Valentine's Day is coming up on Monday, and it's a day when it's customary to anonymously send a card to someone you admire. A Hamilton-based Māori-owned business has designed a range of Valentine’s Day’s cards with a bit of spice, humour and Te Reo Māori.
They are Valentine’s Day cards with a Māori sense of humour, Ngāwai Smith says.
“So we have a range of cards, three of which are adult-only,” she says. "This one here is 'Your rākau speaks to my ngākau'. Loosely translated rākau is wood, musk, stick and ngākau is heart or the centre of affection. So your rākau - your stick, wood - speaks my love language … you get it?
"The other one we have is whatu, patu, so 'My whatu hopes to see your patu later'. Whatu is eyes. Patu is short club, but to keep you men at home feeling secure about your manliness, we’ll say patu is weapon. So my eyes hope to see your weapon later."
Smith, of Te Roroa in the Hokianga, came up with the idea. Through her business Peke Poho, she is on a mission to design products that increase the presence of Te Reo Māori in homes. These Valentine’s Day cards have been inspired by her appreciation of Māori sense of humour.
“My inspiration for these cards, I guess, really came from appreciating Māori sense of humour."
Cheeky with implied humour
"But what I wanted to do was make them uniquely Māori, and something so unique about Māori I feel is our sense of humour. The beauty of Te Reo Māori I think is, you know, it's such a deep language. There’s a depth to it that you can't get out in English and that enables you to be a lot more cheeky. The humour is more implied; it's not so in your face.”
However, keyboard warriors have criticised the content in her cards.
“We did come across one criticism of our mahi and that person felt that our tūpuna wouldn't have appreciated our language being used in this way. My response to that person would be, you know, like, watch the video, he muramura. I mean, it's, you know, here we have a marae full of people laughing, having the time of their lives, singing a waiata promptly. It's 100% witty, it's 100% Māori humour and it's 100% sexual innuendo."
“So, it’s sad but I can't help but feel that that person's views are very colonised and actually we’ve always spoken like this, we’ve always used humour to talk about our tinana and be cheeky and in that sexual innuendo space.”
The cards are proving quite popular on her business Facebook page.
“So our cards are $8 each and we've sold lots. The aim was to sell 24, I would have been stoked for that. But we've sold over 300 so it's been pretty hectic. And I just want to say a massive shoutout. Ngā mihi nui ki a koutou. You know, for all your tautoko of our pakihi, watch out Hallmark, we're coming for you at this rate. But yeah, the response has been amazing. Really appreciate it.”
“When I launched these cards, I wasn't confident. I was actually pretty terrified that they would be a flop or that I would receive a lot of criticism. I've had exactly the opposite experience and I think it just shows, (a) back yourself, (b) we're funny, (c) Māori get out there and do it.
"We've always been entrepreneurs, don't forget that, and the support that you'll find out there for you when you do launch is amazing and I can't thank By Māori enough for that."
To buy a card for your Valentine visit Peke Poho on Facebook.