Te Hau Kōmaru National Waka Hourua Festival

Long ago Māori ancestors traversed the vast Te Moananui a Kiwa for over 4,000 years before arriving in Aotearoa. The knowledge and practices developed and refined over many generations connects Pacific peoples with the sea, sky, land and each other. To this day, that mātauranga shows the fundamentals of how Māori interact and engage with those environments and their mātauranga. 

Today, several waka hourua societies and trusts in Aotearoa have formed the backbone of the waka hourua resurgence and continue to actively revive kaupapa waka hourua. 

In support and celebration of this resurgence, Te Hau Kōmaru Charitable Trust hosts a biannual National Waka Hourua Festival to bring together kaupapa waka experts from across the motu to share their mātauranga waka hourua.

The role of the festival is to raise awareness, share mātauranga, protect and connect people of Aotearoa to waka hourua and their kōrero.