GAY CEREMONY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20988, 15 December 1939, Page 8

GAY CEREMONY

MAORI COURT OPENED ANCIENT RITES PERFORMED TOHUNGAS LIFT TAPU (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Friday The gayest and most entertaining occasion of the Centennial Exhibition yet witnessed was the ceremonial opening of the Maori Court yesterday. Some hundred natives, attired in korowai and piupiu, participated in traditional songs and dances and ancient ceremonies rarely seen in Wellington. Chiefs and leaders of the Maori people had gathered from all parts of the North Island, and there was also a distinguished pakeha attendance. In the absence of the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, the actingNative Minister, the Hon. F. Langstone, formally declared the building open. The picturesque ceremonial was witnessed by many hundreds of people, yesterday’s attendance being swelled to 11,503 by the afternoon visitors.

The Maoris held a big social and dance in the Assembly Hall last night. The old-time rite of lifting the tapu from a Maori meeting house was carried out during the day by two tohungas of the Arawa tribe, after which Princess Te Puea Herangi and Mrs Sullivan, wife of the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, crossed the threshold, so driving out all evil spirits and making the building available for common use.

Sir Apirana Ngata presented a number of carved Maori articles to the distinguished guests, and the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, 4 presented three radio sets to the Maori Battalion on behalf of the Ngati Poneke, and a number of carved taniko napkin rings and carved officers’ sticks on behalf of the Arawas.