Community, Culture & Connection: Kapa Haka and Matariki at Toiwaka Turner Centre
When the Matariki cluster rises in the winter sky, it signals a time to pause – to remember, to gather, to celebrate, and to plant hopes for the year ahead. Our annual Matariki Celebration lived and breathed this tradition, with a beautiful, reflective show filled with aroha (love), manaakitanga (hospitality and care), and whanaungatanga (kinship).
The show was the culmination of our third annual community kapa haka rōpū (group), led by mana whenua Ngāti Rēhia. Over twelve weeks, more than 80 participants from all walks of life, ages and many cultural backgrounds came together every Tuesday to learn waiata, poi, haka and tī rākau. What they gained was confidence, connection, and belonging.
“It’s helped to strengthen my identity and helped me to stand as a proud Māori,” one participant told us. Others spoke of what the programme did for their wellbeing, their mental health, their wairua (spirit). For some, it was a profound way to connect with the community: “I felt really isolated when I first came here… When I joined this kapa haka group that faded, I saw faces I recognised around me of kind people doing good things in the community – people who cared about the same things I do. I’m happy to live here now and excited to meet new people.”
All of their hard work and dedication came to fruition at the Matariki Celebration itself – and this year, demand was so strong that one show simply wasn’t enough. We staged two, welcoming more than 630 people through our doors to celebrate the Māori New Year together. Alongside our kapa haka rōpū, audiences were treated to Pacific Dance New Zealand’s funny, clever and poignant Call to Wallis, a reminder that Matariki gathers all of us under the same stars.
The audience felt it too. “There’s so many young ones here, it’s just so nice as a community to see,” one attendee said. Another spoke of the evening’s powerful importance to bicultural New Zealand. There were tears in the crowd – the good kind – as whānau watched people they love stand tall and perform with pride. The final performance was a Waiata Tangi, where performers came to the stage holding photos of loved ones who’d passed, left barely a dry eye in the auditorium.
The idea for a community kapa haka group came from a community member, who watched the show with wonder and pride. “I had the idea because I’d never had the chance to learn kapa haka and I thought it would be such a cool community thing. Every year it has gotten so much more powerful.”
Events like these weave us together – across generations, across cultures – and each year the weave grows stronger.
To Ngāti Rēhia, to our tutors, to every participant who took the brave step of signing up, and to every person who filled our auditorium: ngā mihi nui. You are the reason this kaupapa keeps growing. We can’t wait to do it all again next year.
