Trip to lake Ianthe

Yesterday on the 27th of May Nā Here Kahikatea went for a trip to lake Ianthe to collect some Kuta and Kiekie. The first thing we did was karakia so that we could be safe while collecting our materials. Kuta is used for weaving but Occasionally it was bundled with raupo and used as wall insulation. Kuta grows in the water and when going into the water, The water is about up to your waist depending on where you are harvesting from. When collecting Kuta, It is best to collect the longer ones because it produces more material. To pull it out you have to kind of wiggle the Kuta so that it will come out more easily and not break. After harvesting the Kuta the boys had a bit of a swim then we took a short break before harvesting the kiekie.

Kiekie grows on trees and is also used for weaving, it was also used to lash canoes together, make sails and create traps for fish and eels.

When collecting kiekie you have to snap the branch before you do anything else. After you snap the branch of the kiekie you have to strip the kiekie of the branch, then size them. To size them you have to have 7 in each hand then join them together in one hand ( make sure that the bottom of the kiekie leaves are all level ), you then slide your hand almost to the highest point of the kiekie leaves and when you do the shorter ones will drop out, than you repeat the process about two more times depending on the length of your kiekie. After sizing the kiekie leaves you to need to take off all of the green parts because you only need the white parts to weave. Try your best to take all of the green parts of. When you are done you pick up everything you haven't used and return it back to where you got it. You then wash your hands so that you don't get bad karma.

Hangi

Hangi prep began on Thursday the 18th of March, unfortunately, I couldn't make it that day. On Friday the 19th of March was when we were finishing the prep they started yesterday for the hangi, it was also the day we were putting the hangi down. Me, Tiana, Isy, and Autumn worked inside mostly, making sandwiches, washing used dishes among other things for our breaks during prep. Later on that day Matua Joe came in and showed Tiana, Autumn, Isy, and Me how to make fried bread, at this time the boys were outside finishing the baskets we were putting down for the hangi, soon after we made the dough for the fried bread. Me and Tiana fried it while the other girls helped with other things. The temperature of the oil had to be a certain way for the fried bread to be the way we wanted it to be. - nice and fluffy on the inside. When the fried bread was all made it was time for us all to put down the hangi so we all when out to either watch or help. The parents put the baskets down. After the Hangi went down we all went inside to clean the messes that we made and mostly set up for when we eat the Hangi later. Soon after we had lunch to finish everything that we did. I was very proud of the work that we all put in and I'm sure we all had a good time.