Connecting to te taiao
I recently travelled for a three-day haerenga with Qiane Matata-Sipu and the NUKU team, supporting a series of wānanga in Tāmaki Makaurau, Pōneke and Ōtautahi. The wānanga brought together wāhine taketake for the kaupapa of NUKU: Narrative as Rongoā, a rangahau project by Qiane.
Upon returning home, I felt a strong urge to mahi raranga. Within the rangahau, we’re learning how important it is to connect to te taiao for our oranga as wāhine Māori. That our relationship with te taiao links us to our atua. This makes sense, I know it inherently, but to live and breathe that connection in our contemporary and urban realities, at least for me, is not something I practice intentionally enough.
Over the days that followed, I channelled this energy to weave a collection of kono. I share images of the taonga below and capture my internal wānanga around kaitiakitanga and my relationship with harakeke.
Whakapapa
I first started to work with harakeke when I was in primary school. Mum did the raranga course with Whaea Judy Robson-Deane at Unitec in Mt Albert. From that point on, we grew up with harakeke around our whare. Like most beginners, I started by making putiputi...lots of them. By the time I was 11, I was confident in the tikanga and practice of harvesting and preparing harakeke on my own. Harakeke always featured in my research, science and art projects at school. My parents would drive me around Waitākere, searching for harakeke I could harvest in public spaces.
Mum started to make kākahu kapa haka alongside Whaea Judy when we were at Kowhai Intermediate. Merehinekete, Whaea Judy’s youngest daughter was a tuakana of mine at Kowhai and AGGS. Materials for kākahu dominated our whare over that period of at least 10 years as my sisters and I journeyed through kura. For most of that time, we had a dedicated room in our whare for drying and storing harakeke or kākahu. Many of our weekends as teenagers were spent in wānanga kākahu at Te Whare Pora at Unitec, our whare in Rānui, or wherever we were in wānanga for kapa haka. We learnt how to make muka and pōkinikini, and contemporary maro and pākē.
Te pā harakeke
Our whare in Kelston borders a small esplanade with about 15 harakeke that grow along our fence and a public pathway. I don’t believe it’s established as a ‘pā harakeke’, in that it was planted intentionally informed by mātauranga and tikanga. But since we bought our whare, I’ve always looked at it as a pā harakeke. I’m not sure what variety of harakeke it is exactly, but I assume it is the standard variety that Auckland Council plant at local parks and reserves. The health of the pā is below moderate. It is overgrown, with many leaves rotting at the base. There appears to be some disease and pests affecting some rau but it does not seem to be widespread. There is the occasional piece of rubbish around the edges that we clear. There are signs of experienced and inexperienced people harvesting from the pā.
The first harvest
We’ve lived in our whare for almost four years now and this is the first time I have harvested from the pā. I began clearing the whānau closest to our gate, as some of the rau were falling onto our driveway. Removing dead or rotting rau or kōrari, clearing away waste and any rubbish, I trimmed each whānau or fan back to three rau – te rito, ngā awhi rito.
I harvested twice that week, each time organising scraps into tidy piles, cleaning each rau and preparing whenu. Separating whenu into similar widths and lengths that later determined the sizes and shapes of the kono. Before harvesting again, I wove all the whenu. Each kono is finished with a slightly different edge as I experimented, trying to work out a flat edge finish.
Mātauranga o te taiao
This experience reminded me of my roots in ngā mātauranga o te harakeke. That it’s at my fingertips and front doorstep. Helping me to wind down after a three-day wānanga, weaving these taonga was a tangible way for me to channel inspiration and creative energy. I realised that connecting to te taiao doesn’t always have to feel big or grand. That I can connect to te taiao on my own doorstep and be a kaitiaki of the whenua around my whare.
I know there is rongoā in mahi harakeke and a relationship between oranga and katiakitanga. I’ve made it a personal mission to clean up the pā. Starting with the harakeke closest to our whare and working my way around each time I harvest.
Since this experience, each kono has found a purpose. Four were shared as koha with whānau, filled with kumara to celebrate Matariki heri kai. One was offered as a kono koha at a pūhoro wānaga. The larger kono has found use as a basket for my current knitting project and the smallest for my raranga pegs.
Te harakeke, te korari
Ngā taonga whakarere iho
O te rangi, o te whenua, o ngā tūpuna
Homai he oranga mo mātou
Tihei mauri ora
Kono harakeke | 23.06.24 | Shot on Apple iphone 15 Pro
