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Together for Puanga
On Saturday 29th June BestStart Stratford celebrated Puanga (Maori New Year). Before our celebration we’ve been busy learning about Puanga, singing songs and preparing food for the hangi. The day before the children, parents and teachers all worked together to peel the kumera and cut up the pumpkin. The children really enjoyed spooning out the pumpkin seeds and putting them in a bucket. On the day of our special event we cut the potato and kumera, made the stuffing and frybread. With the help and support of our parents they dug the hole for the hangi, prepared the hangi, put the basket of food into the ground and dug it back up 4 hours later to enjoy with all our friends and whanau. After everyone had finished their dinner, our children performed waiata in front of all their families.
This was such an awesome evening that we were all able to share and enjoy together. It is a yearly event that all our children, whanau and teachers look forward to each year and is a nice way to bring us all together.