Today is the 182nd anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti o Waitangi, the founding document of our society in Aotearoa. It’s an appropriate time to reflect on Te Tiriti and my commitment to it. Since I left paid work I’ve missed the opportunities to experience and learn about Tikanga which I used to have through association with Te Runaka ki Otautahi o Kai Tahu (those Ks should be underlined, but WordPress won’t let me).
In 2020 I enrolled with Te Wananga o Aotearoa, and attended some weekly Te Reo classes, but lockdown and my aversion to large Zoom meetings put an end to that. These days my commitment is limited to an endeavour to pronounce Māori words correctly, using Aotearoa as the name of our country, using macrons on my computer, and counting in Māori when I do my daily exercises.
It’s years since I’ve had occasion to offer a mihimihi, and I’d now have difficulty remembering all of mine, but since 2006 this has consistently been the most sought-after post on my blog, so I’ll publish it again here. The original version lacked macrons, and I’ve added them now, hoping they are in the right places. It there are errors I hope someone will tell me.
Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa
Te whare e tu nei the house that stands here
Papatūānuku e takoto nei Mother earth lying here
Tēnā kōrua, tēnā kōrua Greetings to you both
E nga mate, haere, haere, haere the dead, thrice farewelled
Rātou te hunga mate ki a rātou (they, the deceased, them)
Tātou te hunga ora ki a tātou to us the living
Tēnā koutou
E nga mana whenua, tēnā koutou greetings to the local people
E Taua mā, e Poua mā, to the female elders, and the male elders
Rau rangitira mā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa
Tēnā koe X greeting anyone special
Ko Maungakiekie te maunga Maungakiekie is my mountain
Ko Manukau te moana Manukau Harbour is my tidal water
Ko Ngati Pākehā te iwi
Ko Gardner rātou ko Rout, ko Leslie, ko Nicholls nga whānau
I wehe ōku tupuna I Ingarangi
My ancestors came from England
Ko Phyllis Leslie tōku whāea, Ko George Gardner tōku matua
Phyllis is my mother, George is my father.
Ko Stephen Symons tōku hoa tāne
Stephen Symons is my husband
Ko Cathryn rāua ko Louise āku tamāhine
Cathryn and Louise are my daughters.
Ko Ruth ahau
My name is Ruth
No reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.
Ruth's Reflections 
Great to see your mihi (with macrons) again Ruth. Do you have an easy way of accessing macrons as you type? I am still putting them in by hand.
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Dear Juliet, I switch to English/Maori keyboard on Office 360, then I need to use the tilde key (top left) before I type each letter.
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Acknowledging the dead and honouring Papatūānuku is a special and important part of your mihi.
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Kapai Ruth. Spiritually locating ourselves in te Ao Maori shows respect and being an 21st century citizen. Did your mihi arise from contact with Kai Tahu? It flows beautifully. What was your waiata? All the best this day.
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Yes, the mihi came from Tikanga classes with Kai Tahu, and I hope others will feel free to use it as a template. I don’t have a waiata, although we often sang “Te Aroha”. Best wishes to you for this important day.
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