WHAT IS A MARAE?
Waitangi Marae is a special place of gathering for whanau members who whakapapa to our Hapu Ngati Kawa, Ngati Rahiri and Te Matarahurahu. It is the heart of our Maori Community where many cultural activities are held such as tribal assemblies, welcoming ceremonies, schools of higher learning, rituals, celebratory feasts, weddings, birthdays and funerals. It is the only tribal center in Waitangi where all of our customary Maori events happen frequently. It provides us all with spiritual sustenance. We, the local people, call it home.
Waitangi Marae is a place of great significance to Nga Hapu O Ngāpuhi Iwi Conferation. Its history is deeply entwined with the signing of Nga Kawenata Tapu, or Sacred Covenants: He Whakaputanga, the Declaration of Independence (signed in 1835); and Te Tiriti, the Treaty of Waitangi (signed in 1840).
This story is a vital cultural narrative for members of the local hapu Ngāti Rahiri, Ngāti Kawa and Te Matarahurahu, who are closely related and interconnected via whakapapa. For centuries, these hapu have maintained ahikaa status in Waitangi, Oromahoe and Pouerua.
A House Rises
Kotahitanga movements in the 1880s were set up in the form of a parliament, to unify Māori. A meeting house for this purpose was constructed at Waitangi Marae by prominent political figures of the time. The Government opposed this idea, leaving the signatories of Te Tiriti O Waitangi 1840 and Ngā hapū o Ngāpuhi to fund and build the whare tupuna which they named Te Tiriti O Waitangi 1840. A memorial stone dedicated to Te Tiriti was also erected alongside it.
In 1917, a major storm devastated the building. With so many men serving in WW1, it fell to the Komiti Wahine, the Women’s Committee, to lead the rebuilding of the meeting house. Completed on 24 March 1923, the upright pillars framing the door of the new European-style whare tupuna referenced the Biblical Solomon’s Temple and its connection to an older name for the marae whenua, Taumata Mohi.
Other additions have been made to enhance the marae. These include a waharoa, or gateway, erected in 1964 and a new whare kai named Te Ngakau Aroha, officially opened by Paramount Chief Hepi Te Heuheu in 1977. A classroom added in the 1960s played a central role in the revitalization of te reo Māori, serving as a kohanga in the 1980s.
This story is a vital cultural narrative for members of the local hapu Ngāti Rahiri, Ngāti Kawa and Te Matarahurahu, who are closely related and interconnected via whakapapa. For centuries, these hapu have maintained ahikaa status in Waitangi, Oromahoe and Pouerua.
A House Rises
Kotahitanga movements in the 1880s were set up in the form of a parliament, to unify Māori. A meeting house for this purpose was constructed at Waitangi Marae by prominent political figures of the time. The Government opposed this idea, leaving the signatories of Te Tiriti O Waitangi 1840 and Ngā hapū o Ngāpuhi to fund and build the whare tupuna which they named Te Tiriti O Waitangi 1840. A memorial stone dedicated to Te Tiriti was also erected alongside it.
In 1917, a major storm devastated the building. With so many men serving in WW1, it fell to the Komiti Wahine, the Women’s Committee, to lead the rebuilding of the meeting house. Completed on 24 March 1923, the upright pillars framing the door of the new European-style whare tupuna referenced the Biblical Solomon’s Temple and its connection to an older name for the marae whenua, Taumata Mohi.
Other additions have been made to enhance the marae. These include a waharoa, or gateway, erected in 1964 and a new whare kai named Te Ngakau Aroha, officially opened by Paramount Chief Hepi Te Heuheu in 1977. A classroom added in the 1960s played a central role in the revitalization of te reo Māori, serving as a kohanga in the 1980s.