matariki - taku haerenga

[mymatariki]

Kia pai o matariki whanau ma

[mymatariki]

denial works for me

ok no bug. will deal with that at some point.

right around now i suddenly start obsessing about doing a Facebook matariki greeting.

i mean matariki is about sharing and if that's not what Facebook is about i don't know what is. 

so the next few nights i'm busy with some free photoshop look alike.

and this is what i get ...

[mymatariki]

aue!

the cat has been taking great interest in the rewana kaupapa. he loves to rub up against the warming drawer and sniff the bug. winds himself around my legs and wonders why i keep showering him in flour as i knead the bread. trips me up as i step back to get the loaf tins out of the drawer. what an angel he is.

the baking gets much easier after a while. i go onto auto pilot. prepare the dough last thing at night. throw the loaves in the oven first thing in the morning.

until the morning when i throw the loaves into the oven. am admiring their golden colour as they bake. then realise "holy shit, i forgot to save some bug".

OOPS

[mymatariki]

the feline helper

[mymatariki]

Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou ka ora ai te iwi

Nā tō rourou, nā taku rourou  ka ora ai te iwi

With your food basket and my food basket  the people will thrive

the production line is humming now. three of my workmates want to bake rewana too so i am breeding bug for them too. i take the bugs in and put them on the windowsill for them to take home.of course it is a cold wet and miserable wellington day and the bugs shrivel into themselves. excellent start.

[mymatariki]

[mymatariki]

rewana bread for matariki

i start baking rewana like a demon.

have friends and whanau over at the weekend - what do i feed them? rewana! what do i stuff into their bags as they're leaving? rewana!

do a matariki shout at work on the monday. take in loaves of rewana golden syrup, banana cake decorated with stars, and star cookies. and my pakeha workmates are all lining up to taste the rewana :O

wow they've never had it before. i insist they do it the maori way. never mind this healthy eating. lashes of butter then drown it in golden syrup and take a great big bite.

just like the kuia. 

[mymatariki]

[mymatariki]

[mymatariki]

te uri o mahinarangi

matariki is coming up and i decide to play it safe and bake with mahinarangi's bug. all good.

this bug is the real deal.

i give it a bit of flour sugar potato water and it goes totally ballistic! 

[mymatariki]

the bug lives

this loaf is edible and better still it doesn't send me running for the wharepaku (excuse the pun).

not quite sure whether the sour taste is this side of good or not though. i have a confab with my friend tim who suggests getting bug from his friend mahinarangi. well hey i'm pragmatic if nothing. why not?

mahinarangi comes up with the goods straight away and brings some into work to tim. i start getting emails from him throughout the day - come and get your bug ... it's growing ... it's scary ... this bug is looking to take over the world. awesome.

exciting i now have two bugs. i can start breeding them. i sit there dreaming.

ka moe a taku bug i te bug a mahinarangi...

ka puta te rewana!

[mymatariki]

[mymatariki]

mahia te mahi

meanwhile the rewana project awaits...

this bug is a better looking sweeter smelling one than the last so i bake some more bread. i play it safe again and throw in some yeast to make sure it rises. after all this work i am determined to get something bread-like out of it!

[mymatariki]

waiwhetu ano

the wharenui is really beautiful. they have carved figures of their ancestors, beautiful tukutuku, polished wooden floors. as ever there are the photos of those who have passed on and now shine in the heavens beyond.

the story of how they managed to build this marae, and more recently purchase the houses around it for their people. is really inspiring. It reminds how resilient pope can be, and how much we can achieve if we can just pull together.

i feel really uplifted after the visit. matariki's tiny eyes are opening mine.

[mymatariki]

Parihaka

[mymatariki]

manaakitanga and mamae

wow the people at this marae are so welcoming. the kaumatua tells us some of the history of this place. how the te atiawa people came here from parihaka after their land was confiscated by the british. the bastards. 

his daughter tells us about the kuri that mimi'ed on the gunpowder fuse and saved the people from being slaughtered in the wharenui. a vindication of their philosophy of passive resistance.

of course once they got to waiwhetu things weren't always roses either. goalposts being moved, always the insidious hunger of the settlers for more whenua, and when they couldn't get it by fair means, they changed the rules.

ka aroha. 

[mymatariki]

matariki kanohi iti

whakatauki