Rahiri/5

Ko Rāhiri Te Tūpuna - CHOOSE THE CORRECT WORD

Delete the wrong word in each of the pairs in yellow

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We trace our ancestry back to Rāhiri, a formidable Rangatira and friend/warrior. Rāhiri was born in Whīria at Pākanae; he married Ahuaiti from Pakaraka who lived at Pouerua Pa. Uenuku was their son.

While Rāhiri was living with Ahuaiti at Pouerua he heard that her two brothers Korakatea and Korakanui were coming to visit. Rāhiri knew that he would not be home when her brothers arrived, so he told his wife/girlfriend that she was not to give them the best mongeroi (fernroot), instead she was to feed them the inferior ones.

Rāhiri arrived home to find that Ahuaiti had ignored his wishes/intentions and fed them the good fernroot. Angry, Rāhiri left Ahuaiti and Uenuku and returned to Pākanae.

In time Uenuku became a man and he asked his mother ‘who is my father?’ His name had been lengthened to Uenukukuaare because he did not have the esoteric knowledge that a young man of high birth such as him should have had. Kuaare means to be ignorant/stupid or to lack understanding. Ahuaiti told him who his father was.

Meanwhile Rāhiri had married Whakaruru from Pākanae, and they had had a baby/son – Kaharau.

Uenuku went to see his father/dad; he wanted to know the incantations and rituals that would complete his knowledge. Ahuaiti told Uenuku to follow the Mangakāhia River and taste of its waters every now and then. When the river had become salty he would find his father there.

Rāhiri welcomed him but there was tension between the brothers. As tuakana, Uenuku believed/chose himself to be above Kaharau. Rāhiri wanted to settle the matter so he gathered his two sons together and threw a manurere into the sky. The wind caught it and the three chased it.

Finally the manurere came to rest at Tāhuna, near Kaikohe. All the lands west/north of Tāhuna now belonged to Kaharau, east of Tāhuna now belonged to Uenuku. This is also the reason that Kaikohe is known as Te Pu o te Wheke, the heart of the octopus, the gateway between east and west.