Te Ao Maori (the World of the Maori)

Friday, March 8th

Rotorua, Aotearoa New Zealand 

The two main islands of New Zealand were originally discovered by Polynesian peoples traveling by large canoes from other Pacific islands, only about 700 - max 1,000 years ago. One story story goes that they named the islands Aotearoa because as they were searching for the islands, the wife of the chief saw a long white cloud and called out, "al te a roa!" to let everyone know that land was near. Today the Maori call the land Aotearoa, and many signs show both names together as Aotearoa New Zealand. 

So...how to pronounce Maori?

You can say Mow-ree (emphasis on the mow, where mow rhymes with mouse) or Mah-dee where the d is really sitting in for a slightly rolled r sound. 

Maori vocabulary 

kia ora - hello, be well (pronounced as one word kyora or kee-oor-da with the rolled r/d sound)

morena - good morning

pai - good

ka pai -sounds good? Yeah good

wai - water

kai - food

tapu - special or sacred place (origin of taboo)

haka - traditional posture dance. Danced to intimidate opponents or more broadly just to express emotions.

The New Zealand rugby team the All Blacks, who were so named because their uniform was all black, is made up of players who have Maori ancestry, and is famous for performing a haka before their games. More about the haka below. Other NZ sports teams now have names that play on the black/white theme, like the Tall Blacks basketball team and the White Ferns women's cricket team.

Friday morning started at Wai-O-Tapu, a "thermal wonderland" of hot springs and geothermal pools.

We crossed a bridge over the sacred stream where the tribal Chief would cleanse his weapon and even cook his dinner in the hot water.

We were told we couldn't touch the water in the stream: it's tapu.

Notice the rising steam back there? That's the chief's special pool.

This is called the Green Pool for obvious reasons. The sulfur in the water makes the cool water appear green.

 

Mary and tour friends at the hot springs.

The Maori used the hot steam and water to cook their food. 

Birds often nest in these walls (see the little niches?) Steam keeps the nests warm so the parents don't have to sit on the eggs to hatch them.

Rua Pumahu crater is full of boiling mud. We were told that Peter Jackson's team recorded this bubbling mud sound and used it for Mordor in the Lord of the Rings.

Champagne pool (74 degrees C)

From Wai-O-Tapu we drove a short distance to Hinemihi, the home of a Maori woman named Julia, who was willing to meet with us to share her Maori culture.

Moari introduce themselves by first talking about their family background, starting with their ancestral home, the canoe that brought their ancestors, their mountain, their lake or river, parent's names and maybe other names as well. Julia asked us to go around the room with each person trying to introduce themselves in the Maori way. 

Guide Rangi, Julia's great aunt, was a famous ambassador of the Maori. Rangi traveled around the world to share her Maori cultural heritage, and helped develop tourism for Aotearoa New Zealand.

We were visiting the family homestead or "meeting house" built by Julia's grandfather in 1927 after they survived the eruption of Mount Tarawera in 1886 that had destroyed their previous home on the shores of Lake Rotorua. The meeting house holds their family's history, including photos on the walls of family members who have died - but none of the living - and dignitaries from around the world - like Eleanor Roosevelt, and Queen Elizabeth with Prince Philip, who have visited the same house.

The carved head at the apex of the roof represents an ancestor welcoming the family's visitors.

The stick is not a canoe paddle nor a spear but a tuiaha - a handheld weapon for close combat that you'll see more of below.

Julia's mother also traveled the world sharing her particular craft of weaving, and other traditional Maori arts, like this rug made of flax.

Maori feel a strong connection to the land and family, and are very welcoming and hospitable. Our lunch was set up at a family catering spot by Lake Rotorua.

whanau is pronounced "fah-no" and means family but also encompasses the family land and home.

We were welcomed in the Maori way, which meant 3 family members from different generations introduced themselves and extended their welcome, two of them entirely in Maori, which we were actually beginning to understand.

I tried New Zealand's "national soft drink" L&P soda, which tasted like a lighter 7-up.

I also tried hokey pokey ice cream. It's a vanilla base with honeycomb in it. The chocolate stuff was extra.

We could see the top of the dormant volcano Mount Tarawera in the distance.

Our hostess

After lunch we headed for...

At Te Puia we toured the classrooms of the Maori Arts and Crafts Institute, met some kiwi, got up close to an impressive geyser, consumed a huge dinner, and ended the evening watching a demonstration of Maori performing arts.

Kiwi (the birds) are 80% blind, because they are nocturnal. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the viewing area, but the two kiwi we saw - a brother and sister - were much larger than we expected. Something like large, very round chickens.

Farther down the path around the property, we heard the bubbling mud pool. The mud is around 80-100 degrees (C) but when the mud pops up it's 190! Do NOT fall in! The mud in these types of mud pools has been used for healing, in plasters for wounds and mud baths to ease aches and pains. Now it's also used for beauty products like mud masks.

We also visited "Old Unfaithful," a very impressive geyser.

And we toured the school.

Wood Carving School 3 years (opened 1967)

Women don't carve wood traditionally because women give life and men carve the dead; those two aren't meant to go together.

Only male statues stick out their tongues.

The second traditional craft is taught at the Stone and Bone Carving School (2009), which offers a 2-year program of study. The bones used for carving are whalebones (called paraoa) harvested from dead whales (they don't kill the whales), which is a very long process.  

The stones they work with are in this picture.

The Maori's most precious stone is nephrite jade or "greenstone." Our tour guide showed us the traditional method of drilling a hole with a hand drill. It takes an hour to progress just one millimeter.

This tiki couldn't have been created by a student!

National Weaving School

Julia's mother Emily Schuster helped revitalize the artform of Maori weaving, and was featured prominently on the wall at the school. 

She was awarded OBE (Order of the British Empire) for her work.

Cool kite woven from traditional flax.

While waiting for the dinner and evening performance at Te Puia, we took a quick break at the lakeshore.

We saw hundreds of small black ducks and 2 black swans.

Back to Te Puia... For a huge buffet dinner and performance.

Before the entertainment began, we were informed about the "welcome sequence" and asked to watch quietly. Our group of 200 or so visiting tourists appointed a "chief" (our tour group's class clown Marlo) to approach the resident Maori's meeting house while we all stood back to watch. One the Maori warriors did a sort of dance/tuiaha demonstration down the walkway towards our chief while shouting and making threatening faces (pukana).

As the warrior got closer to the visiting delegation, he very slowly laid a fern leaf on the ground in front of our chief, then gracefully but quickly backed away. 

Chief Marlo carefully picked up the fern as a sign that we came in peace, so everyone was able to relax and we visitors were welcomed into the very large Maori meeting house. 

You can see some of the dancers during the haka dance demonstration. This includes displays of each person's pukana, an act of defiance, but it's different for men versus women:

   Men - bulging eyes, tongue out

   Women - bulging eyes, frown, chin thrust forward

These performers are father, son and daughter. Two other sisters and two male cousins were also in the troupe. Whanau.

We learned so much about Maori culture and understand why Aotearoa New Zealand's first settlers - including our co-guide Lulu - are so proud of their heritage.

- Christine