Sir Këngi Matutaera êhaka (18 October 1921 â 1 January 1993), known to his family as Matu êhaka, was a New Zealand clerk, interpreter, Anglican priest, broadcaster and MÃÂori Language Commissioner.
Of MÃÂori descent, êhaka identified with the Te Aupà Âuri iwi. He was born in Te Kao, Northland, on 18 October 1921, the 13th of 14 children.
êhaka was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970 Queen's Birthday Honours, for services to the Anglican MÃÂori Church. In the 1989 New Year Honours, he was made a Knight Bachelor, for services to the MÃÂori people. In 1990, he was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal. He was buried at Purewa Cemetery in the Auckland suburb of Meadowbank.
êhaka wrote a New Zealand version of the carol "Twelve Days of Christmas", which was published as a picture book in 1981 with illustrations by Dick Frizzell. Pukeko in a Ponga Tree became well-known and widely performed, and a fortieth anniversary edition was published by Penguin in 2021. Also in 2021, the Auckland Harbour Bridge Christmas lights were based on the song.
The song's verses describe the gifting of a pà «keko in a ponga tree, two kà «mara, three flax kits, four huhu grubs, five big fat pigs, six poi a-twirling, seven eels a-swimming, eight plants of pà «hÃÂ, nine sacks of pipi, ten juicy fish heads, eleven haka lessons, and twelve piupiu swinging.