Marae (pronounced Muh-Rye as best I can tell) is a Maori word that refers to the community land that a tribe (called an iwi) lives on. It seems to be at once sacred and useful. That is, you must be invited onto the Marae but once you are welcome then you can go where you please. They believe the ancestors exist on the Marae as well as current generations. Sometimes Marae refers to a particular place in front of the meeting house but at Tieke it refers generally to the whole place.

Floods had heavily eroded the river bank below Tieke Marae just like at all the other campsites. As we approached two young men came down to meet us. Lining the top of the bank we could see many many children and other people. We could not see far past the top. I thought they might not have room but it turns out there's always room for one more at Tieke (pronounced somewhere between tea-key and tea-ee-key).

A Maori teenager, oddly enough named Harold, and another guy helped us out of the boat and carried most of our stuff up the hill then helped us pull the boat out of the water. Harold is the liaison between people like us and the people of Tieke. We would have to be formally welcomed onto the Marae and Harold told us the etiquette of the ceremony. He did an excellent job too. He's a very likeable young guy.

He took Joan and I past hoards of women and children sitting by the river bank to an archway among a few trees. He then called out something in the Maori language. A women responded with an eerie sort of song/chant that lasted about 20 seconds. Then we marched out through the archway and the trees into a clearing where there were two benches. Joan marched out in front of me but I got to sit in the front and she sat in the back, which seemed sort of silly since the long benches could hold 8 people each. Harold sat next to me to prompt me as we went along.

Another young man, standing next to the women who sang the first song, gave a fairly long (2 minute) speech in Maori then translated the essence of it to English. He had welcomed us onto Tieke Marae and paid tribute to his and our ancestors. I wish I had understood the Maori, for that's about all the translation we got.

After their speech, I was called on to give a speech. Joan, simply for being female, was exempt from this duty. So I stood up and said that we were honored to be so welcomed to their Marae and hoped we would be good guests. Then I think I thanked them for allowing us to use the beautiful river. I figured ever tourist who comes through gives them that so I added a bit I had read about how Maori legend says the river was formed. This got an approving smile out of Auntie Ma, the women who had done the singing.

[By the way, the legend is that one of there god's was a mountain that lived in the vincinty of 3 other mountains but for some reason had to leave. As he escaped, the mountain dug a deep trench that become the river. Eventually the mountain ended up forming an island off the west coast of the north island.]

The sincerity of the welcome ceremony impressed me. They get well over 1000 visitor's a year - enough to harden the hospitality of the most friendly kiwi. Yet I did not feel like they were just going through the motions.

At the end of the ceremony we walked down a receiving line of 4 or 5 people and shook hands and touched noses with each of them. It might seem awkward to touch noses with someone you only just met but it is so natural to them it felt quite natural to me as well.

They took us into a room that serves as kitchen, dining room, and general meeting area. One medium sized cabin stood on the site when they occupied it. The main sleeping quarters remains in the hut. The side of the cabin makes up one wall of the kitchen/dining room. The other three walls and the ceiling are made of canvas tarps. It may sound flimsy but everything is taunt and it has a sound wooden frame that looks like it could survive most weather. It feels simultaneously temporary and permanent.

On one wall they made an impressive fireplace out of corregated metal and I don't know what else. Someone continously maintains a fire in it. A 5 gallon can with a valve like a thermos at the bottom and a connection to a water supply at the top always has hot water in it. When it gets low, they just open the valve and let more water in. 100 people can have hot tea all at once.

Inside they served us tea and pancakes. We talked to various people including Auntie Ma (aptly named - she could be your aunt or your ma), Harold, and a women named Brenda who would be married the next day right there on the Marae.

With the wedding coming up everyone had something to do. They were expecting a group of 30 to arrive anytime. So as we drank our tea people came and went a lot but they kept certain we had someone to talk to.

When the next group came they got a similar welcome to ours but in addition they got a Haka dance. This is a traditional Maori dance performed by the men. (Our book defines the Haka as a war dance but it seems odd to do a war dance as a welcome.) It involves a lot of loud chanting, kicking, and sticking tongues out. Certainly intimidating. We saw this at the Maori cultural center in Rotorua too. There's something about someone sticking out there tongue at you that makes you a little uncomfortable. We read in the paper that the New Zealand rugby team did a Haka dance before a "test" (game) against England. It really pissed off the English team and they came right up to the New Zealanders and stared them down eye to eye while they danced.

After that the room was crowded now with about 50 or 60 people sitting at the 3 long tables in a U shape. We started a long conversation with a guy named Temo. His full name is: Temoananui Akiwa Te Whareponga. Temo is a thinker. We questioned him about the occupation of Tieke and he ended up "re-educated" us on the history of New Zealand. The Pakeha (Maori word for white people in NZ), he says, wrote the history of the Maori without asking the Maori any questions. He is very skeptical of what they found. The history I read says the Maori arrived around 1100 AD and defeated in battle the previous settlers, who arrived about 300 years earlier. Both groups were polynesian and came from some Pacific Island that has not yet been identified for certain.

For some reason, it was important to Temo and others at Tieke that the Maori have been in NZ (Aotearoa in Maori) much longer. I still don't understand why that is so important. Some people believed that Maori have been in New Zealand since "before the water seperated the islands."

Temo did not go that far but he did believe the Maori had been there many thousands of years. Temo's about 40, wears a black stocking cap like a lot of Maori, has a mustache, a round face, and his eyes show real sincerity. Often he stopped in mid-sentence, looked down at the table and slapped the back of his head to shake out a particular word. He questioned a great deal of the Pakeha anthropology but truly believed that science would eventually prove the Maori beliefs to be true. The internet was a great thing to him and he had no problem with science and technology in general. He points out the science and religion have been getting closer and closer in recent years. In fact, not two months ago an article in the New Zealand Herald reported that scientist believe that "all men can trace their ancestory to a single man that lived in Africa 100,000 years ago." Perhaps there really was an Adam.

Temo went on with his careful bashing of the Pakeha history and I listened intently. I wanted to hear him out without looking incredulous or like a didn't believe him. I figured I would sort it out later and make no judgements on the spot. I really liked Temo. I hope he did not take my listening as implicit belief for much of what I heard I simply don't believe. Some I can believe though.

New Zealand is full of rain forests, volcanoes and earthquakes. I don't imagine a deserted village would leave much evidence. Also, with only 3.7 million people, there have not been that many people walking around finding artifacts. It seems very possible that people have been living on the islands for well over 1000 years. Still though, I don't see what it matters.

Temo also said that the famous Kiwi hospitality started with the Maori and was adopted by the Pakeha. This I believe.

He also told us about the most important treaty between the Pakeha and the Maori - the treaty of Waitangi. The treaty is still legally in use. Temo said that the English version is different than the Maori version signed by the Maori chief and sealed by the British. Then he added an odd bit saying that if the treaty was followed according to the Maori version, the whole capitalist system in New Zealand would crumble, or words to that effect. He did not explain this apparently ludicrous statement and it didn't quite fit with most of what he told us.

For dinner, we each grabbed a plate and went though a buffet sort of line. They had mashed spuds, stew, bread, and few other things. Most importantly, it was all you can eat. I loved it. Everyone treated us like guests. The kids always told us to go first and even moved out of line to let us by. They insisted on this.

Temo told us that 4 of these kids we ate with were there on rehabilitation. They were under 18 but had commited some petty crime and somehow had ended up spending a few months at Tieke for rehab. Not all the kids seemed Maori to me. They all seemed like pretty good kids though. At least at Tieke. It is a real credit to the leaders of Tieke that the government, which they are blatantly confronting, would send kids to them for rehabilitation.

After dinner I went outside to set up our tent. The grounds were filled with many temperary-permanent structures - canvas and plastic tarps tied vert taunt and straight around metal or wood frames. Probably looks a lot like an army camp looks after a long time in one place. Sort of like the set of MASH. One large tent near the river bank had a samll sign that said, "No Women. please."I though maybe the teenager boys lived there but I was wrong. The next day I got invited in and found out.

Joan felt a little uncomfortable at first walking around among the "tents". Most of the doors hung open and children ran around all over the place. These people's lives happened right there. But they honestly did not mind our presence.

We crawled in the tent and slept quite well despite the large number of children around. They went to bed at the same time we did.

next: Eric finds out what's in the "Men Only" tent. 

  New Zealand Main Page      World Trip