Xmases Past

Xmases past are easy to be nostalgic about. We usually started the day in our own house awake early and seeing what the bearded one who travelled all the way in the snow and came down our chimney in the middle of summer. Toys would be whatever my father's boss managed to give my father along with his last weeks pay. These were toy cars, dinky toys, dolls, golliwogs that are now non-pc, and other things. The best toys were always those that father made; wooden six shooters polished black, trucks complete with tire treads and puppets that danced on boards. Some years we got large chunks of chocolate cut from blocks with our own knives left by Santa on the table. Father would make excuses for him.

For the rest of the day the extended whanau would have a hangi under the blooming puhutukawa and for dessert ate steam pudding and jelly set in preserving jars in the water tank. We had no fridges then. The adults later drank beer and had a party; men only drinking. By nine oclock everyone was asleep. That was Xmas Past.

This Xmas I am blessed with five great grand mokos three of whom are above. This is all anyone can hope for this time of the year. Having grand children was a huge thrill. This is that all over again.

Na reira Meri Kirihimete me nga mihi mo te Tau Hou.

Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year.

Atihana

This and That About Crime:

I listened to the usual political and self righteous drivel about Bell's recent incident which landed him in hospital after being attacked by an inmate in the torture chamber of Paremoremo known as D Block. Bell is a triple murderer of staff at the Panmure RSA who received 33 years maximum, the longest sentence in NZ history apparently, even longer than some Nuremburg inmates from Nazi Germany after WW 2. There was all sorts of crappy speculation about this latest Bell incident apparently fed to the "Sentencing Trust" by inmates for whom fiction is greater than truth. They sent it to the right place full of the same sort of people. These ridiculous speculations were:

- Bell was getting favourable treatment by guards in a sumptuous suite of rooms in Hotel Parry. Prejudiced minds turned D Block which is 23 hours in a cell smaller than a double bed into something only the dummest commentator could think of as paradise. I heard that on TV 3's "Sunrise" programme.

- The whole incident was staged so that he could escape presumably from the hospital. Honestly some people watch too much TV.

The truth will out in the end but it looks rather like another inmate taking the opportunity to attack Bell for whatever reason of his own. A lot of people especially from 'that' Trust were hoping that Bell would have died. Obviously not all the savages are in D Block. Utu looms large in a society that purports to be more civilized than most. Like the atrocities of history of which there are so many including those today in Iraq where even US Security firms are allowed to murder locals indiscriminantly and get away with it. Bell's atrocity palls alongside those mongrels.

Maori Of This Year 2007

I intend to pick my "Maori of the Year 2007. " It's not been an easy job but some people like winners of the past have tended to pick themselves, like Tariana Turia. I did have a tendency to pick those who generate news or comment in the media. In a sense this is nothing more than a media created celebrity status which they often give to people who deserve nothing more than a good puke of disgust, like some rich American white kid whose name I now forget; you know the blonde caked in layers of makeup. I try to get above that for Maori of the year. My choices are purely my own. I have no panel and all the opinionated talk back and other right wing commentators can go to hell as far as relying on their red neckery is concerned. They and others have set back race relations for a century at least.

So what criteria do I use then? My own biasses obviously and not only Maori. One year I considered the late Michael King, author and otherwise positive contributor to race relations. I try and pick those who have made a positive contribution to Maori development in whatever field. I also consider those whom I know up close and their commitment to a tangata whenua cause. This year I will choose my own own Aunt Huhana Reihana who passed away this year. These are her brief biographical details:

- She died aged 83 the last of five sisters and three brothers the whanau of Hamiora and Meti Ritete of Te Aukiwa, Ngati Ruaiti, and Te Rarawa amongst others of their hapu and iwi of Tai Tokerau.

- She married Hopa Ho Reihana of Te Whanau Moana and Te Rorohuri.

- They had a large whanau and lived at Wairahoraho on the Karikari- Whatuwhiwhi Peninsular.

- In her last years she took a keen interest in Ngati Kahu affairs including our Waitangi claims. She went on the hikoi to Wellington against the Fore Shore and Seabed Bill. At the end of it which she did from Te Papa to Parliament in a wheel chair she got up and her and a relative Merimeri Penfold did the line dance. Not a photographer or TV Camera in sight. Where are they when a photo opportunity such as this happens? Looking for some dumb blonde no doubt.

- She walked up her Maunga Puheke unaided to see the erection of the poupou we put up there to commemorate our occupation of Rangiputa Block. She didn't quite make the top but at 83 it was a great effort and showed her commitment to our kaupapa of getting back the whenua.

Without any further ado then may I present my Aunt and my mothers youngest sister and the last of their whanau: Huhana is last on the right and Mei my mother is the first on the left standing. They are with kaumatua and whanau at a function for Ngati Kahu kaumatua.