Te Tahawai Marae Recount

Te Tahawai Marae

“ Haere Mai “ called the tangata whenua of the marae yesterday. We took baby steps and at half way the girls stopped and let the boys go forward, took their shoes off and went inside. Then, when all the boys got inside the girls came up the stairs and took their shoes off and went inside. Then all the speakers and men sat on the chairs. The boys sat in front of the girls because it is maori tradition that men and boys get most respect. Then the tangata whenua said a speech and we the manuhiri answered back. That happened 2 times. Then we sang 2 songs after each speeches. We washed our hand to break off the tapu, it meant to be clean. After that we went into the whare kai and ate 1 biscuit and half a cup of water. Next up we splitted into 2 groups and did some activities. First we weaved paper, and then we did an maori action song. Last of all we did some patterns on the ancestors. Last but not least we sang one more song and the boys did the haka. Now we are all part of the marae.