A Taitoko/Levin kaumātua says it was an emotional process to lay a huge whale that washed ashore to rest.
The decomposed whale washed up on Hokio Beach yesterday, drawing a large crowd.
The Department of Conservation says it’s uncertain what species the 15m-long whale is, or what the cause of death was, as it was too decomposed.
Muaūpoko kaumātua Marokopa Wiremu-Matakātea says he spent around 12 hours at the beach yesterday, as the whale was moved with diggers to a spot further up the beach for burial.
“My job was to take care of the whale, to get it from where it lies, to put him in the hole, so there was a lot of cultural steps I had to do. The first thing I had to do was go into the water and have someone else come with me to do a call, a karanga, and pay homage to Tangaroa to give the sadness of his mokopuna to us.”
Tim Tukapua, the chair of the Muaūpoko Tribal Authority, said the whale was a tohu, or sign.
“This gift from Tangaroa is a tohu. After the Minister for the Environment made his recent announcement that Horowhenua will be exempted from having the same healthy freshwater targets than the rest of NZ - our people are greatly distressed and saddened. We have deep and long-standing raruraru with the Crown and regional authorities over the state of our Taonga Punahau (Lake Horowhenua) and our waterways.
“Our ancient people and Tangaroa have gifted us this taonga - one of Tangaroa’s children - his Tamariki from the sea into which our lake flows. This tohu clears a pathway to connect with each other - to stand strong together - to protect our taonga, our whenua and all our moana. Whakahono Kia Tu Kaha Muaūpoko.”
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