Ko tēnei Te Wiki o te Reo Māori! Today we have a love letter to Te Ātea, a futuristic Young Adult story about a nuclear holocaust and space travel, all in te reo Māori, by the acclaimed author Dame Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira.
Kristin Smith reflects on the impact this epic poem had on her when she first studied it as part of her Honours dissertation.
He taonga pukapuka: Te Ātea, nā Katerina Mataira
Tae atu ana au ki te whare pukapuka,
Ko tēnei te wā…
E kimi haere ana
O te pakanga nui
I tētahi pukapuka
Haruru ana te ao
Hei kaupapa kōrero mō taku tuhinga whakapae.
Tae atu ana au ki te paenga pukapuka,
Ko tēnei te wā…
Ka kitea tētahi pukapuka kiri-pango
O te pakanga roa
E puta mai ana i tērā pito o te paenga
Uira ana te ao
Me te mea nei, e karanga mai ana ki a au.
Tae atu māua ko Pukapuka ki te tūru,
Ko tēnei te wā…
Ka huraina nga whārangi
O te pakanga wehi
Ka kitea ngā kupu tuatahi
Murara ana te ao
Me te oho a Tinana, a Ngākau, a Hinengaro, a Wairua
Ee . . . i . . . i
Taukuri e!
Murara ana te ao
E rere atu ana ōku nei whakaaro ki te ātea, te ātea e kore e oti, te ātea e karapoti nei i a tātou.
Kāti, ka huri ki te reo ōpaki ināianei. I te tau 2009 i tuhia e au taku tuhinga whakapae mō tētahi pukapuka reo Māori. Tērā pea kua pānuitia kētia tēnei pukapuka rongonui, Te Ātea, nā tērā tautōhito o te ao kōrero Māori, nā te mareikura o Ngāti Porou, arā, nā Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira. Tērā pea kāore anō koe kia pānui i te pukapuka nei, engari i te mutunga o aku kōrero, ko taku hiahia ka kimihia e koe. He pukapuka rawe, he pukapuka whakahirahira, he pukapuka tino rerekē rawa! I puta mai tēnei tuhinga ki te ao i te tau 1975; ruarua noa iho ngā pukapuka reo Māori e whakatāngia ana i aua rā, ā, ko te nuinga, he niupepa, he kōrero whakapapa, he kōrero mō te iwi rānei.
Engari mō tēnei tuhinga, mō Te Ātea, he autaia rawa ngā kōrero o roto. He āhua rite te takoto o ngā kupu ki ērā o te waiata, ānō nei he 'epic poem', he mōteatea roa rānei. Heoi, tekau ngā upoko o te pukapuka hoki, ānō nei he 'novel' kē (kua kīia e ētahi ko Te Ātea te 'first Māori novel'). He pikitia hoki ō te pukapuka nei – nā Para Matchitt, ānō nei he pukapuka tamariki. Ā, he rite ngā kōrero ki ērā o te pūrākau anō hoki – engari he pūrākau mō te wā e heke mai nei (he matakite pea).
Nā, he aha ngā kōrero i roto i Te Ātea? Hei whakarāpopoto: ka tīmata te kōrero nei i tēnei ao o Papatūānuku, engari hei ngā rā o āpōpō ēnei kōrero – he wā ki tua. Kua ahatia i te ao tangata? Auē, ka tū mai he pakanga tino nui i te ao:
Ko tēnei te wā...
O te pakanga nui
Haruru ana te ao
He kino rawa ngā mahi katoa:
He wā patu tāne
He wā patu wahine
He wā patu tamariki
Kua hē rawa te ao katoa ināianei:
Kua hinga ngā whare
Kua hinga ngā kāinga
Kua hinga ngā tāone nui
Kāore he mea ora i te mata o te ao nā te mea kua uhia katoatia e te tikowhiti (radiation), engari, kei raro i te pungarehu, kei raro i te whenua, 'he iwi e noho ana'. He oranga mō te tangata! Ko ngā tāngata o tēnei iwi, he rerekē ngā tātai whakapapa, Māori mai, Pākehā mai, Mangu mai, Hainamana mai, engari he iwi tino mōhio rātou, he iwi tino hūmārie. E mōhio ana rātou ki te hanga waka ātea, ā, ka hangaia tētahi hei rere atu ki te ātea, ki tētahi ao hou, ki Rehua.
I a Katerina e tuhi ana i tēnei pukapuka, ka riro māna e hanga te maha o ngā kupu hou (kua rongo kōrero au, i ahu mai te kupu 'rorohiko' i tāna tuhi i a Te Ātea). Anei ētahi o ngā kupu:
He mihini tautoko-i-te-ora = life supporting machines
taonga iri-rangi = radiotaonga
whakaata = television
taonga roro-hiko = computer
tikowhiti = radiation
waka-ātea = spaceship
tohunga whakataetae = scientist
tohunga hinengaro = psychiatrist
papa hiko = electrified plate
pikopoto wā = warp time
Nā, ka rere atu ētahi tāngata, mā runga waka ātea, ki te takiwā o Rehua. He roa te haerenga – e rua tekau tau – nā reira kua haere ngā tai-tamariki anake. Ka pai te nuinga o te haere. Kātahi, auē he aituā, ka tukia te waka e tētahi toka ātea, e whakapōturi ai tāna haere. Ka pau haere ngā kai, ā, ka tata mate ngā tāngata katoa i te matekai. Kātahi ka kīia mai e tētahi o ngā pakeke (kua tipu mai ia i ēnei rua tekau tau mā runga waka ātea). Ko tāna: 'Me mate ētahi o tātou kia ora ai ētahi o tātou.' He aha te tikanga o tāna rā kōrero? Kia kainga tōna tinana e ōna whanaunga: 'Ka hoatu au ko tōku tinana. Ka hoatu au ko tōku oranga hei oranga mō te hunga tangata'.
Me tū taku whakarāpopoto i konei mō te paku mēneti kia āta whakaaro tātou. I te kōrero nei, nā Whaea Katerina, ka kai tangata ngā kiripuaki, ā, i tēnei horopaki he mea pai te mahi kai tangata. Mōhio pai ana tātou katoa, e kōrerotia whānuitia ana i te ao Pākehā he mahi tino 'savage' te kai tangata (me te whakamahi hoki i ērā atu kupu whakatoihara). Ehara i te mea ko te mahi kai tangata anake e kīia nei he mahi 'savage' – kātahi te pōhēhē o te marea, he 'savage' ngā tikanga Māori katoa ki ētahi. Kia maumahara hoki tātou, i tuhia tēnei pukapuka i te tau 1975 – e rangona whānuitia aua momo kōrero mō te Māori i taua wā. Engari, koinei te wā e mātātupu ana ngā kaupapa o te wā e kīia nei ko te 'Māori Renaissance.' Nā, ka ahatia a Whaea Katerina? Ka tuhi i tētahi pukapuka hei pānui mō te kaipānui Māori (tokoiti ngā kaikōrero Māori i taua wā he Pākehā rātou), ā, i roto i āna kōrero, he mahi kai tangata hei tohu i te ao! Hei whakaora i te hunga tangata!
Heoi anō, kia hoki atu tātou ki Te Ātea. I ahatia i runga i te waka ātea? Āe rā, i mate ētahi kia whai oranga ētahi, ENGARI, ka hoki ngā mahara ki aua tāngata e noho tonu ana i te poho o Papatūānuku, ki ērā atu tāngata kāore i whai wāhi mā runga waka ātea. Nā, i ēnei tau rua tekau, kua ako rātou mō te pikopoto wā – ka taea te rere ki te takiwā o Rehua i te wā tino poto nei! Ka hangaia he waka ātea anō, ka rere atu ki Rehua, ā, hei reira kitea ai ngā tāngata o te waka ātea me te ako mō te ngaronga o aua tāngata i mate 'hei oranga mō te hunga tangata'.
Ka haere rātou ki te wāhi tino tapu ā:
E takoto ana ngā moengaroa
Ngā moengaroa
E ono tekau
Me te pānui
He tohu ki ngā hoa i roto i te aroha
I mate, kia ora ai te hunga tangata
Ka tīmata ki te hanga i tētahi ao hou ki Rehua. He iwi hūmārie tonu rātou, nō ngā iwi maha, ā, mai i taua wā, kāore rātou e kai i te mīti – ka noho hei kaimanga. Whai muri i ngā kōrero o tēnei pukapuka, nā Whaea Katerina i tuhi ngā kōrero e whai ake nei mō te iwi o Rehua – i roto i ngā pukapuka Ngā Waituhi o Rehua.
He kōrero tēnei mō ngā ra e heke mai nei, he kōrero whakatūpato ki te hunga tangata, he kōrero pōuri, he kōrero taumaha. KI a au nei, ko te āhuatanga tino mīharo o tēnei pukapuka, e hikina ai taku ngākau, ko tēnei: he kōrero Māori te hunga ora. Ka whai oranga i roto i ngā tikanga Māori me te reo Māori. Ā, ka whai oranga hoki ko koe, ina pānui koe i ngā kupu reka a Whaea Katerina.
Ko tēnei te wā...
O te pakanga nui
Haruru ana te ao
Kristin Smith Kua roa a Krissi e noho ana i Te Whanganui a Tara nei, i roto rawa i te rohe o Te Āti Awa nō runga i te rangi. Heoi, nō Kōterani kē ōna tīpuna - he tangata mau panekoti, he tangata noho maunga, he tangata whai huruhuru! Kotahi tāna tamāhine haututū - ko Nina Manaia te tou tīrairaka. Nō Rongomaiwahine, nō Ngāti Kahungunu, nō Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi hoki tāna hoa wahine. Kua waimarie ia i tana mōhio ki te reo Māori, he taonga nui i kohaina mai i ōna pouako, i ōna tuākana, i ōna hoa anō hoki. I ēnei rā, he kaiako reo Māori ia, he kaituhi, he kaiwhakahaere tānga hoki ki Te Whare Ture Hapori o Te Whanganui a Tara me Te Awa Kairangi. Engari, ko tana tino hiahia i tēnei wā, ko te takoto noa i te moenga mō te rā katoa, pānui pukapuka ai.