Te Kawanga Solemn Dedication:
O Tane! Searched for and brought hither
From the dark-green Night;
From the Night of Sacred-darkness,
And from over the horizon!
This is the axe of Rata
Which struck, bit into, and was wielded
On the main ridge-piece of Rehua!
When raised up on high,
Tane awaited his adorning!
The high priest will chant the succeeding lines unto the eighth stanza which will now be given:
1
Ye who are heavy-laden gather by the pillar;
The big pillar, the tall pillar, the dedicated pillar.
The orations are to be made within the sacred house.
I shall now bear my axe on high as it it were te awhio-rangi!
'tis renowned, long-handled-a sharpened axe
this axe of mine, which I now bear on high
to its abiding place,
To be re-sharpened, rebound and adorned anew.
What is to be the name of this House'?
Response:
Auaukiterangi:
The Building of the House
The moving spirit behind the project, to erect a carved meeting house on the Maketu marae (courtyard) was the late Princess Te Puea Herangi C. B. E.
She arranged for suitable totara timber to be delivered. at the Tainui Carving School, Ngaruawahia, where her nephew, the late Tamati Wanikore Herangi, did the carvings with the assistance of a team of Waikato carvers.
Tamati also also supervised the laying down of the foundations and the building operations.
Mirione Pinga assisted Tamati with the preparations of the plans and specifications.
Tamati died early in 1858, and the completion of the building has since been supervised by Te Ngaehe Herangi and Hemi Kakuere.
In accordance with the general pattern of tribal meeting houses throughout the land, on the wall posts and the free standing pillars of Auaukiterangi House, the carved figures mostly represent renowned ancestors with here and there figures of taniwha dragons or fabulous monsters, associated with the traditions of the Tainui tribes. The carved human figures have been named after Tainui ancestors.