Our Marae Trip

Today we went to the Te Hoho Kotahirangh Marare.

They welcomed us in with a powihiri. We gave them a koha of silverbeet, eggs and honey from our school.

In class we have been learning about Paikea and looking at the artwork of Robyn Kahukiwa.

We are designing our own picture book about Wairaka's journey to New Zealand. Its illustrations are similar to the Paikea storybook because we have designed our own kowhaiwhai and tukutuku patterns. We looked at these patterns inside the Marae and learnt the story of how these came to be.

At the marare we learnt about the story of Wairaka, We also looked at the carving of her. They told us how Wairaka was a talented weaver.

We visited the spot where legend has it that Wairaka stamped her foot and a spring came out.

We also saw the home of the pukekeos who are the kaitiaki of the area.

Wairaka used to visit Auckland and burn a big fire on top of Owairaka to signal to her brother that she was home to see him.

We had an amazing morning tea of milo, cookies and fruit.

I felt very happy because I learnt a lot of new things like how to weave a harakeke flower. I saw the wonderful carvings and the amazing weaving.

By Daniella