Tainui women put on a brave face for Dame Te Ata

PETER DRURY/Waikato Times

PROUD: (from left) Wikitoria Panapa, Reta Kaihau, Te Aroha Tai-rakena, Rangiawatea Tahapeehi and Te Ataarangi Poutapu wear their moko with pride at Waahi Marae, Huntly, this week.

PETER DRURY/Waikato Times

BADGE OF HONOUR: Te Aroha Tai-rakena, left, and Te Ataarangi Poutapu with their moko remembering Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and honouring the new king.

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Inside her head Te Aroha Tai-rakena screamed out to her long dead grandmother, Tiahuia.

She squeezed her daughter's hand as hard as she could and cried to herself: "Nana, help me, help me," over and over as the needle pierced her chin.

But 69-year-old Te Aroha never uttered a sound. "People always ask if it was painful. We were so strong, all of us, we never even murmured. But yes, it was painful."

This week Te Aroha and her niece Te Ataarangi Poutapu, 57, are at Turangawaewae Marae, in Ngaruawahia, commemorating the first anniversary of the death of Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu and the accession of her son Tuheitia. Both women travelled extensively with the Maori Queen and were there for Dame Te Ata's tangi but this time there is something different. Both are sporting moko in honour of The Lady.

They are two of 16 Tainui women who decided to have a moko after she died.

"A few of us were having coffee and the subject of how we could remember her came up," Te Aroha said.

"We remembered that Te Arikinui had asked a question about why Tainui women weren't having the moko as much as women from other tribes. At the time I thought `oh, I'd love one' but it didn't eventuate.

"I think it was because there wasn't a good enough reason. But her question stayed with me for 10 to 12 years."

And last year it occurred to Te Aroha that getting a moko would be the perfect way to remember Dame Te Ata as well as honour the new king.

"A group of us held a couple of meetings and then we asked our kaumatua what they thought. We wanted the support of our old people."

Then at Pukawa, on the shores of Lake Taupo last November during a Kingitanga hui, they approached King Tuheitia and received his blessing. With that secured, the women began to spread the word. They held meetings with ta moko artists Mark Kopua and Hake Williams on patterns for each woman.

By early June they had 16 names and a promise from East Coast Maori, where moko are more prevalent, to come and support them while the moko were applied, a gesture that would reaffirm Kingitanga links.

On June 9 they gathered at Turangawaewae, nervous but determined. A group of 50 came from the coast and sang throughout the entire proceedings.

Te Aroha was first. Her moko was to be the same as her grandmother's. "I had to get her permission, so I got her photo and talked to her."

Te Ataarangi's moko is based on her family connections, the roles she has in her working and personal life, and her involvement on the marae. Each point and line has special meaning.

The moko took two weeks to heal and was an adjustment period for the women. Unsure of the reaction they would get, they were pleasantly surprised. "People are very kind. Young people love it," Te Aroha said. "I feel great. I wear it with a deep sense of pride," Te Ataarangi said.

On Wednesday the "moko ladies" were together again at Waahi Marae, sitting on the paepae honouring Dame Te Ata at her home in Huntly, a year to the day after she passed away.

Te Aroha believes Dame Te Ata had long wanted a moko herself and now that she has one, it is something else she has been able to do for her queen. Since that Saturday in June the women have been to other marae to support other women as they too have had a moko etched into their chins.