NEW  ZEALAND
HAKA * POWHIRI
T?ia Mai

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This ancient voyaging-craft hauling chant is now most often chanted as a 'haka powhiri' to symbolically pull the 'canoe' of the visitors safely onto the marae.

LEADER:  A, toia ma-i,
CHORUS: Te waka!
LEADER:  Ki te urunga,
CHORUS: Te waka!
LEADER:  Ki te moenga,
CHORUS: Te waka!

ALL:
   Ki te takotorunga i,
          Takoto ai,
          Te waka!
           Hi!
Ah, drag it here
The voyaging canoe!
To the entry
The voyaging canoe!
To the sleeping place
The voyaging canoe!

Up to the resting place,
Set it down.
The canoe!
Yeah

The above version is an old one sung by Turanga Mauparaoa, and taken from McLean and Orbell's Traditional Songs of the Maori.

Simple dugout wooden canoes for daily use were left tied up on the riverbank or seashore. But the big ornate waka taua needed their carvings, paint and and flax bindings protected from the elements. The waka were hauled up above high water level and stored in long sheds with thatched roof and open sides.

Haka P?whiri

This chant is commonly used when calling visitors onto a marae, just after the karanga.

A woman from the host side will first call (karanga) to indicate to the visitors (manuhiri) to move forward on to the marae. See HERE for more details.
A woman from the manuhiri then returns the call as the manuhiri move forward onto the marae. The purpose of these two karanga is to weave a spiritual rope to allow the waka of the manuhiri to be pulled on to the marae. 

After the women doing the karanga have woven the rope, the haka p?whiri pulls on the canoe of the manuhiri, hence the reason 'T?ia mai te waka' is used at so many p?whiri.

The call of the haka powhiri likens the arrival of the group of visitors to the safe arrival of a canoe, with its paddlers and passengers, to the shore. The voices of the haka powhiri symbolically represent the rope by which the visitors are pulled safely onto the marae. See HERE for more details.

Often those doing the p?whiri hold greenery in their hands. The greenery should be specially chosen ensuring that there are both light and dark leaves, (often silver fern and kawakawa) representing life and death, and reminding us that that life and death are interwoven.

This theme of interwoven life and death is often reinforced by following T?ia Mai with the chant Ka mate, ka mate; kia ora, kia ora.

The use of  the Ka Mate' haka as a macho 'war chant' is a recent phenomenon.
This chant was used in the 14th century to haul ashore the migratory voyaging craft "Tainui." The crew thank their captain for navigating them into the warm life-giving sun. Aotearoa's icy cold sou'westerlies could be fatal for the lightly-clad voyagers from tropical Polynesia.

Uira te ra, wewero te ra
Nga tangata whakaririka
Mamau ki te taura e
Kia tu matatohitia ake
Taku tu matatoro e
O ihu o waka.

Turuki, turuki, paneke, paneke!
Turuki, turuki, paneke, paneke!
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru
Nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra!
A hupane, a kaupane!
A hupane, kaupane, whiti te ra!

Anne Salmond, Hui, 1973 p163
The sparkling sun is stabbing now,
and tense with hope
we grasp the rope
awaiting your command
as you stand on high with watchful eye
at the waka's prow.

Take the strain, move her forward!
Heave again, lift her shoreward!
Hurrah for good old hairy face
who's brought us to this sunny place!
One step, together; hauling on the line,
another and another, everything's just fine.


Rhyming translation by J Archer, 2009

I heard this chant in 2007 when we were welcomed on to a marae in the southern Waikato region

?, t?ia mai, Te waka!
Ki te urunga, Te waka!
Ki te moenga, Te waka!

Ka mate! Ka mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!
Tenei te tangata puhuruhuru
Nana i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra!
A hupane, a kaupane!
A hupane, kaupane, whiti te ra!

?, t?ia mai, Te waka!
Ki te urunga, Te waka!
Ki te moenga, Te waka!
Ki te takotorunga i,
Takoto ai,
Te waka!  Hi!
We were being hauled into the sheltering marae just as that iwi's Tainui voyaging waka from Tahiti had been hauled up seven centuries previously.



And at Jerusalem in 2006 I saw a real waka full of distinguished visitors hauled ashore to the strains of Toia Mai when some French bishops came to visit Mother Aubert's old Catholic Mission Startion up the Whanganui River. A storm had brought down slips on the road beside the river, so a jet boat was used to bring the Ngati Wiwi to Jerusalem. More photos here.

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Page made July 2001, revised Jan 2022