- Kristin Smith
Te Atea: ko tenei te wa: Kristin Smith
Kristin Smith reflects on the impact this epic poem had on her when she first studied it as part of her Honours dissertation.

He taonga pukapuka: Te Ātea, nā Katerina Mataira
Tae atu ana au ki te whare pukapuka,
Ko tēnei te wā…
E kimi haere ana
O te pakanga nui
I tētahi pukapuka
Haruru ana te ao
Hei kaupapa kōrero mō taku tuhinga whakapae.
Tae atu ana au ki te paenga pukapuka,
Ko tēnei te wā…
Ka kitea tētahi pukapuka kiri-pango
O te pakanga roa
E puta mai ana i tērā pito o te paenga
Uira ana te ao
Me te mea nei, e karanga mai ana ki a au.
Tae atu māua ko Pukapuka ki te tūru,
Ko tēnei te wā…
Ka huraina nga whārangi
O te pakanga wehi
Ka kitea ngā kupu tuatahi
Murara ana te ao
Me te oho a Tinana, a Ngākau, a Hinengaro, a Wairua
Ee . . . i . . . i
Taukuri e!
Murara ana te ao
E rere atu ana ōku nei whakaaro ki te ātea, te ātea e kore e oti, te ātea e karapoti nei i a tātou.
Kāti, ka huri ki te reo ōpaki ināianei. I te tau 2009 i tuhia e au taku tuhinga whakapae mō tētahi pukapuka reo Māori. Tērā pea kua pānuitia kētia tēnei pukapuka rongonui, Te Ātea, nā tērā tautōhito o te ao kōrero Māori, nā te mareikura o Ngāti Porou, arā, nā Katerina Te Heikōkō Mataira. Tērā pea kāore anō koe kia pānui i te pukapuka nei, engari i te mutunga o aku kōrero, ko taku hiahia ka kimihia e koe. He pukapuka rawe, he pukapuka whakahirahira, he pukapuka tino rerekē rawa! I puta mai tēnei tuhinga ki te ao i te tau 1975; ruarua noa iho ngā pukapuka reo Māori e whakatāngia ana i aua rā, ā, ko te nuinga, he niupepa, he kōrero whakapapa, he kōrero mō te iwi rānei.
Engari mō tēnei tuhinga, mō Te Ātea, he autaia rawa ngā kōrero o roto. He āhua rite te takoto o ngā kupu ki ērā o te waiata, ānō nei he 'epic poem', he mōteatea roa rānei. Heoi, tekau ngā upoko o te pukapuka hoki, ānō nei he 'novel' kē (kua kīia e ētahi ko Te Ātea te 'first Māori novel'). He pikitia hoki ō te pukapuka nei – nā Para Matchitt, ānō nei he pukapuka tamariki. Ā, he rite ngā kōrero ki ērā o te pūrākau anō hoki – engari he pūrākau mō te wā e heke mai nei (he matakite pea).
Nā, he aha ngā kōrero i roto i Te Ātea? Hei whakarāpopoto: ka tīmata te kōrero nei i tēnei ao o Papatūānuku, engari hei ngā rā o āpōpō ēnei kōrero – he wā ki tua. Kua ahatia i te ao tangata? Auē, ka tū mai he pakanga tino nui i te ao:
Ko tēnei te wā...
O te pakanga nui
Haruru ana te ao
He kino rawa ngā mahi katoa:
He wā patu tāne
He wā patu wahine
He wā patu tamariki
Kua hē rawa te ao katoa ināianei:
Kua hinga ngā whare
Kua hinga ngā kāinga
Kua hinga ngā tāone nui
Kāore he mea ora i te mata o te ao nā te mea kua uhia katoatia e te tikowhiti (radiation), engari, kei raro i te pungarehu, kei raro i te whenua, 'he iwi e noho ana'. He oranga mō te tangata! Ko ngā tāngata o tēnei iwi, he rerekē ngā tātai whakapapa, Māori mai, Pākehā mai, Mangu mai, Hainamana mai, engari he iwi tino mōhio rātou, he iwi tino hūmārie. E mōhio ana rātou ki te hanga waka ātea, ā, ka hangaia tētahi hei rere atu ki te ātea, ki tētahi ao hou, ki Rehua.
I a Katerina e tuhi ana i tēnei pukapuka, ka riro māna e hanga te maha o ngā kupu hou (kua rongo kōrero au, i ahu mai te kupu 'rorohiko' i tāna tuhi i a Te Ātea). Anei ētahi o ngā kupu:
He mihini tautoko-i-te-ora = life supporting machines
taonga iri-rangi = radiotaonga
whakaata = television
taonga roro-hiko = computer
tikowhiti = radiation
waka-ātea = spaceship
tohunga whakataetae = scientist
tohunga hinengaro = psychiatrist
papa hiko = electrified plate
pikopoto wā = warp time
Nā, ka rere atu ētahi tāngata, mā runga waka ātea, ki te takiwā o Rehua. He roa te haerenga – e rua tekau tau – nā reira kua haere ngā tai-tamariki anake. Ka pai te nuinga o te haere. Kātahi, auē he aituā, ka tukia te waka e tētahi toka ātea, e whakapōturi ai tāna haere. Ka pau haere ngā kai, ā, ka tata mate ngā tāngata katoa i te matekai. Kātahi ka kīia mai e tētahi o ngā pakeke (kua tipu mai ia i ēnei rua tekau tau mā runga waka ātea). Ko tāna: 'Me mate ētahi o tātou kia ora ai ētahi o tātou.' He aha te tikanga o tāna rā kōrero? Kia kainga tōna tinana e ōna whanaunga: 'Ka hoatu au ko tōku tinana. Ka hoatu au ko tōku oranga hei oranga mō te hunga tangata'.
Me tū taku whakarāpopoto i konei mō te paku mēneti kia āta whakaaro tātou. I te kōrero nei, nā Whaea Katerina, ka kai tangata ngā kiripuaki, ā, i tēnei horopaki he mea pai te mahi kai tangata. Mōhio pai ana tātou katoa, e kōrerotia whānuitia ana i te ao Pākehā he mahi tino 'savage' te kai tangata (me te whakamahi hoki i ērā atu kupu whakatoihara). Ehara i te mea ko te mahi kai tangata anake e kīia nei he mahi 'savage' – kātahi te pōhēhē o te marea, he 'savage' ngā tikanga Māori katoa ki ētahi. Kia maumahara hoki tātou, i tuhia tēnei pukapuka i te tau 1975 – e rangona whānuitia aua momo kōrero mō te Māori i taua wā. Engari, koinei te wā e mātātupu ana ngā kaupapa o te wā e kīia nei ko te 'Māori Renaissance.' Nā, ka ahatia a Whaea Katerina? Ka tuhi i tētahi pukapuka hei pānui mō te kaipānui Māori (tokoiti ngā kaikōrero Māori i taua wā he Pākehā rātou), ā, i roto i āna kōrero, he mahi kai tangata hei tohu i te ao! Hei whakaora i te hunga tangata!
Heoi anō, kia hoki atu tātou ki Te Ātea. I ahatia i runga i te waka ātea? Āe rā, i mate ētahi kia whai oranga ētahi, ENGARI, ka hoki ngā mahara ki aua tāngata e noho tonu ana i te poho o Papatūānuku, ki ērā atu tāngata kāore i whai wāhi mā runga waka ātea. Nā, i ēnei tau rua tekau, kua ako rātou mō te pikopoto wā – ka taea te rere ki te takiwā o Rehua i te wā tino poto nei! Ka hangaia he waka ātea anō, ka rere atu ki Rehua, ā, hei reira kitea ai ngā tāngata o te waka ātea me te ako mō te ngaronga o aua tāngata i mate 'hei oranga mō te hunga tangata'.
Ka haere rātou ki te wāhi tino tapu ā:
E takoto ana ngā moengaroa
Ngā moengaroa
E ono tekau
Me te pānui
He tohu ki ngā hoa i roto i te aroha
I mate, kia ora ai te hunga tangata
Ka tīmata ki te hanga i tētahi ao hou ki Rehua. He iwi hūmārie tonu rātou, nō ngā iwi maha, ā, mai i taua wā, kāore rātou e kai i te mīti – ka noho hei kaimanga. Whai muri i ngā kōrero o tēnei pukapuka, nā Whaea Katerina i tuhi ngā kōrero e whai ake nei mō te iwi o Rehua – i roto i ngā pukapuka Ngā Waituhi o Rehua.
He kōrero tēnei mō ngā ra e heke mai nei, he kōrero whakatūpato ki te hunga tangata, he kōrero pōuri, he kōrero taumaha. KI a au nei, ko te āhuatanga tino mīharo o tēnei pukapuka, e hikina ai taku ngākau, ko tēnei: he kōrero Māori te hunga ora. Ka whai oranga i roto i ngā tikanga Māori me te reo Māori. Ā, ka whai oranga hoki ko koe, ina pānui koe i ngā kupu reka a Whaea Katerina.
Ko tēnei te wā...
O te pakanga nui
Haruru ana te ao

Kristin Smith Kua roa a Krissi e noho ana i Te Whanganui a Tara nei, i roto rawa i te rohe o Te Āti Awa nō runga i te rangi. Heoi, nō Kōterani kē ōna tīpuna - he tangata mau panekoti, he tangata noho maunga, he tangata whai huruhuru! Kotahi tāna tamāhine haututū - ko Nina Manaia te tou tīrairaka. Nō Rongomaiwahine, nō Ngāti Kahungunu, nō Te Āti Haunui a Pāpārangi hoki tāna hoa wahine. Kua waimarie ia i tana mōhio ki te reo Māori, he taonga nui i kohaina mai i ōna pouako, i ōna tuākana, i ōna hoa anō hoki. I ēnei rā, he kaiako reo Māori ia, he kaituhi, he kaiwhakahaere tānga hoki ki Te Whare Ture Hapori o Te Whanganui a Tara me Te Awa Kairangi. Engari, ko tana tino hiahia i tēnei wā, ko te takoto noa i te moenga mō te rā katoa, pānui pukapuka ai.