Matariki tui taonga - Threading taonga for Matariki

Matariki reflects on the past, celebrates the present and prepares for the future. All of those tenses seemed to flash before my eyes after a recent trip to Manaaki Whenua in Lincoln, Canterbury to their pā harakeke. I then dove into a quest to reconnect with woven taonga in our museum collection.

My trip to Manaaki Whenua was with five kairaranga from the three northern marae of Tauranga Moana - Te Rereatukāhia, Tuapiro and Otawhiwhi. We had identified missing cultivars from the respective kāinga and our mission was to collect some of those and re-establish them back on the marae.

Weaving, in all its forms, has always been a major connector. Reconnecting me with my own memories of different times, different places and different faces – but also instigating new experiences in new places with new faces. Weaving connects me to taonga and whakapapa. Strangely, weaving connects me to me, in its own quiet, unique and tender way. All of this, despite not being a weaver – YET.

I have spent many days and nights in my tupuna whare – Tamawhariua. As a baby, as a child and now as an adult. The smell and feeling of woven whāriki from inside my whare lingers in my senses. The single odd-fellow or boiled blackball lolly in the bottom corner of my nan’s kete, despite both having their own distinctive smells, were always tainted by the smell of dried harakeke. That memory lingers. The smell and textures of muka and feathers from kākahu or the sharp rustling sounds of piupiu twirling around me are vivid reminders of happiness. They are all memories that linger and always connect my wairua to someone or something, somewhere.