NEW  ZEALAND
FOLK * SONG
A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree
Kingi Ihaka, 1981



Maori songs
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A great song for schools, or for singing in the car while you are all travelling back home to the coast for Christmas. The brightly illustrated book makes a good Christmas present to send to kids overseas.



On the first day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
A pukeko in a ponga tree!

On the second day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Two kumara
And a pukeko in a ponga tree!

I te r? Kirihimete
I homai ki ahau
Te-e p?keko i te rakau ponga !

I te ra i muri mai
I homai ki ahau
Rua k?mara
Me te p?keko i te rakau ponga !
On the third day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Three flax kits
Two kumara
And a pukeko in a ponga tree!
I te ra tuatoru
I homai ki ahau
Toru kete harakeke
Rua k?mara
Me te p?keko i te rakau ponga !
On the fourth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Four huhu grubs
Three flax kits
Two kumara
And a pukeko in a ponga tree!
I te ra tuawh?
I homai ki ahau
Wh? tunga r?kau
Toru kete harakeke
Rua k?mara
Me te p?keko i te rakau ponga !
On the fifth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Five - big - fat - pigs !
Four huhu grubs
Three flax kits
Two kumara
And a pukeko in a ponga tree
I te ra tuarima
I homai ki ahau
Ri-i-ma - po-a-ka!
Wh? tunga r?kau
Toru kete harakeke
Rua k?mara
Me te p?keko i te rakau ponga !
and so on, until...  

On the twelfth day of Christmas
My true love gave to me
Twelve piupius swinging
Eleven haka lessons
Ten juicy fish heads
Nine sacks of pipis
Eight plants of puha
Seven eels a swimming
Six pois a twirling
Five - big - fat - pigs !
Four huhu grubs
Three flax kits
Two kumara
And a pukeko in a ponga tree!

I te ra tekau m? rua
I homai ki ahau
Tekau m? rua piupiu
Tekau m? tahi haka
Tekau upoko ika
Iwa p?ke pipi
Waru tipu puha
Whitu tuna kaukau
Ono poi hurihuru
Ri-i-ma - po-a-ka!
Wh? tunga r?kau
Toru kete harakeke
Rua k?mara
Me te p?keko i te rakau ponga !


This is only a draft Maori translation.
Please email me if you can improve it.
[email protected]



‘It's about time you got to know your relations,’ Mum said. ‘You kids are growing up proper little Pakehas. And Nanny Caroline's always asking me if she's going to see her mokopunas before she dies. Don't you want to see your Nanny?’
Over the the summer holidays you must read Witi's childhood story of spending their holidays with their cousins on the East Coast. I can never read it without crying.  Halcyon

Christmas card

You can buy a Christmas card like this, and other similar cards, on-line at Kiwi Cards


© newzealand.co.nz

Tune
Sung to the usual tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas."
Remember to slow down the line " Five - big - fat - pigs ! "

Publication History

1st edition 1981
A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree, paperback
Adapted by Kingi M. Ihaka, Illustrated by Dick Frizzell, Heinemann Publishers
ISBN: 0 86863 785 8, Reprinted 1987

Cassette Recording

A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree,
Details and availability unknown.

2nd edition 1991

A Pukeko in a Ponga Tree, paperback,
Author: Kingi M. Ihaka, Illustrator: Dick Frizzell
Reed Publishing (NZ) Ltd, Fully illustrated in colour
ISBN: 1869480600
Still available in (Dec 2000) from Whitcoull's bookshops for about NZ$12

Other NZ Christmas songs

Te Harinui
Not on a snowy night
By star or candlelight...
Backblocks Nativity
...So her kid was born in that roadman's shack
By the light of a lamp that'd hardly burn...
Sticky Beak the Kiwi
He's notified old Santa Claus to notify the deer
That he will pull the Christmas sleigh in the southern hemisphere...
Märie Te Pö   Silent Night
Märie te pö, tapu te pö
Marino, marama
Ko te Whäea, me te Tama...
Peaceful night, holy night,
calm, bright.
See the mother and baby boy...
One on a Tractor
We three kings of Orient are
One on a tractor, two in a car...
An Upside Down Christmas
Carol our Christmas, an upside down Christmas;
Snow is not falling and trees are not bare...
The Jersey Cow Came Mooing
The jersey cow came mooing, mooing, mooing.
The jersey cow came mooing to the old shed door...
The Southern Cross Looks Down
O little Babe of Bethlehem,
the Southern Cross looks down...
Christmas in New Zealand
A chance to share the good times in the summer sun
Another family holiday's begun

Archdeacon Sir Kingi (Matu) Ihaka MBE

Interpreter, Anglican priest, broadcaster,
songwriter, Maori language commissioner.


Kingi Matutaera Ihaka was born at Te Kao, Northland, in 1921. His great-grandfather, Paraone Ngaruhe, signed the Treaty of Waitangi. Kingi's father was a prominent Anglican, a qualified interpreter, and a friend of Apirana Ngata.

Kingi attended Te Kao Native School. In later life he recalled that as a child he saw few Pakeha other than his teacher and the district health nurse.

In 1936 Kingi went to St Stephen's School, south of Auckland. In 1947 he entered St John's College, Auckland, to train for the Anglican ministry. In 1958 he was transferred to Wellington. He combined his ministry with the Red Cross, broadcasting and tutoring at Ngati Poneke Maori Club. He became well known for his compositions and direction of Maori cultural groups at competitions.

In 1967 Ihaka was transferred to Auckland as Auckland Maori missioner. His other interests continued unabated and he was also involved with the Auckland Festival Society, Lions Club, Tourist Development Council, Polynesian Festival Committee. In 1970 he was appointed a justice of the peace and made an MBE. In 1981 he wrote Pukeko in a Punga Tree.

From 1984 to 1987 Archdeacon Ihaka served as the first resident Maori minister in Sydney.

Kingi Ihaka returned to New Zealand in 1987. He was knighted in 1989 for his services to the Maori people.

In October 1990 he became the second Maori language commissioner. He defended the right of the New Zealand women's rugby team to perform a haka at Cardiff, saying that Ngati Porou and Waikato women had done so for many years. He died in 1993, aged 71.
Full essay in DNZB

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This page published Dec 1, 2000