti: toikupu #2