This waiata really resonates with me as a kiritea myself. All my life I have been asked, "are you Māori? But you don't look Māori." Hōhā rawa. Heoi e pērā ana mō te nuinga o tātou o Ngai Patupaiarehe. I've been waiting for a waiata like this...tēnā rawa atu koe e mara.
i am soooo here for this... i wanna sit around a fire & hear stories and legends of these beings now... and be mystified by the stories of our ancestors!!! aloha pumehana maimoa!
As a red headed child who grew up in and around the waitakere ranges, thames and the coromandel i have had a connection with Patupaiarehe all my life and cant believe their lack of representation in the new te iriti framework, I have spent the past two nights in the forest listening and talking to the ancients and have been adopted and entrusted with representation of our pohutakawa red spirits whether recognized by human tongue or not, they tell me maori will not accept me as is their culture and they cannot see the spirits anymore due to atrocities upon the bird spirits and the genocide of many whilst mockingly wearing the feathers of the fallen as their prizes and comfort. The spirits are not happy with any humans here and the ancient ones mourn the loss of the moa especially and show ferocity towards the hunters of their kin who were and are the true indigenous children of this land. The valleys once echoed with the calls of the large birds but now they valleys will never hear those calls again and the land itself mourns its babies and if you cannot hear it you must have the blood of the hunters as the spirits will never show themselves to the hunters bloodlines again and it is truly sad. Tens of thousands of years this land only knew the songs of the birds and now humans call themselves the protectors.... thats cold.
A song about identity, her embrassing her fair skin, blonde hair, green eyes saying it comes from our patupaiarehe peoples, ancient fair skin blonde Maori mystical fairy people.
