When Pāpā died, uncle Tipua came over from Waitekaha. He dispatched Maru to bring in a selection of the dairy cows – I sat on the yard and watched.
When the cows were yarded into the cowshed, uncle Tipua sent me home to get Pāpā’s single shot, shot gun. Yeah we were crack shots and only needed one bullet – no it was all we had and I guess all Pāpā could afford. It was always kept behind the back door and as I got a hold of it and the bullet belt and headed back to the cowshed, I was thinking what was going to happen when uncle Tipua found out that there was some tar up the barrel. I could remember putting it there after coming back from Ruatorea one time. The sun was so hot and Reweti and I collected some tar off the footpath and took it home.
I had heard some stories about blocked guns backfiring and I wanted to test the theory. I put the tar up the barrel and with one of my raupo arrows pushed it as far up the barrel as it would go. The gun (steel parts) was always oiled.
When I gave the gun and bullets to Uncle Tipua I thought I would see the theory tested but low and behold he broke the gun open and looked up the barrel. He said this gun is no good so “boy” can you go and ring up to my house and ask cousin Boysie to bring the rifle over. They had an old convertible car.
I didn’t tell him I didn’t know how to use the phone – you know the old party line where everyone knew everyone’s business as they would tap in – ingenious they were. Anyhow I think their number was 14R (ours was 31D or long short, short) but I didn’t know how to ring it. Anyway I stayed at home for about 5 minutes then went back to the cowshed and told uncle there was no reply. Uncle herded the cow he wanted into the milking bail and put a back rope on it. He climbed up onto the bail head with an axe and hit the cow between the ears and on the forehead. The cow dropped as was the case when I used to go down to Sid Burdett’s slaughterhouse most Sundays to watch Norm Kirk kill the meat to be sold at the Ruatorea Butcher shop where he and Hiwi Beach worked.
Uncle Tipua with Uncle Boyboy and Maru then dragged the cow out of the bail propped it on its back between 2 posts and within a half hour had skinned it. Then rolling it on to its side and on its skin, gut it without making a mess. It was halved across the last 2 ribs and hung to dry.
Everything else was salvaged with the only thing I remember being washed away was the blood and the contents of the stomachs – yes the whole 3 of them. Good biology lesson really.
After cleaning up and lighting the hotwater cylinder the dogs were tied up and then it was a cup of tea. During this time Boysie was phoned to bring the rifle. When he arrived, those fowls that were located were shot and plucked. Later in the evening and when it was dark and with the assistance of a torch, the rest were shot from their perches in the macracarpa tree outside. The pine tree that also served to hang any mutton from as well as our fridge – a safe which had a fly proof mesh and where all perishable food was stowed. Worthless really when you consider some of the very hot summers we experienced.
After all the fowls were cleaned they, the cow and bags of kumara and parareka, were taken to Mangahānea marae.
Just as fascinating to me was the takahi whare. While the main purpose was to display Pāpā’s photograph in front of the fireplace in the lounge on a whāriki and continue to welcome and feed mourners who never made it to the formal tangi at Mangahānea marae, it was also the way to remove any evil spirits including his to their proper place – tawhiti nui, tawhiti roa, tawhiti pāmamāo etc etc etc.
All I can remember is them cooking food near the wood pile and on an open fire for at least a week. There was some beer (kegs of Gold Top) and square gin consumed and a lot of the songs I heard sung in the kāuta at Mangahenea, sung again. While we were sent to bed cousins Maru, Sam and I would sneak out and observe everything hidden by the brush on the mānuka wood that we kept in heaps and commonly referred to as the “wood heap”- brought home on a sledge or in piles by horse after being felled and left to dry. There would be up to about 8 trees in each heap and depending on the size of the trees, they were tied together with a sneaking chain which was hooked to a horse with a collar and brought home. Another standard chore.
Throughout the tangi at Mangahanea and the takahi at home, the food came from all over the place. Those who were good at different things brought the kai they had in plenty – brilliant really and oh how things have changed. Otherwise different parties would go and get kaimoana, eel over the whole period of the takahi.
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