My first memory of Mawhitiwhiti Pa

Our whanau lived at Ohawe on the Rangatapu reserve, right next door to what was known as "the Hall". This place served as a Pa and was used to accommodate the tribal needs of Maori whanau who lived on the coast and who for whatever reasons did not frequent their tribal Pa inland. My memories of Pa life and what it looked like came down to this place.
Our whanau moved into Hawera in 1960 where we still live in the same house, in the same street to this day. Moving of course meant that as kids we would no longer have the opportunity to see and witness life at the Pa as much as we had when we lived on the beach. However our mother continued to be involved with tribal affairs and we were able to work out when there was a tangihanga or something on at one of the Pa, because she would be dressed in her "blacks" and our dad would take her.
My first memory of Mawhitiwhiti Pa, affectionately known to this day as Kanihi was the 16 ctober 1974. I remember this date so vividly because it was the day that we had laid one of our uncles to rest at Waitoto and the hakari was held at the Pa. We entered the whare from the side of the building. Inside the walls were adorned with the half tyres filled with faded crepe flowers hanging on the coat hooks around the room (these were used during the dances), kapok bedding was the norm for sleeping, the stage was still there and the door to the supper room was to the side of the stage. We walked into the supper room and even more tyres graced the walls, the open fire in the kitchen for cooking was billowing out smoke and of course the many faces that were there to awhi our whanau, some known to us, some we would get to know over the coming years.
They say that first impressions are the most lasting and whoever said that is right. To this day the feeling of warmth, the hakari tables, the old world feeling in the place, the whanau, has never diminished for me over the years. I know that the new building whatever that may look like, will live up to and retain those impressions that I hold in my mind and my heart. - Daisy