Raranga Workshop

On Saturday the 20th March a Raranga Wānanga was held in Waioteao at WSC/NPOW to bring together tikanga Māori and sustainability.
Whaea Annie Jane Ah Mu, a traditional Maori weaver, who runs raranga community courses, led the kono making workshop for the local Grey Lynn Cup Project (https://www.greylynn2030.co.nz/cup-project/).

 The wānanga included an introduction to harakeke tikanga, harvesting, preparing and weaving a 4-corned kono and taking care of waste. Each completed kono was presented as a Koha Cup to one of the participating Grey Lynn cafes.

From the students perspective of those that attended it was a great experience and really fun for all ages. “When everyone  got to the lesson, we were all greeted by the teachers/instructors for the day. We then went ahead and started the lesson with a Karakia and an introduction to what kind of things we were going to do that day. We learnt about the Harakeke and how to collect it without hurting the Harakeke plant. Once we finished collecting the Harakeke, we went ahead and learnt how to make the strips for our cup covers. We then started making the Harakeke cup covers. When we had all finished, we took some photos and ended with Karakia whakamutunga. Overall this experience was amazing because we got to learn all about the Harakeke, how to harvest it properly and some of the history behind weaving. This class would be great for anyone of all ages and everyone was lovely and helpful.”