Film screening: 'Te Hono ki Aotearoa'

Watch a documentary about Te Hono ki Aotearoa. In this intercultural exchange, Steven Engelsman, director of Leiden’s Museum Volkenkunde, describes his elation at being “allowed into the heart Māori culture.” We too are privileged to watch the exchange from inspired conception to emotional delivery.

Having hosted a successful exhibition on Māori culture, and wanting a permanent connection between Aotearoa and Holland, Engelsman broached the idea of housing a waka permanently in the museum. What follows is the story of the building and handing over of ‘Te Hono ki Aotearoa’ (‘The Link to Aotearoa’), a waka taua on permanent loan to the Dutch museum, the first such exchange ever.

Hewn from a 600-year-old kauri tree grown in the Far North, the waka was carved by a team led by master carver Takirirangi Smith and constructed under the skilled guidance of master waka builder Hekenukumai (Hec) Busby. Hec is quietly proud in his assertion, “The waka is number one in our culture.”

One of the film’s many highlights shows the waka’s reception by its Dutch guardians on October 18, 2010, in a moving ceremony with Māori and Dutch participants joining together in the ceremonial rituals. Te Hono ki Aotearoa allows us to observe the many exchanges between the two parties both in Holland and in Aotearoa and the impact of Te Hono ki Aotearoa on another cultural environment.

https://natlib.govt.nz/events/jan-and-luit-bieringa-collection