August 15, 2016
Spirit of kotahitanga at Koroneihana
It’s Koroneihana week, when te ao Maori comes together at Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawahia in a spirit of kotahitanga.
It started this morning with a prayer breakfast at Waahi Pa in memory of Te Arikinui Te Atairangikaahu, who died 10 years ago today.
This afternoon King Tuheitia receives the keys to the city of Hamilton, the same honour bestowed on his mother in the 1970s.
Kingitanga spokesperson Rahui Papa says the hui steps up a gear on the kawe mate days for Waikato Tainui on Wednesday and the rest of the motu on Thursday, when whanau and iwi remember those in Maoridom whom have been lost in the past year.
"Sir Graham Latimer, Ngapo Wehi, Matiu Dickson, Waka Paama, Mere Broughton, there is a long list of those who have passed away just this year or at the end of last year and so when we come together, that is also where we talk about politics but in a Maori context and setting," he says.
A highlight of the week will be the return by the crown to the site of the battle at Rangiriri to the care of the Kingitanga.
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