Cheers. Steve here. Christmas Eve this year was unique, as I was invited by our great friend Hawea Kingi to help prepare the Maori hangi for the big feast on Christmas day. I was so excited to observe this traditional process, and felt very grateful to be invited. It's easy to see why this is only done for special occasions; it's a lot of work! Hawea had arranged with a neighbor to cut up some old trees that had fallen in their pasture. The idea is to find long, straight branches about 3-6 inches in diameter.
Back at the Kingis, we dug the pit and separated the wood based on the diameter of the branches. The idea is to build a framework around the pit with the largest logs, then to stack the smaller branches vertically inside the framework.
Once the timber frame was constructed, the interior was filled with firewood. This was to create the base to heat up the stones. We then stacked lava rocks on top of the firewood. Lava rocks are used specifically because they will get really hot without shattering or exploding. Hawea told me that a lot of his volcanic stones actually came from his father. They keep them forever and will often pass them on to family members. I love that they keep these traditions alive.
Once the hangi framework was finished, we went to collect watercress. The watercress is used to line the stones to dissipate the heat when the food is placed in the pit. Mindy came and helped us gather the watercress from a local stream. She looks pretty ferocious cutting out the watercress; like a true Maori warrior.
These guys are awesome. Thanks Hawea and Manaia for sharing this tradition with me!
Okay, it's Mindy now -- wasn't that cool to see the process of preparing the hangi? We loved being a part of it. In the next post you'll see the rest of the process…
In the meantime, we returned home from the Kingis and commenced with our somewhat modified traditional Christmas Eve activities. We filled our tummies with homemade soup and rolls, watched "Elf", played golf (our favorite card game), and made Christmas cookies.
Luke and Landon fully embraced all things Santa this year. Landon kept checking the table to make sure that the cookies and milk we left for St. Nick were still there and ready for the big man. It was really cute!
We didn't dress up and do a live nativity as we usually do, but we did enjoy a few quiet moments by the Christmas tree when it (finally!) got dark outside. We read some stories and scriptures, and enjoyed reminiscing about our time spent in New Zealand. All the kids went off to bed, and Steve and I very quickly set up for Christmas morning. It was the most low-key Christmas Eve we've probably ever had, and one we will always remember. Perfect day!
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