Ngahuru in the Maara
Corn Harvest!
Late in 2022 I planted corn, placing some in the centre row of the long bed by the Māoriland Hub back door, a reliably visible and busy spot during film festivals.
Knowing that corn is culturally significant, a taonga, for our Indigenous Turtle Island friends, I wanted it to be prominent and visible. Although this was a mindful act, I have still been moved by the significance our raumati maara corn has had for some of our international visitors.
We have had artist Noël Herkes-TeKai, of Chiricahua Nde (Apache) and Mexican Indigenous peoples (and married to our Dylan) with us to lead in the harvesting of our corn, sharing beautiful stories of how the harvest at home, with the making of corn husk pepe for tamariki, to keep them busy, while the harvest goes on and showing us how the corn is removed from the husks…
Noël happily developed corn blisters on her thumb, working at speed as the rest of us muddled on less efficiently!
We plan to grind some of our corn to make cornmeal and share kai.
We created corn husk villagers, and harvested the tiniest tomatoes ever to fit in one of our villager’s basket.
It has been such a beautiful time to share culturally rich traditions, craft and art together.
Nā Elishka 🙂