Voice of a River
There’s a short contemporary saying here among the people of the Whanganui awa (river). “The river calls us.” I KNOW this expression, I really do. I know it in the very heart of my being. I have no known affiliation with this river but it called to me and I felt I had to come. Hard to explain really, on any level.
How does anyone hear a call in their life when sometimes it’s barely a whisper? How? I feel we have to be listening despite our speech, be willing to feign deafness against a persistent barrage of modern world noise. We need to lean in closely or at least close enough so we can hear our own heartbeat and the heartbeat of the other one speaking. This listening and leaning in, I find them to be altogether intentional acts.
I often place my fingertips together forming a steeple-like structure with my hands, it’s my other way of feeling my heart beat. Curiously and despite his silence I can’t hear Craig’s heartbeat yet of all my travelling companions he is the least talkative. Infact he’s rarely spoken at all during this trip. I feel near but far away from him too. I’m not bothered particularly by this feeling of distance but it has with it a sense of his containment that I want to respect but walk around inside of too.
As we continued our drive to Hiruharama (Jerusalem) we approached Parikino. It’s about 24 kms from Whanganui city, the home of Ngāti Tūrea. The old name of the pā here was Tuke-a-maui and it stood on the rising ground on the cliff side of the river, on the opposite bank, above Kai-tangata. It’s now known as Parikino pā but located on the river road side of the awa now.
Pungarehu Marae and Parikino Pā are sister marae that are nestled beneath the korowai (cloak) of their maunga (mountain) Punakewhitu. They sit beside the Tupua and Whanganui rivers and are linked through their eponymous ancestors, Tuera and Hinearo.
There are three whare puni (sleeping houses) within the hapū (extended families within the tribe). Maranganui II is situated at Pungarehu, while Wharewhiti and Te Aroha are located at Parikino Pā. At Pungarehu, 3 km south, the original Maranganui meeting house was built for Ngāti Tūrea by noted carver Hōri Pukehika.
“Hori Pukehika carved the meeting house of the Takarangi family, named Te Pakū built at Putiki, Whanganui. I’ll see his work when I return to Whanganui at Easter where I’m attending a hui (conference) in this very meeting house.
Hori, as a boy, watched the carvers at work. The head carver was working on the tekoteko human figure to surmount the front gable end when the call came for the midday meal. He had been watching with longing eyes, and as the carver had left his chisel and mallet beside the work, he picked them up and commenced to carve the tattoo lines on the unfinished side of the face. He became so engrossed that he did not hear the craftsman return.
He was surprised by an exclamation, and raising his head, he saw the head carver gazing with interest and surprise at what he had done. Hori dropped the tools in fear, but the old man looked at him kindly and asked, “Would you really like to learn to carve?” “Yes,” replied the boy. ”
Very well,” said the kindly expert, “meet me over there on the bank of the river just before sunset.” At the place and time appointed, the old man told Hori to strip and, removing his own clothes, they waded out into the water to waist depth.
Just as the sun was setting, the master carver recited a ritual chant, sprinkled the boy with water, and Hori became an entered apprentice in the exclusive guild of builders and carvers. Hori said, “If you look at the tekoteko on Te Pakū, you will notice that on one side of the face, the lines are not quite regular.” Then with a deprecating smile, he added, “The crooked lines are mine.”
I’ll be looking for those crooked lines when I return at Easter but in the meantime the river road continues it’s serpentine crawl. And we crawl with it. I hear the awa (river) calling me on further, a soft persistent karanga, this quiet voice of the river inside my heart.
