Waiata: Werohia (E karanga e te iwi e)

Werohia (E karanga e te iwi e)

(Leader) Werohia
(All) E karanga e te iwi e

Kua eke mai nei
Kua eke mai nei ki runga te marae e

Mauria mai ra
Mauria mai ra e nga mate o te motu e
Me nga tini roimata
Me nga tini roimata e maringi whanui e

Ara - Titiro e nga iwi (Boys)
Titiro e nga iwi e nga mahi o te motu
E hora atu nei e

Rū ana te whenua (Boys)
Rū ana te whenua, whatiwhati te moana
Aue te aroha
Aue te aroha te mamae i ahau e x2

Rū ana te whenua whatiwhati (Boys)

Hi!

Our tribe is calling to the people

who have just set foot on this marae

Bring with you the memories of all our dead

and so many tears spilling forth nation-wide.

Look at our people working across the land

spread out far and wide

Shaking is the ground, quivering is the sea.

Oh, the love and the pain within me. x2

The ground shakes and quivers

Karanga

    This is the ceremonial call of welcome by women of the host group. The lamenting calls of the karanga clear a spiritual pathway between the visitors (manuhiri) and the local people (tangata whenua). Haere Mai.

Mauria mai ra e nga mate

    By bringing to mind the dead of both groups, everyone is united in their shared grief.

Whanui e

    "Nation-wide." This song was first sung during World War II and requested support for the Maori boys fighting in Egypt. And after the war there was grieving for the hundreds of them who had died, from throughout the land. Maori Battalion.

Mahi o te motu

    "Working throughout the land." The migration to the cities began in the 1930s and greatly increased in the 1950s and 60s. These migrations are chronicled in the song Matangi.

Rū ana te whenua

    "The land is shaking, the waters are trembling." The Maori are the people of the land, and their intense emotions are entwined with the emotions of our earthquaking landmass. This figure of speech is also used in the waiata Pokarekare Ana and the haka Kapa o Pango.