The King and Us

Today they celebrated the third anniversary of the King's coronation. We had been invited by a local Maori pastor to go in to the Marae with him and watch the festivities. Can you imagine semi naked men dancing with spears wearing only warpaint and grass skirts? Well, you will have to imagine them as we were not allowed any cameras. The singing was amazing as well as the dancing and the terrifying Haka each tribe performed. As the King sat watching each group in the heat of the sun. our friend pointed out the times when he put his sunglasses on so he could snooze amidst the noise. We seemed to be the only pakeha faces there but folk were friendly and even sang Flower of Scotland to us, well .... sort of!

While there was all this music and dancing before the king, the rest of the tribesmen were battling it out on the rugby pitch. A huge new trophy was to be presented and the tribal cheifs needed it to be blessed before they could use it. At just the moment our friend was showing us the spring where the King's water came from the chiefs showed up amazed that the pastor was there already when they arrived to use the water in a blessing ceremony. They asked our friend to pray and bless the trophy and then they thanked us for being the means of the minister being there at the right time. Can't see that happening at the Parish Cup!