Lessons from the past

Recently I have been enjoying growing my understanding of tikanga pratices through Te Wananga Aotearoa course He Papa Tikanga. The course has inspired me to write this post. We have started to think about whakaakaro Māori which is more than just 'thinking', it is a 'way of being' to enrich one's life. There were many ways of passing knowledge and wisdom down from the tūpuna to the tamariki.

Pūrākau, whakataukī, waiata, whakairo and whaikōrero were some of the ways wisdom was passed from generation to generation. It was in examining one of the pūrākau that generated excitement and I must say absolute delight for me as I thought of the wisdom that was shared through the words and actions of Ka Mate, because this ties so much the views of my whānau.

Here is the story of Ka Mate taken from Ngāi Toa Rangatira website: https://www.ngatitoa.iwi.nz/ka-mate/the-origins-of-ka-mate

Ka Mate was composed by the Ngāti Toa chief Te Rauparaha, descendent of Hoturoa, captain of the Tainui canoe, born 1760s at Kawhia, died 1849 at Ōtaki.

The story of the composition of Ka Mate is well known within the oral histories of Ngāti Toa and Ngāti Tūwharetoa, the two iwi (tribes) most associated with the haka’s origins.

During a period of imminent conflict against the powerful Waikato and Ngāti Maniapoto iwi, Te Rauparaha journeyed from Kawhia to seek alliances with other tribal groups, one of those being Tūwharetoa who lived in the Lake Taupō region.

When he arrived at Te Rapa, which is located near Tokaanu he was told by Te Heuheu, the Paramount Chief of Tūwharetoa that he was being pursued by a war party from Ngāti Te Aho, who wanted revenge for a previous incident involving Ngāti Toa.

Te Heuheu directed Te Rauparaha to go to Lake Rotoaira to seek the protection of his relative Te Wharerangi.

At Lake Rotoaira, Te Wharerangi reluctantly agreed to assist Te Rauparaha and as the war party closed on their quarry guided by the incantations of their tohunga [scholar/priest] he instructed Te Rauparaha to climb into a kumara pit and for his wife, Te Rangikoaea to sit on top. By combining the spiritual qualities of a woman (“the Noa”) and of food, Te Wharerangi was able to weaken the tohunga’s power.

When the pursuers arrived, Te Rauparaha could feel the power of the incantations and is said to have muttered“Ka Mate! ka mate!” under his breath (Will I die!) and “Ka Ora! ka ora!” (or will I live!) when the Noa reduced the incantation’s effect. These lines were repeated many times coinciding with the waxing and waning of the tohunga’s power until eventually Ngāti Te Aho were convinced by Te Wharerangi that Te Rauparaha had escaped towards Taranaki. It was then that he finally exclaimed “Ka ora, ka ora! Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru nāna nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā!” (I live! I live! For it was indeed the wondrous power of a woman (“the Noa”) that fetched the sun and caused it to shine again!)
“Upane, kaupane”, means “to line up in abreast or in rows”, as one does to perform haka.
One could imagine his joy at not only eluding certain death by a mere whisker, but also coming out of the dark kumara pit into the light of day – “Whiti te rā! Hi!”

There are several lessons from this pūrākau, I want to focus on the celebration of life and the things we take for granted. We should appreciate everyday that we wake up and be grateful for our lives. We should enjoy successes however small they may seem.

I would like to tell you my own personal story. Several years ago my Mum was diagnosed with cancer. We were leaving the doctors after hearing the diagnosis and my Mum, who never swore said, "this is shit". This comment took my mind back to when I was a child, who had somehow managed to swallow a sixpence. My Mum had the unpleasant task of searching through my bowel motions (more pleasant than saying shit) to find the sixpence, making sure it had passed through my system.

As Mum's illness progressed, and it did at a really rapid pace, we spent our time looking for the sixpences in amongst the shit. We collected old sixpences and purchased an art board so we could record the moments that we were grateful for even in the midst of the hard times. For example, Mum might have had a really kind nurse or one day she had a Scottish nurse, this became the sixpence that day. We glued the sixpence and wrote down what this small coin represented. It did not take long before we heard other whānau members exclaiming their gratitude for the small things, the sound of 'that's a sixpence' were heard often as we remembered that there were still small but significant things to be thankful for.

Of course this did not take away the reality that Mum was soon going to pass but the action of remembering what we still had to be grateful for gave us all the attitude and resilience to carry on through an incredibly tough journey.
Why do I want to share this story with you? I have written in the past about gratitude but I thought that again during these hard time where there is uncertainty due to Covid 19 that we should remember that there are many things we need to still be grateful for, both professionally and personally.
Early childhood education feels often like it is under seige of negative thoughts and attitudes, taking us all into a space of lack. It is not that happy people are grateful but that grateful people are happy. What are some of things you are grateful for as a kaiako in your centre?
My challenge to you is to follow the lead of Te Rauparaha and remember to proclaim the things you are grateful for. Start each of your kaiako hui with thinking about a moment in that day, that week or month that you are grateful for. I believe that it is important for the resilience building of our ECE community to remember what we are grateful for, it does not take away the difficult times, it does not say that hard times don't exist but it does give us clarity of mind to face those challenges in a more solution focused way.

WHAT ARE YOU GRATEFUL FOR?