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Te Whanau o Tieke
- The Family at Tieke
A fire was lit at Tieke on the day the Marae (meeting place)
was re-established (Sept 15 1993). Since then as far as
I know, it hasn't gone out. Every night someone banks the
fire with ash, and in the morning - as early as five a.m.
in summer - someone is up stoking it for the new day. The
fire is used primarily to keep two converted beer kegs full
of hot water. It provides warmth in the winter, and its
embers are piled on camp ovens to bake roasts and bread.
More than any of that though, the fire symbolizes the ongoing
commitments that Te Whanau o Tieke have made to their land.
The Whanganui River is the thread that links the people
to the land. On a literal level, it provides access to the
country along its banks - a highway for the boats. In more
figurative terms, the river provides a sense of place and
history for generations of river families, who trace their
lineage to this bend or that tributary. It is also the ribbon
that bonds visitor and host at Tieke Marae. For leisure
timers, the river is their entertainer, spinning them quietly
between sheer green bluffs, or pushing them to the edge
at each new rapid.
Auntie Pani sent me a book; 'Behind the Tattooed Face' by
Pat Baker. The Character Tawhiro, could be describing Tieke;
"We all work as one family, then again no one ever
thinks of working to his own advantage but only in order
that the whole tribe should gain... In fact no one... has
ever experienced that strange feeling of self-alone. How
utterly lonely and miserable it feels as I try vainly to
visualize this hypothetical state! ...I know the individual
finds happiness and pleasure, as well as security and strength
in the feeling of belonging within our community."
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