Pepeha

In traditional times, (ngaa waa o mua) the Maaori people would introduce themselves by telling the story of how they came to be - this related to where and how they arrived in Aotearoa (New Zealand). The Maaori are a people who believe themselves to be created from the land (whenua) and therefore hold it in high importance. They navigated through the oceans (moana) in order to settle in Aotearoa and therefore water is believed to hold the mauri (life force) of the people - these beliefs can be transferred to other cultures (Maybe you know of some?)

Nowadays, pepeha are used before speaking to acknowledge the traditions that were passed down from ancestors (tupuna); it is also a handy way of knowing what part of Aotearoa (or the world) the speaker is from!

This year, we will explore the concept of pepeha so that we can make connections to our own heritage, family and tuurangawaewae (the place where we originate from).

Before we get into our own stories, let’s have a look at the meaning behind a basic pepeha, so that we may understand it a bit better.

• In order to begin a pepeha, we must first anchor ourselves to the whenua (land); a good way to do this is to acknowledge your mountain (or maunga - mau means to hold or anchor).
• Secondly, we may want to acknowledge a body of water which is significant to our area of origin; as mentioned above, water is the mauri (life force) of an area; this could either be a river (awa), lake (roto) or ocean (moana).
• From the travel over the water, our families (whaanau) settled into the rohe (districts) which we live in today; For example, a rohe which derived from the Tainui canoe (the waka of the Hamilton area) is Waikato. Another way to look at it: if you have a town/city that your family came from , you may want to use it here.
• From here, Iwi (tribes) and hapuu (sub-tribes) are then acknowledged- once again do not worry if you do not know of an iwi or hapuu you belong to! Iwi can also be a country (Ngati Kotarana = Scotland, Ngati Haina = China, and hapuu can be your family name).
• If you have a marae (meeting house) you can add this here. (if you have no marae - you can use the school (kura).
• From here, your parents (maatua) are acknowledged and finally...YOU!

Now, let’s put these into a sequence:

Ko (name of the mountain) te maunga,

Ko (name of the body of water) te awa/roto/moana,

Ko (name of district/town) te rohe,

Ko (name of country/tribe) te iwi,

Ko (name of the marae/school) te marae/kura,

Ko (name of father) toku papa/matua,

Ko (name of mother) toku mama/whaea,

Ko (your name) ahau

Tiihei Mauriora!!

- this is the Maaori term for the first uttered word - which was a sneeze!