Sunday, 22 August 2010

22 August 2010

"Te toto o te tangata he kai, te oranga o te tangata he whenua."
Food is the source of a mans bodily strengths, but the land is the source of his spiritual wellbeing.
This week's whakatāuki was explained by Rueben Friend nō Ngāti Maniapoto

Ngāti Pōrou educationalist and advocate of te reo Māori me ona tikanga Te Kaupunga Matemoana 'Koro' Dewes (1930 - 2010) died following a long illness this week. After a lifetime teaching at secondary and tertiary level Dewes returned to his whānau farm on the East Coast where he continued to be active in iwi politics. An archive recording from the 1960s has him in discussion with Town and Around broadcaster Keith Bracey defining the meaning of Turangawaewae.

Te Miringa Hohaia (1952 - 2010) personified Te Kaitiaki o te Raukurain his role as the guardian of the southern Taranaki village Parihaka, that in the late 1880s was the site of the first recorded worldwide example of passive resistance led by his tupuna Te Whiti o Rongomai and Tohu Kākahi. He was direct, feisty and always up for challenging incorrect and often romanticised versions of Taranaki history that often brought him into conflict with Pākeha and Māori alike. However it was in his recent role as the director of the Parihaka International Peace Festival that Hohaia really came into his own.

In an archival recording from 1994 at the 21st celebrations of Nga Puna Waihanga, Hohaia describes the events and history of Parihaka.

Waiata featured:

Taranaki Patere - Kahuri taku aro as performed by Patea Maori from the album Parihaka: The art of passive resistance (2000)

System Virtue as performed by Emma Paki from the album System Virtue (1993)

He Maimai Aroha as performed by Ngatapa Black finalist song at the Apra Silvers Scroll awards (2010)