Engagement Program 2026

This year’s engagement story is: Te Ao Mārama (The World Of Light/ Knowledge)

Te Ao Mārama (The World Of Light/ Knowledge)

Light design: Catherine Ellis

Sound artist: Peter Hobbs

Produced: Dan Move

As told by Danny Te Rakai Watson

Transcript

Marama, the moon, sets in motion our Luna Calendar and brings light to the darkness of the night.

Let us welcome in our Tupuna of the night.

Taiki e

Tenei to pouri ka rere I a koe

Piki mai re te Tipua o te Ao Po

Kake mai re te Tipua o te Ao Po

Haere mai re te Tipua o te Ao Po

Koti koti te Po

Ao te Po

Te Po ka wehea I a marama

Koe koe tena toku tupuna

Haere mai

Taiki e

This is the darkness that flees from you

Arise the ancestor of the night world

Climb up the ancestor of the night world

Welcome the ancestor of the night world

Cut away the darkness

Darkness into light

Darkness that is separated by light

There you are my ancestor

Welcome

During the next full moon, we invite you to stand on any of our local beaches. Oneroa known as Takapuna, or perhaps Kuku-waka, Narrow Neck beach, One Kuri, Cheltenham Beach; look out to Rangitoto as the moon slowly rises up from the shadow of the mountain. It may dance with some clouds nestling on the summit.

As Mārama slowly peeps over the top of Rangitoto and comes into full view, shards of light are sent out to dance on the multitude of small waves that are the whanau of Tangaroa ki Tai and Te Awanui o Peretū, Rangitoto Channel. As Marama, the moon climbs higher into the night sky the sparkling light intensifies, getting brighter as Marama begins to track bringing light and pushing back the darkness of the night.

The spread of the light from the moon, is a reminder to us of our journeys beginning when we are conceived in the darkness, Te Pō, we move from the darkness into the light, Mārama, we take our first breath, and our life begins. Tehei Mauri Ora.

How we learn and gather new information. In the same way as the moon lights up the night sky so our learning brings us into the light, the Maramatakā and with each cycle, our “kite” of knowledge grows. Not quickly, not instant, slowly like the return each month of the moon.

On this reoccurring journey, it is Mārama that pushes the tides both in and out and during the full moon you will see some very high and low tides.

We are almost 65% water and while standing there on the beach you may feel the pull of the moon, a time when your intellect may be at its best. Enlightenment, clarity, brightness, light, all part of this magical journey.

Maramātaka, the cycle of Marama out across the heavens gives us the lunar Calander and tells us when to go to the mara, the gardens to plant. This is the time of the water table being drawn up close to the surface. It is when we venture out onto the tides, Te Ao a Tangaroa to catch abundant fish.

In Te Ao Maori, Mārama, is more than just the moon, it is our Calander, month after month it reminds us of the cycle of life. Next time you see its reflection dance across the water, or you watch the ebb and flow of the tides know how connected we are both physically and spiritually to our Tupuna/ancestor in our night sky.

Piki mai ra te Tupuna o te Ao Po, rise up,ancestor of the night.