Finding Connection Through Culture With WanaHaka®

WanaHaka® has been operating since 2016, running wine tours, Māori welcomes and custom experiences for both guests of New Zealand and Kiwis. Joe has a deep love for Lake Wānaka, a region inhabited by his ancestors in the late 1870s. His company is built on a passion for sharing the journey of the Māori footprint history of this land, combined with incredible award-winning wines.

For Joe “culture is connection.” Like many businesses, after the initial shock of the pandemic, he had to find a way to continue to instill that sense of connectivity – even if no one could visit here.

We sat down with Joe to chat about the philosophy of his business and how he’s adapted during these difficult times, while teaching the values of kaitiakitanga, manaakitanga and whanaungatanga both locally and to the world over.

“I’m one of the most passive guys ever, but when I do that, I try to think about what it must have been like here in the 1400s, 1500s etc.. I really embody that person. People are coming onto this land and I want to protect it. That’s how it starts for my guests.”

But as Joe moves through the Welcome, he finishes the Wero and moves into the whaikorero. This is a verbal connection, acknowledging the past, present and future. Paying respects to the whenua (land), our tīpuna (ancestors), and our whānau (family).

“So I start to build this connection. There’s the foundation of understanding and connection beginning to form.”

Finally, Joe begins to teach his guests about the hongi.

“If the whaikorero is the verbal connection, the hongi is the physical connection,” he says. “One of the most important parts of our body is our upoko (head). And then within our head we have our arero (tongue) and generally, the tongue is used to ward off your opponents.

“But we also have our ihu (nose) in our head. And I ask my guests ‘what do we do with our noses?’ And they’ll usually say ‘sniff!’” he laughs. “But then I say ‘and what else do we do?’ and they say ‘we breathe!’ and I say ‘yeah we breathe life!’”

This breath is referred to as tīhei mauriora or the “breath of life”. 

“So when we hongi, we’re exchanging the breath of life,” Joe explains. “When you meet someone now, you might shake their hand and say hello. But in Māori, we go a step further; we take each other’s breath of life. We’re exchanging each other’s mana. So for my guests, they start to really feel it, this connection and how it goes deeper and deeper.”

Finally, Joe ends off with both a Wānaka Haka (gifted to him) and discusses the ka mate (All Blacks) Haka acknowledging the sensitivity to Ngāi Tahu and Te Puohos raid of 1836.

“The main reason I discuss the ka mate is because many people from overseas are familiar with it, they’ve seen it before – but have never understood the history, actions, words, etc.. But I want to break down each action, word and phrase slowly and explain it. The Wānaka haka and the ka mate are 200 years apart, and we talk about the difference in the two – the intent, the values.

“This is so that next time they see a haka, wherever they are, they think about what the actions mean, what the words mean, the purpose.”

By the end of the Welcome, Joe hopes that he’s instilled a sense of kaitiaki in his guests and that they leave connected to this place. 

“It’s about building a deeper connection to land and people and that means acknowledging past, loving present, but also thinking of the future.”

“So, you can imagine these hardened people. And the wine tour is a journey. This is what it was like in the past, this is what we’re doing in the present as we move into the future. It’s a nice blend.”

Joe also credits the wineries in Wānaka for this interesting blend of culture on the tour.

“The vineyards here are amazing with how they respect and honour the land and how they cultivate their beautiful wines,” he says. “And of course, they each have their own histories of how they came to be. When you put all these stories together, it’s a powerful human connection.”

Joe says that he thinks the cultural element is a massive draw for his viewers and he’s been able to evolve the experience over time as well. He believes that the key to virtual tours and experiences is interaction. 

“I think it’s essential that these experiences are done live. You know, I’ve got my camera set up and people are going about their days behind me, walking their dogs around me. But I just roll with it and my viewers laugh with me when something unexpected happens.”

On top of the live aspect, Joe found ways to make the experience even more interactive as time went on.

“Obviously, not being able to do the hongi face-to-face is a drawback, but I’ve found other ways to make it personal for my viewers. At the end, I’ll give them their own personal greeting and teach them how to say it. And lots of people really like that, being able to take that piece away with them – and that’s another form of connection to this place.”

Kaitiakitanga/Guardianship

Toitū te whenua, whatungarongaro he tangata

The land remains when people have disappeared.

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