Mika MCs at last year's Dawn Ceremony One of Auckland Pride's most important cultural elements, the Dawn Ceremony, is to be re-jigged, apparently cutting its originator out of the picture. The Dawn Ceremony, usually timed to coincide with Waitangi Day, was instituted two years ago by entertainer and youth development campaigner Mika. However, the 2016 event will centre around another, as yet unnamed, group and Mika has not been approached about being involved again. Pride Festival curator Ta'i Paitai is remaining tight-lipped about the change, saying only that information regarding the dawn ceremony will be released as it will be appropriate. In a brief statement to GayNZ.com Daily News Paitai says Auckland Pride Festival has been in discussion with Mana Whenua, “and there are further discussions to be had over the programme, before it is released... If there are concerns regarding tikanga, then you can rest assure, that by working in with the Mana Whenua, those concerns are unwarranted." Mika has confirmed that he and his Mika Haka organisation haven't been approached by Pride to be involved or about the change. “In fact I saw Ta'i a few days ago and told him I'm available for the ceremony but have heard nothing back,” he says. Despite being sidelined Mika appears to remain supportive of Pride and its objectives. “It's all about us all working together as a community and there should be wide involvement so I genuinely wish the best for whoever's doing it this year and if they invite me I'll definitely come along.” The Mika Haka group has had considerable involvement in the past Auckland Pride festivals but this year Mika says he's “leaving the involvement of the Mika Haka Foundation to our young members to decide. I know they're talking about it but they haven't come back to me on it yet. We'll see what they want to do. I've got a lot on at the moment so I won't be staging any events myself for Pride this year but I'm still 100% behind Pride and its objectives." For the record, in an interview conducted with GayNZ.com a few days ago and currently being published in stages, Auckland Pride board member Shirley Allan has been more forthcoming about the Dawn Ceremony changes. She says Ngai Whatua will be involved and the event will be “simple like it has been in the past." And she's “pretty confident” that the new group on which the ceremony will centre are “the same crew that performed at our gala opening earlier this year. I've been to a couple of other events where they've performed, their work is outstanding and their tikanga's excellent, they're all takataapui, gay, lesbian, trans. It's going to be a pretty cool gig I reckon, short, simple, crack of dawn, a karakia, a bit of a waiata, have a cup of tea and all go home for a lie down."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Sunday, 20th December 2015 - 8:24am