Maori songs - Kiwi songs - Home

1. 'Wairaka or Owairaka is between Te Awamutu and Mangakino. It is not the Owairaka in central Auckland. 2. Kakepuku is a 450 m high volcanic peak 8 km south-west of Te Awamutu. 3. Pirongia is a large extinct volcano between Ta Awamutu and Raglan 4. Toko - Te Mahutu Te Toko, Wairaka's cousin and lover. 5. ...they decided to take away - This is my translation. It seems closer to the original than Nga Moteatea's translation of Slave heart mine not to seek a lingering farewell. 6. Mania - the tribe Ngati Maniapoto. 7. Ngātoroirangi was the high priest of the Arawa voyaging waka. 8. Te Hoata, Te Pupū - Ngātoroirangi invoked his sisters when he was perishing with cold, and they came to him from Hawaiiki bringing the fires that are now the geysers of the Rotorua thermal area. 9. E hū rā i Tongariro - they are the Ketetahi Springs, on the north face of Mt Tongariro. 10.  Pihanga - is a small mountain south of Turangi, of which the legend is told she was sought and quarreled over by the great mountains Taranaki and Tongariro, and Tongariro was the victor. 11. Muri, Indicates the district that has been left behind, and down in the north ie, Pirongia. Puhiwahine Puhiwahine was born at Taringamotu, near Taumarunui, in about 1816. The early 1800s were turbulent times, when tribal wars were fought and Pākehā began settling in their land  It was a time when some of the greatest Māori poets were in their prime, and, inspired by these events, they composed and sang songs of love and hate, peace and war, jollity and derision. Puhiwahine was the greatest of them all and her songs are still sung at many gatherings. Her connections to both Ngāti Tūwharetoa and Ngāti Maniapoto shaped her future.  She was taught tribal songs and the proper technique of poi and pūkana of Ngāti Tūwharetoa. An apt pupil, she became competent at an early age. She grew up into an attractive and fascinating young woman whose artistry, wit and charm captivated everybody. Her accomplishments made her a very popular member of the tribe, and she travelled extensively with her Taupo people on visits to other tribes. During one of her travels she met Hauāuru, a young Ngāti Maniapoto chief , with whom she fell in love. He was already married and her brothers, would not agree to a marriage that would relegate her to the status of secondary wife. Her party visited other villages, where she was admired and courted by many young chiefs. After returning home, she was taken on a visit to her Ngāti Toa relatives in the south. During her visit to the South Island she met many European people and learnt some English. She again journeyed into Ngāti Maniapoto territory with her people. At the southern end of Kāwhia Harbour the chief Te Poihipi became enamoured of Puhiwahine. When she announced that she and Te Poihipi were to become man and wife, her people would not give their consent in the absence of her brothers. Her party then moved on to Whatiwhatihoe at the foot of Pirongia Mountain where she met her distant cousin Te Mahutu Te Toko. A striking figure with a handsome, tattooed face, he was a good singer and orator and a lively conversationalist. They fell in love, and were able to spend many days together before Puhiwahine's brothers arrived. On learning of their sister's latest love affair they lost no time in setting off with her for Lake Taupō, by way of Ōwairaka, where Puhiwahine composed her love song for Te Mahutu. It remains popular still, and is usually sung at weddings and farewells. Two years after her return to Taupō, in the mid 1840s, Puhiwahine met German-born John Gotty (Johann Maximilian Goethe, a relation of the great German poet). They married, and lived with her people at Meringa for a time before going to Whanganui, where John ran the Rutland Hotel. Gotty knew his wife as Elizabeth or Rihi. They had two sons. After John Gotty's death in 1893, Puhiwahine returned to her people at Ōngarue, where she lived with her son George until her death there in 1906. Also see Puhiwahine's Ma Wai Ra. Maori songs - Kiwi songs - Home Published by John Archer on NZFS website May 2022