This is one of my favourite posts from 360. I was writing the story of my colonist family, the first thread of whom who arrived here in Aotearoa/New Zealand in 1840. Parts of my stories encompassed the NZ/Maori Land Wars of the period and Te Rauparaha's name, (among others), surfaced frequently. So we took a break from the story (which I thought was getting a bit long winded), and instead showed this story about Te Rauparaha and how he is reputed to have written this famous Haka which our national rugby team, the All Blacks perform before all their international matches. (the words of the chant and the video are shown at the end of thepost). The Story of the Haka Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
At the time the haka was written, (1820), Te Rauparaha was chief of the Ngati Toarangatira (Ngati-Toa), a branch of the Tainui tribe, and lived at Kawhia which is north of the Waikato. For some years before he was born as the son of chief Werawera, there had been inter-tribal war between the Ngati-Toa and the neighbouring Waikato tribe, a bitter story of constant skirmish, reprisal and territorial dispute. Growing up in this environment, with his father captured, killed and eaten while he was still a young boy, Te Rauparaha became one of the most feared and respected warrior chiefs in Maori history. Later on he led his tribe southwards, and by 1828 was master of the whole coast stretching from Wanganui to Wellington, including Kapiti island, but at the time of composition he was in the thick of the fighting action somewhere in the region of Taupo.
At this point, he was forced to flee for his life from his pursuing enemies, the Ngati Maniapoto and Waikato tribes, and he came to the village of a horrified Te Wharerangi and asked for his protection. The visibly reluctant Te Wharerangi eventually agreed to hide Te Rauparaha in a kumara pit.
Then Te Wharerangi's wife, Te Rangikoaea, sat over the entrance to the pit. There are two stories put forward as to why Te Rangikoaea sat over the entrance thus.
The first version has it that no male of consequence would ever put himself in a position where he would be beneath the genital organs of a woman. Thus the hiding place would be discounted by the pursuers.
Of course, pragmatic Te Rauparaha was naturally willing to forego this custom in order to survive.
The second version tells that she sat there in order to have a neutralising effect on the incantations recited by the pursuing Chiefs; the female organs were believed to have a shielding effect.
Anyhow, as the pursuers arrived, Te Rauparaha is said to have muttered "Ka mate! ka mate!" under his breath (I die! I die)!, but when the Rotoaira chief indicated the man they sought had gone to Rangipo he murmured "Ka ora! ka ora!" (I live! I live!). However when Tauteka, (a pursuing chief), doubted the words of Te Wharerangi he gloomily muttered "Ka mate! ka mate!" once again. Then, when his pursuers were finally convinced he was not in Te Wharerangi's pa, but had made off for Taranaki, he exclaimed "Ka ora, ka ora! Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru nana nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra!" (I live! I live! For this is the hairy man who has fetched the sun and caused it to shine again!).
The "hairy man" in the haka is supposed to refer to the chief Te Wharerangi who gave Te Raparaha protection despite his wish not to be involved. Te Wharerangi was a man of very noticeable hairy habit.
"Upane", literally means "terrace", and probably refers to the steps which were cut into the side of the pit for access. Each "upane" in the haka represents the tentative steps Te Raparaha made as he nervously emerged from the pit to see if the coast was clear.
Imagine his rejoicing at not only eluding certain death by the merest whisker, but also coming out of the dark kumara pit into the light of the day - "Whiti te ra! Hi!" Going on from the kumara pit to the court yard of Te Wharerangi, before Te Rangikoaea and the assembled people, Te Rauparaha then performed his famous haka, which he had composed whilst in hiding.
This version is the version usually performed by the All Blacks ahead of international rugby matches. I like the way that the Haka is shown here because it suggests the presence of the spirits of the ancestors.
Ka Mate! Ka Mate!
Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka Ora! Ka Ora! Ka Mate! Ka Mate! Ka Ora! Ka Ora! Tenei te tangata puhuru huru Nana nei i tiki mai Whakawhiti te ra A upane! Ka upane! A upane Kaupane whiti te ra! Hi!
(in English)
I die! I die! I live! I live! I die! I die! I live! I live! This is the hairy man Who fetched the sun And caused it to shine again. One upward step! Another upward step! An upward step... Another! the sun shines! Hi!
I'm glad you are preserving and transferring some of these items from you original blog into your new blog here. Not only have I personally enjoyed your entries, but I have been sharing them with my spouse and kids. It's good to have a view of history and lands utterly unfamiliar to us. My family has been especially fascinated with the Maori Pas and their war strategies. Keep up the good work!
Oh I didn't know you were doing that. (((Kia ora Poli's family))). (and be nice to Poli, hehehe)
Actually that really is kind of inspiring, definitely encouraging, and its nice to think that people are enjoying and actually getting something out of what I write.
Only just risen, after my late "night" I loved tfhis story when I first read it, but Holly's additions have really pur the icing on the (gingerbread) cake. Love you Iri; love your writings, and am in such a good mood now i just about love EVERYBODY, - just about! hug. Chrissie.
Yeah, there's nothing not to like about gingerbread men...mmmm...I even bought some gingerbread mix in their honor! Dessert! er...well, you know. Maybe I won't give them faces, and maybe they won't rise up in my oven and start doing the haka.
Who let that duck paddle in? Thanks for visiting and giving me the link, you know how i love this writing of yours!But i cannot take the credit for the "improvement in my page" I have had my very first 360 friend ( Britte from Germany) over here for a couple of days, taking a quick needed break! She couldn't have chosen worse weather, but we did manage to get for walk on beach and another to the ecological pond, plus two visits to "The Welcome Inn" and she got home safely- my dogs are missing her and the house so quiet now! But when it was too wild and windy to venture out, she got Firefox/Foxfire? working for me and changed colour and did a lot of other thjings i have already forgotten, on PC. But now Firefox want to update to Firefox 2 HELP!!! Unfortunately my neighbour was taken ill during Britte's visit, but didn't explain over 'phone the, and so I have been with her much of today, it doesn't seem too good, She had called out doctor she said because of breathing difficulty, but he discovered large swelling in tummy area.... she has to have scan in few days...lives alone and been deaf since she was seven years old, about sixty age I think. Sod's law that I should have had Britte staying with me and wasn't there for my poor neighbour when she needed me! I can tell that she is afraid, and she didn't sleep at all last night Makes one feel so helpless, Iri, and i had enjoyed MY couple of days, now she has the waiting days before the scan as well as the shock of the doctor's discovery! I She didn't explain on the 'phone, because I"had a visitor" so I didn't know until this morning1 I feel terrible about that!.....Sorry, Iri, you don't need all this on here, remove it, please! hug C. ( tell Ifik not to be rude to me while I am not feeling chirpy! )
paddle that waka Duck, paddle the waka, don't stop paddling till ya find us all a nice island.
Chrissie, Foxfire was the title of a really good romance novel by Anya Seton. For the firefox update just accept it and keep clicking the next or the continue button till you get to the finish button, Firefox will do all the rest for you.
I KNEW I knew that - I packed all my Anya Seton books up for Charity shop ( daughters instructions get rid of your books! I think Firefox have installed it wwhen i accepted it got a lot of little green loading things and thats all no next or continue or anything, BUT then i was offered English Dictionary (us0 and i opted for English (British ) but it wasnt compatible with Firefox 2 so i didnt bother ( do not use spellcheck and when i might want to check a word i dont want the US version color instead of colour etc etc I know I know stuck up English!! Anyway i think it is installed OK now all i want is that one your son put in for you for blogging something Scribe Right?I got Britte to put all YOUR words in one folder so i could go back and find it. If I were not worried about J my neighbour i had planned to devote a WHOLE DAY to finshing getting my disorganised pages into proper order, but, I can understand how she is feeling and will need to drop everything and visit her if she phones, though she generally goes to bed around 8.30 p.m, so know I can safely try to do a bit at night. Fun, isn't it? I could do with a bit larger print on this nice page though, going to go and look at my pale purple M ultiply now, am not too sure where i am, think THIS is 360 !!! ( Britte said that i am NOT STUPID I JUST DON'T KNOW! Her English was quite good, we improved it no end in the pub - she asked me "Why does everyone call you sweetheart?"""( there's little red lines appearing under all my mistouches on this version, Iri there is even one under the word mistouches How long can you spare LOL hug C
hehehehe... I am so used to those little redlines under my words, its possibly worse for me because New Zealand also uses "British English" but with Maori words too and so often there seems to be no "Kiwi English" version. Think about this blog above here with all the Maori words, when i was writing it the red lines were multiplying all over it lol.
If you right click your mouse over the redunderlined word you get other spell options but also "add to dictionary", if I am writing a Maori or Kiwi or British word many times I click add to dictionary and no more reunderlining (at least for that word) It is now a crusade!
I loved tfhis story when I first read it, but Holly's additions have really pur the icing on the (gingerbread) cake. 
