THE WELCOME, EXPLAINED
The Pōwhiri: What Te Pā Tū's Welcome Ceremony Involves
Before the performance or the feast, guests are formally welcomed onto the site — here's what a pōwhiri actually is, and what each part of it means.
See Te Pā Tū evenings on GetYourGuide ↗Why a welcome ceremony comes before anything else
On a marae — and at an evening built around one — nothing happens until visitors have been formally welcomed. The pōwhiri is that welcome: a sequence of calling, speech and song that turns manuhiri (visitors) into guests with a recognised place on the site for the night. It isn't a warm-up act before the "real" show; on a marae, arriving without it would mean arriving as a stranger rather than a guest. Building an evening around a pōwhiri is a deliberate choice — it signals, before a word of English is spoken, that visitors are being hosted, not simply admitted through a gate.
The karanga: a call answered, not a greeting given
Traditionally a pōwhiri opens with the karanga, a ceremonial call issued by a woman of the host side and answered by a woman among the visitors. It's less a spoken welcome than an exchange — acknowledging the dead and the living on both sides, and signalling that it's now safe to move forward onto the site. Exactly who calls, and how, varies between iwi and marae; a version staged for an evening audience is a respectful representation of the form, drawn from real practice rather than a claim to reproduce every regional variation exactly.
The wero: a challenge meant to be answered peacefully
At some pōwhiri, particularly for visitors considered significant, a wero (or taki) precedes the rest of the welcome — a ritual challenge performed by a warrior, historically used to test whether approaching visitors came in peace. A token, often a small carved stick or leaf, is laid on the ground for someone from the visiting party to pick up; doing so signals peaceful intent and clears the way for the welcome to continue. It has real historical roots rather than being an invented flourish, though its staging and use differ from marae to marae.
Whaikōrero and waiata: speeches answered in song
Once welcomed onto the site, formal speeches (whaikōrero) are traditionally exchanged between hosts and visitors, with each speech customarily followed by a waiata — a song sung by the speaker's side in support of what was just said. The order, language and content of whaikōrero carry real protocol on a marae, including who is entitled to speak and in what sequence; in an evening cultural setting the exchange is shaped for an audience, but the underlying pattern — speech answered by song — is drawn from the genuine form rather than written for the stage.
The hongi: the closing gesture of the welcome
A pōwhiri traditionally closes with the hongi, the pressing of noses (and sometimes foreheads) between host and guest, exchanging breath and marking the moment a visitor's status shifts from outsider to welcomed guest. It's a small, physical gesture, but it's often the one visitors remember most afterward, precisely because it's personal rather than performed at a distance from the audience. From here, the formal welcome is complete, and the rest of the night — lessons, performance, feast — unfolds for someone already hosted, not someone still being assessed at arm's length by their hosts.