Rehua Marae Visit

A fantastic experience was had by the Pukeko Pārua at Rehua Marae yesterday. The children were captivated from our initial call on to the Marae by the Kaikaranga. Her job was to announce our arrival onto the Marae. We followed protocol with the women and girls leading the way and then we moved to the Wharenui where we removed our shoes.

Once inside, the Kaikorero (speaker) began with a speech and a waiata (song). Our Kaikorero (Mr T) responded and our group then sang a beautiful rendition of Tutira Mai. The adults and the children then did a hongi (touching nose to nose and forehead to forehead). After the formal part of the process the children had something to eat and we spent the rest of the morning working on our marae booklets. The teachers, parents and caregivers were incredibly proud of the respect shown by the children while on the Marae. This was an amazing learning experience for our classes and they were still buzzing about it when we got back to school.