Different people and different families have their favourite places. All have access to the whakamoemiti if they know the words of the service off by heart, Anyone can act as the priest. I have seen a family group pressed up against the front rail, crying together. I have heard a man playing his flute to Ihoa. The kawenta are later collected and stored in the Church Office.
Some families make a kawenta every year.
For me there is always more light in Te Temepara than actual light. It is always lighter than could be captured by any photograph. There is a deep stillness, a well of deep listening. The air there is always the right temperature. Often there is an elusive sweet perfume.