Twenty years ago, a set of traditional Māori gardening tools were excavated in Northland. The tools have since been the basis for a workshop to revive Māori practices to grow and harvest food crops using the Māori lunar calendar.
The gardening tools were found on a Waimate North farm in 2003, and distributed among three marae, Parawhenua, Rāwhitiroa and Tauwhara.
Tohunga whakairo Bernard Makoare has been helping teach some of the techniques used by early Māori. He says it’s important to not only revive the techniques but also ensure Māori are expanding on the knowledge of their ancestors.
“We’re not actually not trying to go back in time. What we are doing is reconnecting with the trajectory, which was thrown off course by colonisation.”
Hinerangi Himiona was one of those who attended the two-day wānanga held at Tauwhara Marae. She says it was interesting to hear of the intricacies of creating the ancient tools.
“Looking back at the angles, the materials, why they were made to cut the way they were on those angles in a traditional sense, and what contemporary materials we can bring to that technology today, rather than take a technology that was created in someone else’s country.”
The group, Te Rawenga, was established two years ago to revive traditional Māori knowledge in Northland during the appearance of Puanga, the start of the Māori year. Māori.
Rereata Mākiha is one of the tohunga of Te Rawenga. He says although it’s only been two years, in that time, there has been an enormous uptake of people wanting to learn about maramataka and other traditional forms of Māori knowledge.
“The marae have been packed due to the high interest in these things and learning about the type of knowledge and tools used by our ancestors.”
He says the main goal of the wānanga is the revitalisation of ancient knowledge and customs.
“We mustn’t let the knowledge of our ancestors be lost.”