Nau mai, Haere mai

This is one of the most intriguing of the carvings. Above the head of the top figure are sets of wings. Below the bottom figure is a canoe made of bird’s feathers. These two figures represent the tribe called Te Waiariki.

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Local legend has it that Te Waiariki came before the main migration of canoes to Aotearoa.They said they ‘flew here’. The land they originally came from was referred to later, as Te Pātu-nui a-Rua (Tibet). In their local whakapapa, their tūpuna was Tāhuhunuiārangi, a name which means ‘Dome of the Sky’.

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Waiariki described their land of origin as mountainous. The Mountain of the Demons; it is called Meeru in Tibet and Maungataniwha in the Hokianga.

The people were fair and smooth-skinned, very ritualistic, especially In washing and cleanliness. It was probably in that very cold land that feather garments were woven to protect themselves against the elements.

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They came down from the mountains and on reaching the seashore (the Bay of Bengal), saw the seabirds floating restfully on the sea. They made a little canoe of bird’s feathers called Waka Huruhurumanu. Rakai-Hautu was their chief. He offered his daughter in marriage to the local people and asked for timber to build three canoes, Huruhurumanu, Uruao, and Tama-rere-ti, which is also a name for the wind.

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It was upon these canoes that Waiariki arrived in Aotearoa. Two canoes came ashore at Muriwhenua to the North, while one came ashore at Waitaha on the West Coast, in the south. Their descendants, particularly Te Maawe, seemed to have inherited the gift of flight as he ‘flew’ to Matua-aka Kawiti, and on to Ngunguru.

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In this present generation, there are thousands of descendants of Rakai-Hautu and Te Maawe, who were born and grew up in Motuti in the Hokianga.

(In the South Island they also have their story of Rakai-hautu and Uruao and a place called Waitaha)