Grief for Te Marae

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 739, 12 August 1929, Page 14

Grief for Te Marae

IMPRESSIVE MAORI BURIAL End to Huge Huntly Tangi (SUX'S Special Reporter.J HUNTLY, Today. GRIEVINjOr tribespeople cried their last farewell at the burial of the Waikato Maori Queen, Te Marae Mahuta, on sacred Taupiri Mountain yesterday afternoon. Two thousand natives bowed their heads, stricken with woe, as the funeral cortege left Waahi Pa, near Huntly. In Maori belief, Te Marae's tranquil spirit is watching from her hillside grave over the AVaikato River —the highway of the ehieftainess’s ancestors.

Stirred to the depths of their emotions, sorrowing women wailed farewell to Te Marae ou her way to Te Reinga, the Hereafter. The last scenes at the pa were weird. There, the true insight of the profound distress of the mourners was given. As the burial casket was lifted from its ceremonial shelter to the hearse, the fears and the sufferings of a week’s tangi rose from the clustering natives in a sustained cry. Shrouded in black shawls, a knot of women rocked to and fro in anguish. Like the sighing of forest winds, the sobbing of a thousand natives rose and fell in impressive changes of volume; from piercing cries of grief, the sound would sink with every effect to a dull monotone. Polynesia’s heart was probed. Tribal elders of noble lineage, natives of ordinary descent, youths and girls—all were swayed by a racial emotion unchanged by ages. One woman’s gesturings expressed the sorrow of the throng. She paced in front of the Mahuta home, wailing, with tears streaming down her cheeks. As the hearse passed the house, the woman stopped and flung her arms skywards. Across the pa centreground, the blue flag of the Maori “kings” was whipped by the wind and a brusque rainstorm. Sombre groups of natives were remembering the prowess of Te Marae’s family, and the pride of the “king” tribes in that blue bunting, with its quaint depictions of a crescent, a rainbow, stars and the Tainui canoe, sailed to New Zealand by Hoturoa, the Tahitian. FOLLOWED THE RIVER The road to the burial ground traversed the western bank of the Waikato, crossed Huntly bridge and led to Taupiri Mountain. Hundreds of Europeans watched the cortege. Directly behind the hearse was the car containing Sir Apirana Ngata and Princess Te Puea Herangi, of Ngaruawahia. Te Marae’s son, the Maori King, Rata Mahuta, was in a car near the end of the procession. The arrival at the mountain was marked by sustained wailing. Te Marae’s grave was near the top of a manuka and scrub-covered abutment of the hill, directly above the main road and the river, and a dozen men bore the coffin over the hill track. Many mourners, notably Sir Apirana Ngata, climbed the hill to the graveside, where the burial service was conducted in Maori by the Rev. Hori Raiti, of Huntly. Other clergymen attended. It was because of Te Marae’s wish to be buried in a native cemetery that she was not buried near the Hukanui tomb of her husband, King Mahuta, who died about 16 years ago. On arrival at the cemetery, the burial party was headed by Tawera te Whero Whero. Disconsolate natives straggled from the grave down the hill after the service. Back in the pa at Waahi, the atmosphere of gloom persisted throughout last night. Today comes the real effort to break free from the lingering impressions of the tangi. Many of the visiting parties of natives will return to their homes as soon as the proprieties are dispensed with. Sage and dignified Mita Taupopoki will take his Arawas back to Rotorua; Taite Te Tomo will return to Taupo; the Ngati-Tuwharetoa chieftainess, Eremora, to Tokaanu; Wi Kupe, of the Ngati-Awa tribe, to Taranaki; Mr. D. Ormsby and Wharehotu, to the King Country; the new Ngati-Haua chief, Terapipi, to Morrinsville; Te Kau-a.wa and Marae Erueti, of the Ngati-Mahuta, to Raglan and Kawhia; and Wi Tuka, of the Ngati-Toa, to Wellington. SIMPLE SORROW Te Marae was buried without pomp. The simplicity of the mass sorrowings, its genuine pathos—these added to the impressiveness. While the burial casket was lodged in its shelter since the previous Sunday, it was guarded, mainly by women, continually. Ceremonial mats were placed under the coffin, historical photographs of

the “king” line at the head. and. on the coffin, a magnificent korowai, or cloak, of kiwi feathers was draped. Sacred plumes topped the coffin. AH day and all night, the guardians of Te Marae's spirit sat solemnly beside the coffin. Subdued wailing scarcely ceased in those final hours at the pa. Saturday night'* vigil was stirring. A blustering wind swept the pa, and, in the flickering of the few lights, the dim figures of the mourners maintained their faithful watch.

It was their last show of loyalty to Te Marae, this unsleeping care of the dead Queen’s spirit. It was the only fitting way to usher Te Marae to her forebears in Te Reinga

Sunday’s grey, cheerless dawn revealed the same picture. Before the remainder of the pa began the routine for the day, Te Marae’s guardians had resumed their sorrowing. Daytime saw the ceremonial approach to the coffin of tribal representatives. They stood before the coffin, some in silence, some in agitated grief. Addresses of sympathy were made to Te Marae directly. Te Marae’s work for her race was extolled. PA ROUTINE PROCEEDS

And then, the contrast of ordinary pa life. Aside from the actual mourning, pa activities continued much in the ordinary way. Staid elders sat around the walls of the meetinghouse; laughing children played carelessly on the maraes; women tended the village fires. But Te Marae's death was not forgotten. The underlying note of the mass activities was sympathy. Among his people moved Te Marae's son. King Rata Mahuta. In the Waikato, Rata is known as an unassuming, quiet worker for the welfare of his race.

Two important messages of sympathy came from the Prime "Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, and the Leader of the Opposition, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates.

“It is with deep regret I learn of the death of your mother, Te Marae, the widow of my colleague, the late Hon. Mahuta Tawhiao,” said Sir Joseph. “I extend to you and members of your family aud to the Waikato people, the deepest sympathy.” The pity of the Waahi assembly was that it was brought about by the death of Te Marae, who exerted an excellent influence among her people. Te Marae was a true Mahuta, worthy successor to Potatau Te Whero Whero and Tawhiao. Europeans there were who watched the growth of the Maori “king” movement doubtfully when the Waikato seemed likely to be a ferment of insurrection. But the “king” movement subsided in the European mind; to the Maoris, it became simply a force for their welfare. TAINUI DESCENT

As the “king” family stands today, it represents the essence of the great voyage of Tainui canoe to New Zealand. It is the family of Tainui. Waikato tribesmen look up to the Mahutas; other tribes know the family as the royal house of Waikato. To King Rata Mahuta of today is left the dignity and the influence of his line. A reserved man, he has all the peace-making qualities of King Mahuta, M.L.C., who probably saw further into the future of the Maori race than any native of his time. There was an element of glory in the natives’ conviction that Te Marae’s spirit was accepting their sympathies for the journey to Te Reinga. It was not fervour; the woe of the people was simply the response of Polynesian emotion. Civilisation’s artificialities were discarded at the peak of the farewells—the Maori heart was revealed as it was shown in more savage days. One Maniapoto elder saw in the rainstorm as the cortege left the pa Nature’s grief in Te Marae’s journey from her people. The long-drawn “a —e —e—e —” of crying women may go with Te Marae’s spirit. It was “haere ra.”