- Eh! Kia ora. Too much, you fullas. You came back. Nau mai, hoki mai ki te marae. Now, when I say marae, people tend to think just the wharenui. Chea, Uncs. How's it? It's so much more than that. It's our hub. It's where we do everything. Like, everything. Some would even say it's the last bastion of tikanga Maori. I know ` it's a lot to take in. Don't you worry. I got you. Hurry up. You're not manuhiri any more. We got kumara to peel. Auntie's gonna love having you here. (VIBRANT THEME MUSIC) Captions by Jordan Waetford Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022 Last time we went through the pohiri process on a marae. From the karanga to the whaikorero. - Tiheiwa mauri ora ki te whaiao, ki te ao marama. - From hariru to the hakari. So hopefully you'll feel more comfortable at your next pohiri, and have a better understanding of what's going on. In this episode, we'll go behind the scenes to see all the hard mahi that goes into putting on the hui from the perspective of the hau kainga ` the home people. And we'll discuss some of the deeper aspects of tikanga, kawa, tapu, noa, so that by the end of this show, you'll be navigating te ao Maori like a pro. (FUNKY MUSIC) But to begin to understand Maori culture, we must first learn about a place that's central to our identity. A haven that connects us to what we hold most dear. The land, the mountains, rivers and the sea. Our turangawaewae ` our place to stand. That place is the marae. So, to begin, once again, I went out and about to gauge how knowledgeable the general public is about marae. Marae. - Marae. - Beautiful. Do you know what marae is? - Mm... not really sure. - Have you ever been to a marae? - Yes. I have. The ones at the Treaty Grounds and my primary school one. - Do you feel comfortable when you go on to a marae? - Yes. I do. I feel really comfortable. - What do you mean by marae? - Ah, where the community meets, and where they hold functions. - When we talk about marae, we mean the whole complex, which includes ` - It's somewhere where everyone's connected to through whakapapa and whanau. And, so, everyone's able to come back to somewhere where they feel... is theirs. - It's a way of being part of something bigger than you. So, we got married on our marae, and we invited 280 people, knowing that 300 would come. - And the next minute, the MC opens the floor... during the speeches. The first two speakers weren't actually officially invited. - It's their marae. Who are we to tell them that they can't come? So that's also what you engage in, you know? Engage in the terms and the tikanga of being on marae. - OK. So you probably already know that marae are vital venues to hold our events. But more than that, marae play a pivotal role in our identities, defining how we are and shaping our personalities. - My marae has been home for me. It's a safe place for me. It's a safe haven for me. It's where I grew up. It's where I can be proud of my culture and my language. - I don't believe I would be as confident, not only in my Maoritanga, but in myself, if it wasn't for the connection that I have with my marae. I don't feel like I would have the same personality traits as well. I can see a lot of my personality traits and a lot of my wairua actually comes from experiences and personalities that you'd find on the marae. In particular, the nannies. That's literally where I'm sitting the majority of the time. And, so, it's not just the marae and the space that the marae offers, but it's the people that come with it. It's the korero that is engaged within the marae. It's the experiences. It's the lifestyle of the marae that really impacts Maoritanga. - It's quite a powerful thing. It gives you a sense of belonging. You know who you are. You know where you're from. We just wouldn't be a people without marae. That is who we are. - Arguably, the most important building on the marae complex... is the wharenui. Wharenui vary from rohe to rohe, marae to marae. Some of them are carved. Some aren't here. Hika, some marae have more than one wharenui. But wharenui are so much more than just the places where we sleep. They're our universities, our galleries, our museums. It's where we celebrate, but also where we mourn and so much more. So if you can understand that, you can get why wharenui are so important. - Boy! Are you still talking? And who left those shoes like that? Makes our whare look messy. Uh! - Morena to you too, Auntie (!) Here's a tip ` when you take your shoes off, place them neatly out of the way so Auntie doesn't growl you. The inside of the wharenui can be just as decorative as the outside. Although that varies from marae to marae. Chea, Uncs. One thing remains consistent, though. Wharenui represent tipuna, like, literally. The poutokomanawa ` the heart, the tahuhu ` the backbone, and the heke represent the ribs. If we think of our wharenui like a tipuna, we kinda understand why we don't do certain things in here, like eat or wear paruparu shoes inside. Eh, Auntie? It all goes back to this idea of whakapapa. So what's whakapapa? Sorry, Auntie. I'll go get some help. - Yes. - Tenei mea te whakapapa. Genealogy. It is our intrinsic connection to everything that has come before us, whether that be our atua, our environment, our ancestors. For a lot of our whanau these days, they are not connected to their whakapapa. For a lot of non-Maori, whakapapa is not very important, but for Maori, it is absolutely` it's a part of who we are. - In a traditional sense, it might in who you partner up with and all of those kind of things. So, yeah, it's a big kaupapa, whakapapa, but whakapapa, generally, is who you are. It's not` your DNA is not who you are. You're whakapapa is who you are. - (CHUCKLES) That's very common. When you meet a Maori, you don't say, 'What is your name?' You say, 'No hea koe?' And right then, off the cuff, you know that person's history. You'll know their whanau. - So with whakapapa, one of the things we're doing is finding connections. So we know how my ancestors relate to your ancestors. And that's really important. And then also when you know that someone's related to you, I'd say it changes how you feel about them, and it changes, I guess, understanding of them. - A good example of how whakapapa has impacted my... I guess, personal relationships, was when me and my tane connected. One of the first things we did was share whakapapa. One, cos he wanted to make sure that we weren't closely related. - When you know you're related to somebody, you don't go there. That's it. I mean, that's your cuzzie. Ka kite, cuzzie. No. I've got someone else over here. - Also, there was a connection that we made, where his ancestors came down to Waikato to help my ancestors during the Land Wars, and that our tupuna really conspired to bring us together. And we felt this` it was just ` he rereke tera hononga. But those are the type of conversations that we have as Maori. And, for me, how whakapapa particularly impacted that initial, I guess, introduction. Who knows? Would we have made it this far if we didn't make that hononga straight off the cuff? - Whakapapa is everything. And I say that... knowing that it's really hard when you don't know what your whakapapa is. So that's a challenging thing about our culture ` is that whakapapa's so central to it, so it's easy to feel left out if that's not something you know or have been brought up with. - Knowing where you come from, for me, personally, dictates how I move in this world today, and the kaupapa that I put my name on, and the kaupapa that I want to endorse. - Because whakapapa is about where you're from and who you are and whatnot, often every whanau will connect their whakapapa to a certain marae and maunga and awa or moana or whatnot, so, often, whanau are connected by a marae. - Coming up after the break, we'll explain tikanga and kawa, and why they are so important on a marae. - So we've now got an understanding of why marae are so important to Maori. It's a home that connects us to our whanau, to our past and the present. Marae are the keepers of our important korero. And even influence who we are as individuals. This big open space in front of the wharenui is called a marae atea. Back in the day, they used to do everything out here. Wero, karanga, whaikorero ` everything. Out here, tikanga and kawa reign supreme. But, you guessed it, they vary from iwi to iwi, rohe to rohe, marae to marae. But what remains consistent are the underlying principles of tapu and noa. Plus it's a mean looking rugby field too, eh? Yeah, short ball, short ball, short ball. Ooh. (RECORD SCRATCHES) Ho. So, like this rugby pass, I have a tendency to go over people's heads. So let's back it up for a better explanation of these concepts. Tikanga and kawa are linked, but they're not one in the same. Tikanga is derived from the word tika, meaning right or correct. And it's a series of Maori customs or practises that are essentially the right way of doing things. Kawa can also include specific ceremonies, customs and protocols. But a key difference is that tikanga can be changed and adapted, like hongi, for example. Swapped out for the tukemata high five to keep people safe during COVID. Kawa, on the other hand, can't be changed and stays constant. An example of kawa you might have come across could be the order of speakers during whaikorero. - Tikanga is just... basic life skills. How to keep your marae clean and tidy. How to manaaki manuhiri. What you do in a powhiri. It does mean that you grow up in an environment where you feel safe, and that's what a marae is all about. And understanding your role on the marae is also part of tikanga. - Tikanga is just common sense. Don't sit on the table. Why? Because you don't sit on the place where you're going to eat off next. Don't wear your shoes in the whare. Why? You don't want to take all the dirt from outside into your whare and have to vacuum it, you know? - Another practice that has its own tikanga or protocol is whaikorero. Oratory ` often on a marae, usually by a male. - E whanga ana kia timata nga korero i tenei taha. Mea rawa ake, ka timata mai... (ALL CHUCKLE) Some of the tikanga pertaining to whaikorero are... some grassroots ones that I was taught when I was little. Don't put your hands in your pocket. Stand with pride. (PERFORMS WHAIKORERO) Keep your gaze up. You need to look at who you are talking to you. You're engaging with them in your whaikorero, so that's really, really important. Don't stand looking at the ground like this. This isn't commanding ` (LACKLUSTRE) Tihei mauri ora. You want everybody to pay attention to you. Hence ` (LOUDLY) Tihei mauri ora! Bang. You've got them. They're listening. Everybody's all ears, listening to what you have to say on the marae. - Tapu and noa are two key concepts of te ao Maori that underpin a lot of what we do, or don't do, and why. Tapu is often translated to mean ` And noa is said to be something ` Essentially the opposite of tapu. If you think of them on a spectrum with tapu at one end and noa at the other, one of the most tapu things we have is our dead. And on the other extreme, one of the most noa things is cooked food. You don't want to mix the two, which is why we don't eat or take kai near our dead. And, then, once all the formalities are over on the marae, we also eat cooked food that is noa, to help remove any tapu that might remain after a pohiri, for example. - Everybody has their own personal tapu, and places have their tapu as well. And tapu levels can rise and fall, depending on the kind of encounter you have, the kind of context you're in, an experience you might have. And if your tapu levels rise, then that means that you could be vulnerable to things, whether those be spiritual things, physical things, whatever. It just makes you a little bit more vulnerable. And, so, you need to do something to rectify that, and to rebalance your tapu levels and bring them back into normality. It's all about balance and making sure that, in terms of your well-being, all of the different facets of your well-being are all intact and all normalised so you can function properly. - Clearly the concepts of tapu and noa are big topics that we could spend a lot more time exploring. But for now, just know that tapu and noa help to keep us aware of ourselves and our environments ` to keep us safe. To me, the whare kai is the other most important part of the marae. It's the only place you can safely have a feed. This place has also got its own tikanga, like no hats at the table. None of these on the table` - Ew, cuz. That's unhygienic. - QUIETLY: Cuz, it was only a joke. - Anei, you two. - Gotta make the place look beautiful, eh, Auntie? - Well, who would sit manuhiri at an ugly table? Not me. - Tika. - Well, you'd better get your butt back out into the kitchen and peel some kumara, then. - Far, neat all right, Auntie. Ka mau te wehi. It's true ` too many chefs spoil the boil up, and in most marae, it's pretty clear who the boss is in the kitchen, but everyone needs to be on the kaupapa. In other words, be willing to play their part, even if that means peeling the kumara or doing the dishes. - There's always a head of the whanau who is running that kitchen, and it's usually, often... dare I say it, but a grumpy auntie or something who's just good at whipping everyone into shape. - She's like the matriarch of the whole place. Even some of the male orators will be, you know, bow down to her and what she wants. - She's in the kitchen. She sings the songs. She's sometimes scary, but mostly loving. (LAUGHS) I'd put her at the top. She's the one. The kaitohutohu. - You're probably thinking to yourself, e ta, I can make a mean boil up. Maybe I could be the boss? Well, on the marae, you've got to earn your stripes. Meaning starting from the bottom and working your way up. - Yeah, I think it's about your presence on the marae, you know? The kanohi kitea, you know, so being ahi ka and being someone who's there at every hui, at every tangi, who's always a constant presence there, that increases your stock a bit, and your mana, in terms of what happens on the marae. And, then, you know, your longevity. So if you're consistently there over a long period of time, Eventually people are gonna start to take a lot of their direction from you and what you're saying, cos you've been there. You've observed everything. You've observed how people did it before, and you can use all of that knowledge to be able to tell people, now, how things should be done. - On the banks of the mighty Waikato River sits Turangawaewae Marae ` one of the country's most well-known marae, and home to the Maori monarchy. It's all hands on deck in the kitchen, because today's event will be attended by the man himself, Kingi Tuheitia Potatau Te Wherowhero VII, so it's extra important that the hakari ` or feast is bang on. Steering the ship is Whaea Glenda Raumati. She has the responsibility of making sure the kaimahi get the job done. Luckily, she has plenty of experience, and has been doing this mahi from a young age. We asked Glenda to give us a tour of the famous Kimora Kitchen. - We're down in the dungeon. This is the engine room of our marae. All the butchering of the meat's done here. The vegetables are all prepared. They spend days peeling riwai down here. This is also where they do all the seafood is all prepared. And all the kai's sent upstairs, and the cooks do their magic with it and send it out to our manuhiri. This is where we cook all our favourites at kai hakari. Our titi and puha. Creamed paua. Steak and Mushroom, which is one of our favourites here at Turangawaewae. We can feed up to 1500 people at our kai hakari, so, you know, that's why we need this scale of equipment. - The humming of the place. It's like a well-oiled machine, you know? Everyone's got their jobs. Nga ringawera. Nga kaiwhakapai whare. Nga kaiwhakaataahua i te whare. You know, everyone has their place. And, then, there are just some of those, mainly us townies, who come back and just say, 'Oh, can we help? 'Can we help?' But you know, not really. - I just go and do the dishes. It's the easy one. The dishes is like a good, safe bet. And you don't look lazy. - I will humbly say that I enjoy the dishes. K? I do. Sometimes the aunties do get a bit picky with how the dishes have been wiped. Cos, you know, you do, you wipe it, and if it's still got a bit of wet on them, you're gonna get the old twack with the tea towel. So it's best to just try and leave it alone. - Sometimes you get allocated a job. I think his cousins do that to me just to laugh at me, cos they make me be a waitress, and... I'm not amazing at it. I` I can give good chat, but, oh man, my arm's going in wrong places, and I'm thinking, 'Oh my gosh.' - Hika, you're not alone there, Stace. I'm all talk, not a lot of walk. Anyway, after the break, we look at how and why all this mahi gets done. - Hey, Toyota, what do I get for that? - You mean the price? - Yeah. - Well, that's the Toyota Driveaway Price, so pretty much everything. - Like everything everything? - Well... - Oh, yeah. That's not bad. - Ooh! I'm not done. Plus all on-road costs, like registration, a full tank of fuel and floor mats. - (BLOWS RASPBERRY) That's heaps. - Don't forget ` you also get the car. - (CHUCKLES SOFTLY) That's a bonus (!) - Well, e te whanau, we've learnt a lot so far about some of the more subtle parts of Maori culture that govern behaviour on the marae, like the difference between things considered tapu ` or sacred, and things that are noa ` or commonplace. We've also learnt that every marae kitchen has one supreme boss lady keeping everything on track. Do whatever you can to keep her on your side. Marae kitchens are run with military-like precision ` and they have to be. They feed hundreds, sometimes thousands of people at hui. We don't always get the notice for these hui, but whanau will drop tools and make it happen, cos it all goes back to this idea of mana. Being a good host and looking after your manuhiri. - Maori just know how to pivot. We know how to adapt. We can make things happen out of thin air. You know? The breethas will be down getting the kina and the paua and the fishing, and, then, somebody from the local garden will bring a whole bunch of kai. Somebody will hit up this organisation and they'll bring heaps of fish in. It's all voluntary. Like, nobody gets paid to work at the marae. It's that collective way of being. The whanau are just happy to help, to volunteer, to make it work. - We all go to the marae. I mean, we've got raruraru with each other. You know, 'You owe me $100 from last week. I lent you that. 'And you stole my car. Your mokopuna pinches my car.' All those things. But ka haere mai ki tetahi hui, ka waiho era take ki te taha. Ka mahi te mahi mo te kaupapa ki mua i a tatou. - Speaking of getting it done, Glenda and her crew are putting on an exhibition of coordination and teamwork, as they prepare for the moment of truth. All eyes are on the guest of honour, Kingi Tuheitia, who's been looking forward to today's special hakari. - This is the control point for the kai going out to our manuwhiri. The people downstairs in the dungeon who've done all the preparation, it's come up here into the kitchen. The cooks have done their work, and now, from this point, it's sent out into the dining room to feed our manuwhiri. And we put a lot of effort into making sure that every time somebody walks into our dining room, they leave happy and contented. We have hapu and marae that travel from around Waikato, who come and help us, cos we, Turangawaewae, we can't do this on our own. It requires the awhi and support of the whole iwi. Most of us have followed our parents into these roles, and in some cases, their great-grandparents and grandparents. So everybody knows what their responsibilities are. And everybody takes great pride in what they're doing. - OK. We get it. When in need, the whanau are there to help. But why? Why do they volunteer and what's in it for them? A large part of the explanation relates to this thing called mana. Mana relates to prestige, power or influence. Mana can be a birthright, but a person can also lose or increase their mana depending on their actions. Mana gives a person the authority to lead, organise and to make decisions regarding social and political matters. - Ko te mahi nui a te hau kainga, he manaaki i te tangata. You know, the symbol of a marae with mana is those who really look after you. - On our marae, they are serving up the best food that they can serve up. Top, best quality food. And that all comes back down to the mana and how much mana means. It's still something that's really, really important to us as Maori ` is mana looking after mana, enhancing other people's mana. You know, it's still quite central to how we think about a lot of things, and why we put so much effort into making sure that our food is the best it can be. It tastes absolutely superb. And all we want back from that is for people to say, 'Wow. If you go to that marae, you get the best feed ever.' You know, that's, to us, that kind of feedback enhances our mana. - You know, I think it's love. Love for the kaupapa. Love for our marae. Even love for one another. You know, we might` we have our little tiffs, and you would expect that an operation as vast as this there will be. But, ultimately, that's really the essence of how we manage to do what we do here. - So along with mana, the other secret ingredient that makes the Maori world go round is aroha ` love. It's also true that on the marae, one good turn deserves another. In other words, your hard mahi won't go unnoticed by the aunties and uncles. When the time comes for your 21st or wedding celebrations, they'll have your back. It's this understanding of give and take that allows Maori to host events at short notice and on mega budgets. - NARRATOR: As night falls, the fires are lit for the biggest hangi that has been built here for many years. There is much to be cooked, and it's cooked in traditional style. - So we've discussed the importance of manaakitanga, and for Maori, nothing speaks to that manaakitanga more than providing a good hangi. For many of us, it only takes one whiff of that unmistakeable aroma to invoke fond memories. - I'm a huge fan of hangi. But, you know, the best hangi in the world is the one that was cooked where the meat was put straight on the hot stones. So it's all sort of nice and clean and tidy now, which is cool. But the best part of the meat when I was a child was all the pakapaka bits that stuck to the stones. All the kids, actually, used to run around and pick the bits off the hot stones. It was like part of the hangi coming out. And that` you know, it's all that pakapaka, and` oh, so yum. (CHUCKLES) - I will take any hangi. Like, I can go to a Matatini and eat hangi every day. I don't know what it is. It must just be... part of who I am as a Maori maybe, but it's just the goods. It really is. - Do you know what a hangi is? - Yes. I tried hangi and it was delicious. - Kia ora. - And I know it takes quite some time to prepare it, and to make sure it's gonna be that delicious. - Yeah. Have you tried hangi? - I have. Yeah. - What were your thoughts? - It's pretty good. - It's very nice. Ah, yummy. - Do you know what the secret ingredient is to a hangi? - Ah, no. - Love. - Love, yeah. - Oh, OK. She knows. (ALL LAUGH) - Were you a little bit worried when you saw them covering it with dirt? - Not at all. I mean, in my culture, we also roast food directly in coal, like in the fire. And it's good. I'm not worried. I think it helps for the health and the immunity of people. - Kia ora. How's our hangi hole? Ohh, come on you fullas. What ` you slept in this morning? Hard to find good help around here. I tell ya. When people think of the Maori culture, they tend to think of the haka or hangi. Sorry to break it to you, folks, but we don't eat this stuff every day. I mean, who wants to get up at 4 o'clock in the morning and light the fire? The hangi is a practical way of feeding lots of people. All you need to do is dig a big hole, build a big fire, put your rocks on top, food on top, cover it up, wait a couple hours, then, hika, Bob's your unkara. Sounds simple, right? But there's actually a bit of a science behind a good hangi. You need to know the right dirt, the right rocks, the right firewood, and just like out the front how you need a good kaikorero, out here, you need someone who knows their way around a hangi pit. Eh, matua? - Eah, what would you know, eah? - Well, I mean, you know... little` a little bit. You fullas keep going, eh? Auntie's gonna growl you soon. Never mind those fullas. Allow me to take you to the beautiful west coast of Tamaki Makaurau, where a true hangi pit master lives and breathes this time-honoured tradition. This idyllic backdrop is the home and office of Rewi Spraggon. Combining traditional knowledge and years of experience, Rewi knows how to put down a good hangi. In fact, with the help of his right-hand man Nikau, he's turned his passion for making hangi into a full-time business. - So, hangi come from our early ancestors who left Hawaiki, actually. Kupe ` the guy who founded Aotearoa. He came down here and he actually brought that methodology with him. So hangi came from Polynesia down to Aotearoa, known as umu, hima'a and other variations of names in the islands. Here we call it hangi. Ha meaning the breath of life, the ha. And the ngi is the internal spark of the land, of the earth. The internal spark of Papatuanuku. So, ha-ngi. There are many types of stones, volcanic rock ` there's basalts, there's andesite, there's a whole lot of different rocks. River rocks. There's different grades of rocks, you see? There's finer grades. So it's more or less experimenting. I'm also using my grandfather's rock. I never met him, but he taught my father. My father taught me and my brothers and sisters. And when I cook, he cooks with me. And so that whole handing down of the kohatu to the next generation, you're cooking with the old people. - Once the rocks have reached their peak temperature, the remaining embers need to be removed before the kai goes in. - The types of wood to use in a hangi are manuka, pohutukawa. They're hot burning wood, so they'll heat the rocks up perfectly. Whereas if you use totara and those types of wood, it'll take a lot longer to get the stones right up to heat. And the flavour, too, of manuka's amazing. So our meat goes in the bottom. We then put our vegetables on top. - Muslin cloth is commonly used to wrap the vegetables and stuffing, for it's strength and neutrality. Once all the kai is in, the pit is covered first by a sheet, followed by potato sacks. - This will get to 700 Celsius, and that's as hot as it'll get. It won't get any hotter, but when you start covering it, then it'll just circulate like a conventional oven. And that's the difference with hangi ` slow cooking, but amazing flavours. - After the break, we unearth Rewi's traditional hangi and we try cooking in a steamer. It's controversial. - So, we've now got a better handle on the concept of mana and how it relates to one's pride and prestige. And manaakitanga ` the importance of looking after one's guests. We also know that serving up the best kai possible at the marae is really important stuff. Take it from me ` if you fail to deliver, you will be judged. - NARRATOR: For days, guests have arrived at the marae, and every part of the district has sent food to be cooked in a great hangi of hot stone. - Hangi is our traditional cooking method for large gatherings. And, boy, is it delicious. But as Rewi has shown us, it's also labour intensive and takes ages. So we've made life easier. Like I said, e te whanau, hangi made easy. I know some of you Harry Hardouts at home will be saying, 'Oi, that's not a real hangi!' Well, we've got manuhiri showing up in a couple of hours, so this will do. Plus, if you think about it, no 4am wake-ups, no cutting firewood, no digging holes, no unsafe fires. Sounds pretty good to me, right? So this is how you prep hangi in the 2020s. Tuatahi ` gas. Make sure you got gas in your bottle and turn it open. Tuarua ` for earthy flavour, add wood chips and water. Tuatoru ` miti and stuffing at the bottom. Tuawha ` veggies. Healthy. Lid on. There you have it, e te whanau. Easy as. - E tama. You forgot something. - That's right, Auntie. The secret ingredient. A sprinkling of aroha, eh? - No, you egg. The steam pudding. - And the steam pudding. But the secret ingredient is actually aroha. Sh-Sh-She doesn't know. - Is ground hangi a dying art form? Growing up, I used to see it all the time. But more and more, I go home or go to these fundraisers, it's hangi cookers. Steamed hangi. In a cooker. Not in the ground. And it tastes different. It does. Cos you can just taste the mauri of Papatuanuku inside the ground hangi. - I'm a big hangi fan, so I will take any hangi. I don't even care. But a good traditional hangi in the ground, I don't know what it is. It must be something about the dirt that just gives it that extra flavour. But if you have to have, like, a modern hangi in a cooker, just have a little bit of those manuka chips to give that smoky flavour. Still as good, I reckon. I'll still eat it. - They taste pretty good too, to me. You can even do it in the oven now. And it still has that hangi taste. Not quite the taste that it has when it comes out of the earth, but it gets pretty close. Gets pretty close. But the thing with, you know, digging the hole and lighting the fire and all that is it becomes a whole-day kind of... - Production. - Production. And there's... you know, there's a lot of bonding that happens amongst people who are preparing a hangi. They talk. They dig the hole and they're talking about what's happening in their lives and all that kind of thing. It's really good quality time, and you don't get that with the modern ones, because they can be done so quickly. - OK. So we all agree that nothing tastes as good as traditional hangi. Speaking of which, it's time for Rewi and Nikau to pull up their hangi. Let's take a look. - When you look at the origins of hangi and going back to Papatuanuku and the teachings of our old people, a hangi isn't a hangi if it's cooked with gas, if it's cooked in stainless steel. It has to be cooked in the ground. That's why it's called hangi. The internal spark of the ground, not the internal spark of LPG. The preparation and putting it all together, from gathering the wahie ` the firewood, to stacking it, to digging the hole, the pit, there's a lot of aroha and sweat and love that goes into that. You can turn the gas on, for sure, but the flavours will not be the same. The flavours of the manuka and the dirt, you cannot mimic that. But, for us, the end goal is to make sure your manuhiri is fed. And it is your mana at stake. You are representing your hapu, your iwi. That whanau and your mana's at stake. And if it doesn't work out, man, that'll be the last time you see them in the kitchen. So that's the importance of these hakari. You can't get it wrong. And it's years of learning. By right, you're supposed to nurture these people through to get to that skill and get to this place of being a master. Every papa kainga, every village had a hangi master. And we're losing that skill cos of steamers and gas cookers and all that. So it is important that we hold on to the tikanga of hangi. - Well, I have to admit, Rewi's hangi does look tino reka. And if you've had a hangi before, you'll know the best part of it all is the stuffing. - Yeah, stuffing. It's all about the butter. So you use a loaf of bread and you have half a pound of butter. That's my ratio. So it's a good dollop of butter. And everyone loves a good stuffing, cos bread actually takes on the smokiness and the flavour of the earth, more so than the proteins and the root veg. You can really get the flavour going through the stuffing. And so when you eat that stuffing, it's like, 'My God.' It is just amazing. - The stuffing is the best part. Stuffing. Stuffing with, like, heaps of butter. - It's the stuffing. We love a good hangi because that stuffing is so good. Well, that's why I love it. And, um... it's healthy. It's steamed. - After the break ` we take everything we've learned so far and put it to the test. - So, we've learnt about some important pillars of Maori culture. Mana, manaakitanga and aroha make the Maori world go around. And at the centre of that world is the marae. But, for many who live ages away from their home marae, urban marae were created to act as a home away from home for Maori in the city. - He taua! He taua! (MEN EXCLAIM, KAIKARANGA CALL) - My grandmother, Ereti Paraone, Ereti Brown, was one of the many community leaders within West Auckland who saw a need for a marae where... nga iwi o te motu. All the urban Maori, especially, could come and farewell their mate. And could come and share in the good times as well. Huritau, ra whanau, anniversaries, anything. We needed a home, so they banded together to fundraise for this marae. We were from nga hau e wha, and yet a lot of us would say that Hoani Waititi Marae is our marae. - Even though we're in the city, we've grown up on a marae. We've been, you know, immersed in tikanga, kawa, te reo Maori. All of these things. Our marae is a microcosm of our ao Maori. - I hope that we, and our kids, will continue to do everything we can so that our marae continues to powhiri and care for our whanau from around the motu. - PRIEST: In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. - Marae are wahi tapu, or sacred places, which means, as we've discussed, there are a bunch of rules that you must respect when you're there. But remember, these rules were designed to keep us safe, and not to give Auntie a reason to growl us. - My advice to you ` mm, go with the flow. Don't be scared to ask questions. And if you make a mistake, kei te pai. Take it as a learning opportunity. Plus, you might make someone laugh. Hey, that's the other thing. Maori and humour go hand in hand. Even in the most inappropriate of occasions, Maori will find a laugh in there somewhere. Can be sure of that. Kia ora, Auntie. - Kia ora. - Hey, how's Uncle? - Hmm, which one? - (CHUCKLES) Which one (!) - They're both dead. - Oh what? - Ae. - Dead? - Yeah. - Oh my gosh. You ate them both up? - Yeah. You got one for me? - (CHUCKLES) Oh, come on, Auntie. How many you had, man? - Two. - Getting a bit greedy there, Auntie. Hika! - Never greedy. - (LAUGHS) - I think any time, ahakoa te kaupapa, ahakoa he mea pukuriri, he mea taumaha, he mea pouri, he kaha no tatou te Maori ki te puta i tera kapua pouri kia harikoa, kia koakoa haere a tatou whanau me a tatou hoa. - You know, when... if we've got a hui mate on and all our aunties and our nannies are there, and they could be laughing and carrying on and joking with each other, sometimes e ngau tuara ana ` talking about each other, backstabbing each other. But then as soon as that mate arrives to the waharoa, it's, like, from this laughter. And they just switch into, you know, crying and full on karanga, and you're just like, 'How did that happen?' - I've been to many tangihanga, and they are all amazing. Amazing to see whanau grieve openly. Amazing to see whanau share thoughts and stories that you'd never heard. And most of the time everybody's laughing and not necessarily crying. And that also is one of the amazing aspects of tangihanga on a marae. And that's also about feeling safe. It's always about feeling safe, being able to share and let everything go, because you know that you have your whanau around you to support you. - But the other thing, of course, is the joy of coming together as a whanau. I mean, that's really powerful. You don't know today, in the modern context, you don't know when you're going to see them again. So there's a certain amount of joy, reconnecting, reminiscing. All that happens when you come together at a marae. - Shot, cuz So there you have it, e te iwi. I've walked you through the powhiri, shown you around the marae, and introduced you to all the big players. I hope you actually learn something. If anything, I hope you learn that this is beautiful and unique to us as Maori. And I know the serious stuff, the traditional stuff, the stuff that we hold on to so dearly can be scary. Just know that in te ao Maori, duality is important. So tapu, noa. Wahine, tane. Okawa, opaki. For all the serious stuff we have at the marae, there's also all the funny, hard case stuff that you will only ever see at the marae. So next time you get an opportunity, take it up. If you get invited to a marae, go. Because I promise you, it's worth it. You fullas are fast. You fullas gonna sort this out? All good with the dishes? Yeah? Ka pai. # Kua mutu ra te hui. # He aha te mea nui? # Our hui is now done. # We have connected. # We have become one. MIMICS CUZZIE: Cuz. You already heard that waiata. Ooh. Tika tau, cuz. # Yeah. Mm-hm. Whakarongo mai, whakarongo mai. Aunty, kei te pai? Here's a story about the marae. # Yeah. Hey! # Wharenui, whareiti me te whare kai. # Etahi wahanga o te marae. # Community house, restaurant/cafe, # museum, hotel and a cool place to stay. # You got your auntie, your uncle, your treaty partner cousins. # Your beef, your lamb, your mussels by the dozen. # The cleaners, the peelers, and your big players. # Hot rockers, dockers and your poor slayers. # Yeah. # Shout out to all my cuzzies at the marae! # Uh. # This is where you flush. # This is where you fry. # Don't put your bum here in the whare kai. # You can have your birthday. You can have your tangi. # We can be serious. We can be funny. # We sing. We cry. We like our kapa haka. # We laugh out loud. Hard case puku kata. # Ha-ha, ha-ha, guaranteed a good time. # Yeah. Only at the marae. # Yeah. # Di-ha! # To the doitz! # Yeah. # Whoo! # A connection to my tupuna. Born and raised. # On the marae is where we stand staunch in our ways. # This is our home where we hold a hui. # Tiaki, manaaki, aroha nui. # Kawa, tikanga, tapu and noa. # Mana motuhake. Maori lore. # So haere mai ki te marae # to see te ao Maori come alive. # Yeah, bei. # Only at the marae. # Only at the marae. # Only at the marae. #