A group of divers in Wellington have harvested a swag of kina to gift to kaupapa Matariki throughout the region.
Eugene Ryder is an avid diver and for the past few years has been sharing his knowledge of the moana on to rangatahi across the region.
He and his crew say the cold temperatures are all a part of the job
“Waiho te makariri, koina tā mātou, hei whakamahana i te wairua.”
“We don’t care about the cold; this is what warms the soul,” he said
He led a group of local divers to gather kina to gift to the different kaupapa that will be taking place as a way to enhance the mana of the different kaupapa
“I roto i tenei wā hurihuri pea, mai i ngā mahi a te kāwanatanga, he iti ngā putea, he aha rānei ki te kohi i ngā kaimoana he mea nui kia mātou ki a koha ki a rātou.”
“In these trying times, with government policies, there isn’t much money, we’re heading out to give back to kaupapa and whānau as a gift.”
Matariki Heri Kai is the official theme of this year’s celebrations and Ryder is taking the literal meaning of the theme to bring joy to kaupapa Matariki. Ryder says that this is a way for him to live out the values of Matariki, something he didn’t know too much about growing up.
He mea miharo tēnei ki a Ngāi Māori, te timata o te tau hou, he kaupapa hautapu, he wā kia mihi atu ki a rātou kua wehe atu ki te pō.
“It’s an important time of the year for us Māori, it’s the new year, we have hautapu ceremonies, a time to reflect on those who are no longer with us.”
The current rule of gathering kina permits one diver to gather 50 kina. The swag of kina collected in this dive will see five kaupapa have roughly 100 kina. Ryder says this is way to ‘whakamana’ or to add cultural value to the events.
“Me haere whakamua, kia whakatupu hoki o mātou mokopuna hoki.”
“Let’s look to the future and ensure we raise our coming generations in this way as well.”
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Ngā Mokopuna, Massey University, Wesley Community Action and Wellington United are some of the groups that will benefit from this kina ga