Omaka Marae visitors at 'home' for Waitangi Day

Partnership, participation, protection and promotion are words on a sign promoting the Treaty of Waitangi at the Omaka Marae.

"This is now your home," marae manager Kiley Nepia told 200 or more people who gathered there to mark Waitangi Day and the signing of the founding document of government in New Zealand. Mr Nepia invited everyone to enjoy a "nice, relaxing, nation-building day".

It started with an official powhiri at 10.30am, followed by the tangata whenua and manuhiri (visitors) sharing a hongi and exchanging a "kia ora".

Kaikoura MP Colin King addressed the crowd and said the treaty had been a significant step forward for New Zealand when it was signed at Waitangi 170 years ago. The documents were also taken around the country for others to sign, a formality completed in Marlborough at Whites Bay. Mr King described Omaka Marae as "an oasis of principled values of everything that makes New Zealand great".

One person there on Saturday was Salvador Delgado from South America. Working on a Tory Channel salmon farm, he now lives in Marlborough with his wife and three school-age children. He said the Waitangi celebration at Omaka gave him more appreciation of New Zealand culture.

No similar treaties had been signed between different cultures in South America. Instead war, usually won by those who had the most guns, was the traditional way of settling differences.

Alan Iaule and seven fellow vineyard workers from Vanuatu had travelled to the marae with their supervisor.

It was Mr Iaule's first time at Omaka and his first experience of a Waitangi Day.

"We are happy to join together for one of [New Zealanders'] holy days," Mr Iaule said. It seemed similar to Independence Day in Vanuatu on July 30, when people always came together to celebrate, he said.

His Maori supervisor, Tenga Potaka, wished more people in the community were making the effort. "Everybody should be celebrating," Mr Potaka said.

Fadia Muhssen from Jordan said she was surprised the marae grounds were not filled with people. She and her husband, Rajai Shram, have lived in Marlborough for two and a half years but Saturday was the first time they had been to a marae for Waitangi Day. It seemed to mark an important event in New Zealand, Mrs Muhssen said.

Rosiemeire Cookson from Brazil said there was nothing in her native country like a Treaty of Waitangi to celebrate. "New Zealand is so blessed to have it; at having the cultures joined ... it makes it easier for other cultures to integrate." New Zealand now felt like her home, she said.

- The Marlborough Express

Newest First

Oldest First