We retain lived knowledge far better than something we just hear or read about...
It’s one thing to write down your history as a means of preserving it. But it’s even more important to practice it. We retain lived knowledge far better than something we just hear or read about. Wānanga isn’t only something we only do at a formally set aside time and place. What about all those opportunities we have, everyday, to live our traditional knowledge and in doing so, share it? What about all those opportunities we have, everyday, to ask those around us to share what they know, so that we can start to have lived experiences of our #tūpunawisdom, too? There’s a shared tuakana-teina 👨👦 responsibility to fill and draw from this rourou of intergenerational knowledge. As tuakana - knowledge holders - we have a responsibility to share and teach and model. As teina - learners - we have a responsibility to receive. And to receive we have to be present, we have to thirst for knowledge, and we may have to ask for it. We may have to seek it out. So tuakana, point out to the kids as you drive, that landmark, that rākau, that cloud formation. Teina, ask, while you’re harvesting harakeke with Aunty, why she’s doing it that way. And all of us - as we celebrate matariki 🌟, give and take up the chance to participate in the karakia 🙏🏼. We learn through lived experience. That’s how we #ProtectOurWhakapapa. That’s how we #ProtectOurMātauranga. Through intergenerational transmission of knowledge. #ProtectOurWhakapapa #Manaaki20 #BeAGoodAncestor #TūpunaWisdom
