After a somewhat dramatic beginning (my alarm failed to wake me at six am!) all is in order at the Marae and I have secured a mattress next to friends Heta et al in the Marae dormitory. The welcoming ceremony was very long and dramatic as the home tribes welcomed the visitors with much pomp and circumstance. We arrived about half an hour late and asca group waited respectfully outsed the Marae gates until it was time for us to be admitted. Amidst lots of very loud demonstrations by the home Maori, calling warm welcomes and much other extended Maori rhetoric, with the reply being well equalled by the visitors in strength and duration. Then the long line of hongi, nose rubbing and kissing, where every visitor was welcomed by the hosts. Then all went into the very large dining hall for tea and scones or soup and hot bread, all very nice. Then registration for all guests which was well organised considering the large number and that spme were preregistered and some not. All facilitated of course, with lap top computers.
As I rest on my mattress after the eight hour drive where we experienced all sorts of weather, happily interspersed with some coffee and nature stops en route, I see how all is in the right place, and at the right time. Each individual can do what s/he wants, with an example opposite me, the daughter of two of the men in our Wellington group playing quietly with her one of her fathers. There is every possible gender mix one could imagine here, and everyone is totally accepted and welcomed. The kaumatua, the elders, are well respected and all of the local iwi, (tribes) mostly females, are all quietly observing the younger ones who are singing waiata, Maori songs, outside the Marae. The atmosphere is warm and supportive, all complicit in the knowledge of the total acceptance of their differences and individuality.
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