couronne en soutien à Tahei ia Tataa

E ngā whanaunga o Tahiti,

Tēnā koutou katoa e noho mai nā ki tēnā wāhanga o Te Moana Nui Ā Kiwa. Ko mātou tēnei, ko ngā hapū o Whangarei-Terenga-Parāoa, e tangi atu nei ki a koutou, ā, e mihi atu ana ki te kaupapa i tū ki Tata’a i ēnei rāngi kua pahure ake nei. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā rā tātou katoa.

I am writing to acknowledge the great gathering of people which took place at Tata’a on Saturday. I understand there were over 1,000 people present to encircle the ‘lei of aroha’ around La Pointe de Tata’a. When we include all the others, who like ourselves here in Aotearoa, joined together with you from our own countries to say pure and to remember the sacred and cultural importance of the Rerera’a Vārua of Tata’a, we can say there were many, many people from everywhere, joined together physically and spiritually by the ‘lei of aroha’ for this very special event. At the same time we each gave recognition to our own Rerenga Wairua, there on one of those many islands in the Pacific which we call home. And yet when the decendants of the Great-Ocean-of- Kiwa die and our souls depart from our own Rerenga Wairua, it is the same spiritual home we each return to and that is Hawaikī.

I hope some of you will have seen my song, my waiata, which I composed to greet the people gathered at Tata’a on Saturday. I have put it onto the blog of Moanaura Walker ‘Te Hiva Rereata’. It is my poem pour vous tous. Ia ora na Moanaura, thank you for your reply to me and for sharing my song with the tamaiti  Eric.

I will give another song here from the tribes called Te Rarawa and Te Aupōuri who live here in far north of Te Ika Ā Maui. They are the guardians of the ara wairua the spirit path which leads to our Rerenga Wairua. This is a song of farewell to the spirit of a young girl who has died;

He Waiata Tangi Mō Taku Tamahine
Lament For My Daughter

Kapua wherowhero
 Red clouds
E iri mai i te rangi
 Suspended in the skies

He tohu haerenga
 It is a sign of departure

Nō iwi wairua e
 Of spirit people

Rimurimu teretere
 Sea-weed drifting  (1)

Tere ana ki te moana
 Drifting on the ocean

E ahu ana ki te ripo
 Moved by the currents

I raro rā e
From the deep

Te puta rawa i Ahipara
 As you pass by Ahipara (my daughter)

Puta rawa i Awanui
 And on past Awanui

Keria mai he waikeri
 Dig a canal

He rerenga roimata e
 For my flowing tears

Ka kati, ka pūare
 They open and shut (2)

Ngā keti o Te Reinga
 The gates of Heaven

Ka kati, ka pūare
 They open and shut

I a wairua e
 As each spirit passes through

I mea ahau e hine
 I did say my daughter

He kai pai te aroha
 That love is a food tasting of sweetness

Kahore ia nei
 And now I say that it is not

He kai kawa e
 It is a food tasting of sourness

Te hurihanga i Murimotu
 The swirling winds of Murimotu

Te hurihanga i Te Reingareinga
 Are the winds which swirl over Te reinga

Te moana i kauria
 And are the winds swirling over the ocean

E tō wairua e
 Where your spirit swims home (to Hawaikī)

Naaku noa tēnei,

Nā

Taipari

(1) :(This verse describes the emotion of grief at the loss of a child. The parent has become like seaweed drifting on the ocean, moved by emotion from deep within)
(2) :(At the Rerenga Wairua here is an underwater sea cave. The seaweed swirling around there is like a gate opening and shutting as each spirit Passes through)

 


 

couronne en soutien à Tahei ia Tataa

dans le ciel aussi, une couronne toute blanche