Hura Kohatu, the Unveiling
It was an ambivalent day, the day of my great grandmother Moewaka Jane Rapana’s unveiling, ambivalent how? Well, neither the day nor the weather could agree who was going to have first say about how events would pan out and eventually we left them to argue between themselves like siblings in a childhood dust up.
We mere mortals knew better than to poke our noses into that one, so moved sheep-like into the wharenui to receive instructions from the kaumatua (male Elder) about the morning’s proceedings and have a brief karakia (prayer) before the short one kilometre walk along a grassed road up to the urupa (cemetery) where my great grandmother lay ‘sleeping’ beside her beloved Arka (her son Tamati Waruhau).
As I walked hand in hand with my daughter Mede (our family name for my daughter Amiria), swinging our clasped hands between us like children on a school outing, talking ninety-to-the-dozen about this and that, the day seemed to have won Round One in the tussle of how the weather ought to be behaving! For its part, the weather was being a little too coy to be true!
The walk to the gate of the urupa required just a bit more of an effort than a walk in the park but finally we stood able to see lush green paddocks to our left and on our right the sea and surrounding coastline of the Kaipara Peninsula. “For Maori, in earlier years the rich resource of the South Kaipara peninsula provided a favourable living environment. The visible and varied archaeological landscape of South Head was a constant reminder of its more populous past.
The small bay near South Kaipara Head, Matahaorua, commemorates Kupe’s canoe and was the site of Alfred Buckland’s 1885 wharf. Turi sailed around North Cape and brought his canoe, Aotea, into the Kaipara to retie its lashing and he named the place now called Shelly Beach after his canoe.
In the 14th century the Arawa chief, Kahumatamomoe, travelled to the Kaipara to visit his nephew at Poutu, at a feast given by Taramainuku he was so impressed with the cooked root of the fern, para, that he gave the name Kai-para to the district. He and his party remained in the area for some time probably living on the shores of the Waionui Inlet.”
McCahon on the Far North
The New Zealand artist Colin McCahon wrote of the furthest reaches of Northland: ‘The real Far North of New Zealand is unlike any other part of the land. I can’t talk about it. I love it too much. It’s a painful love loving a land, it takes a long time. I stood with an old Māori lady on a boat from Australia once – a terrible rough and wild passage. We were both on deck to see the Three Kings – us dripping tears. It’s there that the land starts’.
I understood what he was saying McCahon and you would have too if you’d been standing in my shoes that morning. The view brings tears to a person’s heart, it’s that beautiful, fact.
Our darling Aunty Queenie (our great grandmother’s daughter) with her silver hair and golden heart stood with us at the gate to the urupa, where we were waiting for the call of the karanga, this ancient maori call or summons, an element of cultural protocol. It is an exchange of calls that forms part of the powhiri or Māori welcoming ceremony. It takes place as a visiting group moves onto the marae or this case, as we moved to the cemetery site.
Karanga
Karanga are carried out almost exclusively by women and in Māori language, they are initiated by the tangata whenua or hosts, and responded to by us the visitors. It felt deeply moving to me as not one but three tangata whenua women called to us, their voices making a pathway for us to follow to the resting place of our Nanny Moewaka. My cousin Frances returned these karanga from our family to the tangata whenua, it was an immensely moving and meaningful moment to me.
The karanga follows a particular format in keeping with protocol that includes exchanging greetings, paying tribute to the dead (especially those who have most recently died) and referring to the reason that has brought the two groups together. As we, her whanau (family) stood at her grave side the wind came up and buffeted us so that we drew in close to each other and a soft rain fell. Among the maori they consider this kind of rain the tears of their ancestors. Like kisses rained upon us by them, happy to see us. I felt she was our Nanny, happy to see us and glad we had come.
TIKANGA: Hura Kohatu
“A Hura Kohatu is a hui that is usually held one year after a person has died to unveil their stone. It is also called an unveiling. The unveiling of the stone itself is a modern adaptation but the principles of the hura kohatu stem from traditional times.
The fundamental principles of the Hura Kohatu are to ensure that the person has not been forgotten and to help the Whanau Pani through the grief process. Like the tangihanga, a Hura Kohatu is a chance to re-affirm whanau (family) ties, to meet again with long lost relations, to meet relations that you may never have seen and a chance for the children of that whanau to meet their aunts and uncles again. It is also a chance for people who may have missed the tangihanga to come and pay their last respects.
PROCEDURES
Powhiri
As with all Maori Hui, the Hura Kohatu usually commences with a Powhiri.
Preparing the Stone
After the stone has been placed on the grave it is covered until the Hura Kohatu. If the stone is a few days early, it is usually covered with black polythene and on the day of the Hura Kohatu the ‘Unveiling Cloth’ is placed on the stone and then the polythene is removed.
The Unveiling Cloth
Some whanau have a korowai (cloak) or a similar cloth that is used at all of the whanau Hura Kohatu. For whanau who do not have a whanau unveiling cloth and wish to make one, choose something appropriate to reflect the person and whanau.
Who does the unveiling?
The people who do the unveiling itself are the people that the whanau feels are most appropriate, due to their relationship with the deceased.
The Unveiling
The cloth can be unveiled in two ways, forward, so that it comes in front of the stone, or backward so that it goes behind the stone. If the cloth comes forward it means that is available to be requested for the next whanau Kura Kohatu.
The cloth usually goes forward if there has been another death between the time of the person whose unveiling it is and the whanau have asked for it. It is then formally requested.
If the cloth goes backward it means that the cloth is not up for request or there has not been another death in the whanau. Some whanau make new cloths for each Hura Kohatu and therefore the cloth always goes backwards at those whanau Hura Kohatu.
Speaking
During the powhiri, it is set as to who speaks. At the urupa (cemetery) others usually speak to say their final farewalls, similar to the tangihanga.”
