Being Ngāi Tahu means having an incredibly special connection to the people and whenua of Aotearoa that I am hugely proud of. Unfortunately it has also meant navigating a lot of whakamā over the years in terms of not neatly fitting into my own and others' ideas of what it means to be Māori. Luckily, I know I'm not alone on that journey - and kaupapa like Te Ara Whakatipu go a long way to reconnect whānau with our Ngāi Tahutanga. Below is a story I wrote about my experience of that hīkoi - an...

Being Ngai Tahu to me means: - Doing things together as a whanau - Continuing our customary practices, including mahinga kai, titi and pounamu - Retaining our ancestral lands Aaron Leith, Murihiku

To me, Ngāi Tahu means I can reconnect with my whakapapa. I can connect my son with his whakapapa. I can introduce my partner to the culture he is marrying into. I can rebuild the bonds with my wider whānau that have been lost in the past.

I feel whole when I walk in the forest I feel calm when I look at the stars I feel happy when I walk barefoot in the sand and the incoming tide I feel a force pulling me South I feel my ancestors calling me home

The future. I have not yet had an opportunity to connect with the rohe or my Ngai Tahu whānau yet, but I know that I will in the future.

Reclamation on behalf of tīpuna - we were raised from a place of whakama about being Māori, half of us too brown, the rest of us white enough to dismiss our whakapapa. Now as a registered member - which has meant so much to me - my children know their pepeha, they pronounce their reo with ease and they are proud of their ancestry. Being Kai Tahu is a huge source of pride for me and the next step is for me to step onto my ancestral land and reconnect properly.

Inā kei te mohio koe ko wai koe, anga mai koe I hea, kei te mohio koe, kei te anga atu ki hea. If you know who you are and where you are from , then you’ll know where you are going.

My parents were of the generation where the use of te reo was not allowed so my childhood lacked anything of Te Ao Maori. After leaving the RNZAF in 2007, I relocated to Rotorua and OMG, Maori-dom hit me right in the face. Our culture was everywhere, waiata and karakia openly sung and prayed, beautiful cravings everywhere, te reo being spoken in the streets, in cafes, also on road signs, in shop windows, street art and murals on buildings. It was amazing and oh so eye-opening, nothing like my...

My Ngai Tahu links go back a long way on my mums side and I did not grow up with a real connection to the tribe. I decided to explore my Ngai Tahu connection as a young adult and have found it a very rewarding experience. Everyone has been welcoming and treated me as part of a great family. I am proud to be of Ngai Tahu and of what the tribe does for its people. It has inspired me to further embrace the culture and pass that on to my children. We live in Australia and the treatment of the ori...

Being part of a collective focused whanau. Belonging and understanding our taiao. The most connected future for my daughter under the guidance and protection of our tipuna.

Ngai Tahu means belonging to something bigger than myself, a sense of being connected even if I don't know enough about my whakapapa to know which hapu I belong to. Something I'm keen to discover once I get over my whakama. I am proud to be Ngai Tahu.