November 11, 2020
Raukawa wahine retrace hapu to iwi hikoi
Seven Raukawa wāhine are retracing the steps of the tribe's key ancestor for 400 kilometres across the central North Island.
The 400 kilometre hīkoi will start at Heretaunga Hastings, where the heavily-pregnant Mahinaarangi from Ngāti Kahungunu set off to join her Tainui husband Turongo.
The seven will go through Wairoa, Waikaremoana, across the Mamaku and Kaimai Ranges, where Mahinaarangi gave birth to her son Raukawa.
The three week hikoi will end at Rangiātea near Otorohanga.
Research lead Dr Naomi Simmonds from Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi says the journey is as important as the destination.
"For this project it is about understanding the connections between those places but it is also understanding what it took for her to walk one step, one step and really to acknowledge the journey and not the destination as such, what does it mean for us to step in the places we think she walked," Dr Simmonds says.
The hīkoi starts on November 13, with regular updates on the Taku Ara Rā: Ko Mahinaarangi Facebook page.
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