Whaea Tina leads a dedicated team of volunteers who, for generations, have shouldered the responsibility of ensuring Tūrangawaewae Pā is spotless and ready for each new day. Their work begins at 3am and is completed before sunrise.
They call themselves the Ruru Gang, working through the night to ready the pā for manuhiri, sweeping the grounds with mānuka branches.
“There’s more to it than cleaning, there is a cleansing. Beyond dirt, beyond leaf, beyond rubbish, lolly papers. There’s a cleansing, just going around cleaning up the paru before the day starts.” she said.
While the marae sleeps, the whānau sweep the grounds and collect rubbish in and around the pā. This role, they say, has long been their whānau’s contribution, a duty chosen by their pakeke as a way of serving the kaupapa of Kiingitanga.
“I don’t know what my great grandfather was thinking at the time, but it was, I suppose, the only thing that was available. And then. Yeah. And then, it worked pretty well. And that still does now over a blower and a rake.”
For Whaea Tina, Koroneihana has shaped much of her life. Having served through the reigns of three monarchs, she approaches the role with a love and respect for the kaupapa.
“We used to go and pick up all the dishes from the different marae. Me and my cousins and aunties over there would be locked up in the back of the truck, go and pick up all these things, and, when you come vege time we’d be eating raw veggies. We used to clean the toilets, sweeping was just the part of the, part of our job.”
In recent years, attendance at Koroneihana has ranged from around 5,000 to 7,000 people per day, with total numbers over the course of the festivities exceeding 10,000.
