Te Whare o Te Ruahikihiki

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Te Whare o Te Ruahikihiki   Waiata Tāwhito
Nā Tahu Pōtiki i tito i te tau 1994,
Nā Paulette Tamati-Elliffe te rangi

Ko te whare nei te Whare o Te Ruahikihiki
Hai wharekura mōhou e tama e
Ko kā waihuka o te awa o Waitaki
Rere atu ki kā whakairo o Āraiteuru
Ki te tekoteko i whakatūria ai e Taoka, Ko Pukekura.

Whakaroko e hine, tahuri o tarika ki te waha
Koi meatia he tipuna ūia koe he poketara koe e

Ko kā tīpuna e poupou ana
Ko Kurī
Ko Rakitawhiao
Ko Rakipāka
Ka puta mai a Mānawa i te Pūharakeke ki Pariwhakatau
Tātai rakatira mai ki a Moki

Nā te uruka whare ka mate a Tū-ki-taha-raki
“Kauraka tōku mate e kaki”
Purupuru te tarika a Kāpō
Ka toe a te taina nei i te Makā Paruparu e

Rere atu te wharauka Kaue i te parekura ki Rakiura
Riro mai i a Te Pahi ka moe i te Hākui o te Ao
Noho i te whare nei kā hua o Hawea
Te Mano o Rapuwai

Huri o konohi ki ōu mātua kai whea te huka wehiwehi nei? Ko haere ki Paerau.
Ū tou nei ki kā pukakaho
O te whare e - e

This is the house of Te Ruahikihiki

Son, let this be a house of learning for you
The frothy head waters of Waitaki
Flow out to the waka, Āraiteuru
To the carved figurehead erected by Taoka at Pukekura Pā

Listen my daughter, listen to the story
Lest your ancestors ask, have you no pedigree?

The ancestors remembered are
Kurī
Rakitawhiao
And Rakipāka
It was Mānawa who survived the battle, named Pūharakeke at Pariwhakatau
The chiefly line descends then to Moki

Tūkitaharaki died a natural death
And said “Do not avenge my death”
Kāpō didn’t listen and fell in the battle
dragged through the sand like a dirty Barracuda

Then the Kauae Clan fled the battle for
Rakiura
Te Pahi took Hākuiao as his wife
The lines of descent joined, they are the descendants of Hawea, the multitudes of Rapuwai
Turn towards your old ones, where have they all gone? They have gone to Paerau.
The stories are bound forever to the walls
of the house

Whakataukī/Kīanga - Proverbial Sayings

1.     Pūharakeke - Flax Plantation

 Pūharakeke Tapu is the name of a battle that took place between Ngāti Kurī and their relations of Ngāti Kahungunu around Pito-one. It is a key part of the Ngāi Tahu migration story, where Maru Kaitātea who was to eat the remains of his wives’ people, the Ngāti Kahungunu, offered the remains of his people, the Ngāti Kurī, to the survivors. You eat of me and I shall eat of you. Following this battle Ngāti Kurī fearing retribution from Kahungunu crossed over Cook Strait and in to the South Island. Ngāti Kurī were eventually subsumed to become Ngāi Tahu.

 2.     Makā Paruparu - Dirty Barracuda

 Another key battle for the Ngāi Tahu of Otago was the Makā Paruparu battle which was part of an ongoing war between two cousins. It started with Tū-ki-taha-raki’s death from natural causes. As he was dying he urged his brothers and sons not to avenge him. Not listening and believing their brother had been the victim of whaiwhaiā, or witchcraft at the hands of Te Wera, Kāpō led the charge to exact revenge and killed Te Wera’s son. In revenge Te Wera came across a fishing party in the Otago Harbour and killed them dragging their bodies along the sand and piling them up like barracuda.

3.     Purupuru te tarika, kore e whakaroko ki te takata mate - Block your ears, never listen to a dying man.

 Kāpō uttered this saying so that people would not listen to Tū-ki-taha-raki’s final words. Kāpō met his demise in a grotesque manner at the hands of Te Wera                                                        

4.     Kā Hua o Hāwea, te mano o Rapuwai - The Descendants of Hāwea, multitudes of Rapuwai

Following the departure south of Te Wera, Te Pahi, Ngāi Tahu, married Hākuiao, Rapuwai, establishing Ngāi Tahu as the principal tribe as their descendants hold the older tribal mana of Rapuwai and Waitaha as well as the mana of Ngāi Tahu. The saying above was used by Ngāi Tahu to describe the older tribes of the area.

Ngā Kupu Hou - New Words

Huka Wehiwehi                   -   Hunga Wehiwehi, ancestors, inspirational elders

Kauae                                    -   Kāi Kauae (Ngāi Kauae), Te Wera and his people

Kauraka                                 -   Ngāi Tahu equivalent of ‘kaua’

Koi                                          -   Ngāi Tahu Equivalent of ‘kei’

Konohi                                   -   Kanohi, eyes or face

Mōhou                                  -   Ngāi Tahu equivalent of mōu

Pariwhakatau                       -   Place where the Pūharakeke battle took place.

Poketara                               -   Puffball, people who do not know their ancestry are likened to a puffball with no roots.

Pukakaho                              -   Walls of the whare. Reeds used to make the walls of the whare

Waihuka                                -   Frothy

Pukekura                              -   Prinicpal Ngāi Tahu Pā in Otago

Purupuru                              -   To suppress, of noises

Tou                                         -   Ngāi Tahu equivalent of ‘tonu’.

Uruka whare                        -   Mate-ā-whare, death of natural causes

Whaikairo o Araiteuru       -   Reference to the remnants of the Araiteuru Waka and crew that are immortalised in the land.

Wharauka                             -   Company of travellers