Share how you celebrated

Share what you did for Te Wiki o te Reo Māori 2023. This will go on to become a showcase of how we celebrate te reo as a nation.

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Carolyn

Carolyn Mihaere

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Carolyn

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#Kaitahi - Matariki 2021
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Activities

Staff in our office were organised into seven groups - each ropu were assigned one of the whetu, the purpose was for them to research that whetu and report back to the wider staff group. We put up a blank sheet and when they had presented to staff they had to place their whetu in the appropriate position so that the constellation would eventually be revealed, extra points were awarded to those groups who also included Pohutukawa and Hiwa i te Rangi in their korero. We finished the week with shared kai with an international theme, staff from different countries were encouraged to bring a dish from their country of origin - for example we had kai from Zimbabwe, the Netherlands, Poland, England, NZ / Australia (fairy bread, cheerios), Scotland (shortbread with a colonial twist), England (fish and chips), Canada (donut holes), Canada with a Chinese twist). We also did Karakia and Waiata for the month with a focus on Matariki and changed our Karakia mo te Kai which references Tupu a Nuku me Tupu a Rangi.

Carolyn

I was born and raised in Australia, all I knew was that I was part Māori. Somehow my mother was able to make us proud to be 'part' Māori. I decided to do an 'oe' back in the 80's for the purpose of learning te reo Maori, after my 12 months I returned to Australia. Then moved to NZ in 1991 when I was hapu with my son as I didn't want my children growing up being mistaken for being from a different ethnicity (Italia, Greek, Chinese). I grew up hearing the stories of how my mother was strapped at school for speaking / uttering kupu Maori. We are surrounded by kupu Maori in Aotearoa and our kupu / reo deserves to be pronounced properly.

Carolyn
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