Organisers of Matariki Arrowtown Ka-Muriwai are dubbing the Buckingham St park - opposite the Arrowtown Bakery - ‘Te Papa Reo’, where passers-by will be encouraged to learn more about te reo Māori, and practise speaking it with those stationed there who are fluent.
This year’s event’s being organised by Watson & Wyatt, in conjunction with a new committee.
Director Ann Wyatt says the idea for the park, and many other elements in play during tomorrow’s celebration of Māori New Year, come directly from the feedback received following the 2023 event.
"Engagement is a big thing - people want to learn and touch and feel and do.
"[The park] is an engagement factor."
Wyatt says the fluent te reo speakers will be easily spotted - they’ll be decked out in bright red, wearing hats which say ‘I speak te reo, come and speak to me’.
Simultaneously, Māori words and their English translations will be hanging from trees, to help people learn more about the language, while anyone’s encouraged to sit down and have a korero (conversation) with the speakers, "look at some words and learn some new things".
While she accepts it can be intimidating, the focus of the activation is to encourage people to have a go at speaking te reo Māori.
One of the people who’ll be available in the park is Cory Ratahi, the event committee’s cultural liaison, and Matariki Arrowtown Ka-Muriwai MC, who’s fluent.
"The language means so much to me ... I’ve been on a journey of language discovery myself, so I’ve hit quite a high peak now, so I feel like it’s my turn to help the community with all that type of thing as well.
"Just teaching people how to pronounce the words properly is really fundamental, it’s really important, so I really appreciate the opportunity to be the MC so I can put some of our words out there ... that are regular words that get used all the time."
Other interactive activities in the celebration tomorrow include weaving workshops, and a make-a-star station at the Athenaeum Hall, and a chance to make a feather to add to the kakahu and make a mark on the tukutuku panels at the Ray White showroom.
Today’s event runs from 3.30pm till 8.30pm, and will include performances, live music, night sky viewing and an astronomy talk. Entry is by koha.
