Maori Culture

February 14, 2002-Tamaki
(photo:Maori Warrior)

There is definitely a Maori presence in New Zealand that transcends cultures. They’re an integral part of the social system here. They appear in all walks of life & in a variety of jobs. Tonight we went to the Tamaki Maori Village to learn why.

We were supposed to be picked up at 5:15 PM so we went to the lobby to wait. At 5:35 PM, I went to the desk to ask if they would call about the pick-up. They said they were just getting ready to call our room to tell us that they got a FAX saying the bus would pick us up at 6 PM instead. David noticed that the time the FAX arrived was 10:15 AM. I let them know that we’d cut our touring short to be on time. An apology was offered. A bit later, the young man I’d spoken to asked if we would like complimentary coffees while we waited. I asked him if that was his idea & he said that it was. He then added that he’d probably get into trouble for doing it. When we got back to the hotel this evening, we went to the desk to set up a wake up call & mentioned that we didn’t get one this morning. The clerk was very apologetic & seemed genuinely upset. Maybe there’s hope.

The bus ride to the village set the mood for the experience tonight. The driver was Maori & explained the order of events & some cultural etiquette as we drove. We were asked to pick a chief to represent us as a tribe when we were met with the traditional Maori challenge. The Maori warrior would be announced by blowing a tone on a shell. He would make hostile sounds, be bare-chested, have his face tattooed, carry a weapon, make his eyes bulge, & stick out his tongue. This posturing was to indicate that our flesh looked good enough to eat. Yes, they were known to be cannibalistic at times & to hang the steamed heads of their enemies from posts. He said that if we followed protocol a peace offering would be tendered & we would be invited into the village. If things went wrong, we would get back on the bus, go to Burger King, & our chief would foot the bill. We would know we were in his good graces when he walked up to our chief & offered the Maori greeting. Right hands are clasped, left hands are placed on each other’s shoulders, & noses are rubbed twice. If you rub noses three times, it’s a marriage proposal. Rubbing noses symbolizes sharing of the breath of life & binds the friendship.

Fortunately, we had a wise chief who could follow instructions. As for me, I couldn’t take my eyes off of the muscular legs of the gorgeous warrior. We entered the pa, the Maori fort, through trenches surrounded by tall spiked stockade fencing. We passed through a model village where Maoris demonstrated different crafts, customs, songs, dances, & games. Karen recognized a stick game she’d learned as a Girl Scout.

We went into a large meeting hall & the Maori show began. There were speeches made & poetry recited in their language that was translated for us. There were dances & songs. They explained they used to have an educational system where chosen children were sent to study with priests & warriors were trained. Some of the games were actually to strengthen arms & wrists & develop eye-hand coordination & peripheral vision. They showed us a hakka, which I now understand, is a battle dance to psych the warriors. They sang prayers to farewell their dead & praise the living. There were demonstrations of musical instruments including the guitar. The guitar had become popular among the youth & the elders used it as a way to entice young people back to learn about traditions. The performance was visually stirring & viscerally moving. It was loud, confrontational, forceful, & performed with pride. The narrator was blunt in telling us that they have come a long way since they almost died out from disease brought by Europeans & from inter-tribal warfare. They attribute their survival to the missionaries who united them in peace.

Dinner began with a prayer & was prepared in a traditional hangi. That means that the chicken, lamb, fish, vegetables, & steamed pudding were placed in baskets on steaming rocks, covered in cabbage leaves, earth, covered with wet fabric, & left to cook for three hours. All I can say is that the cranberry & mint sauces were very good & much needed. David liked the food a lot. We were given time to shop before we were serenaded by our bus drivers who did renditions of “Down By the River Side” & “You Are My Sunshine.”

We boarded the bus in great spirits, but the fun wasn’t over yet. As we got to a roundabout, the driver started singing “She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain” as we & the other buses kept going around & around the traffic circle. Since we had been entertained all evening, it was now our turn to entertain the driver. We were asked to sing songs representative of our country. David got a bit teary eyed when we sang “America.” When it was the turn of the New Zealanders to sing, the driver suggested the national anthem. To our surprise, it was in the Maori language. The non-Maoris knew it as well. I guess they have to learn both versions in school. And that’s one very good example of the difference between the aborigines in Australia & the Maoris in New Zealand.

Toby