Te Parapara garden to launch Waikato Matariki celebrations
As the crisp morning dawns, tangata whenua and the surrounding community will gather at the world’s only traditional māra kai replica, known as Te Parapara.
The food garden will be Waikato’s launching site for Matariki celebrations during a dawn ceremony on Friday, ahead of Aotearoa’s first Matariki public holiday.
For Ngāti Wairere researcher, Wiremu Puke, Te Parapara acts as a portal from past to present and a legacy project of his late father, Hare Puke.
He said it was both a sentimental and fitting place to mark Waikato Matariki celebrations given the long history of Māori cultivation within Kirikiriroa.
Link to video and article: ‘Portal to the old world’: Te Parapara garden to launch Waikato Matariki celebrations | Stuff.co.nz
