Experience Maori Culture

PHOTO: Rotorua Marae

A visit to a Marae is the best way to experience Maori culture. This is the traditional meeting place of Maori where groups meet to discuss issues and make decisions, to talk and teach, and to sing, dance and have fun.

Traditionally a group is welcomed on to the sacred ground of the marae in a formal ceremony. The group must first be called onto the courtyard of the marae, usually by a kuia (female elder). Then speeches and songs are traditional. The two groups then press noses (hongi). Symbolically they are exchanging breath and becoming one people. The hui (meeting) then begins.

The meeting house is ornately carved and decorated with flax hangings. These all tell stories of the group’s ancestors. For a special occasion there may be haka (war dances), spectacular action dances and the dramatic poi. Poi are small white balls on strings which used expertly are a stunning visual flourish to traditional dances. These dances are usually part of organised marae visits for people interested in Maori culture.

Maori are a tribally based people with numerous groups over New Zealand. Each group is attached to a specific part of the land and each can recite their genealogy, usually back to the canoe that came to New Zealand.

Land is very important to Maori. It is important to the identity of their tribe and spiritually. Maori acknowledge the permanence of land and the need to care for it to sustain life forever.

Maori see the world in both physical and spiritual ways. These concepts are hard to translate but are part of the way Maori see the world. The spiritual is part of everything.

Ancestors are important and are seen as part of today for Maori. Maori acknowledge the importance of history and collective experience and its relevance to the present. Community and the past are far more important to Maori than to European New Zealanders who regard the individual very highly.

Fortunately for the rest of us hospitality is another important principle in Maoridom. This can be summed up: ‘People, people, people’. Visitors who have an open mind and heart can gain a great deal from a marae visit.

Maori tourism is opening up in New Zealand and there are other ways to experience Maori culture. At Waitomo there’s a flax-weaving centre. In Rotorua there are many other arts and crafts for sale as well as a variety of concerts.

Maori language

For travellers to New Zealand, pronunciation of some place names is an almost impossible task.
Words such as Putaringamotu or Motukauatiti leave even the best of us with tongues twisted.
There are also occasions when knowing a little Maori language would be useful, such as visiting a marae, where only Maori is spoken.

The following is a brief description of the sounds which make up New Zealand's place names. So if you arrive in a place like Whangamata, you'll be able to break the word down, and find its English translation. In this case, Whanga is a bay or inlet, while Mata is a headland.

There are only fifteen letters in the Maori alphabet; A E H I K M N O P R T U W NG and WH. Every syllable in Maori ends in a vowel, which makes the proportion of vowels to consonants much higher than in English. The vowel sounds are therefore of great importance.

Remember when two vowels come together each is given its proper sound.

A is pronounced as the a in ‘rather.'
E is pronounced as the e in ‘ten.'
I is pronounced like the ee in ‘seen.'
O is pronounced like the o in ‘border.'
U is pronounced like the oo on ‘bloom.'

The consonants NG and WH are often mispronounced. NG is that of the ng in the word ‘singing.' WH is usually pronounced as an F, but try saying F without letting the top teeth touch the lower lip.

Maori New Zealanders all speak English, but often you will hear the Maori greeting ‘Kai ora', and if you visit a marae you will quickly learn the meaning of other Maori words such as ‘Haere mai!' (welcome) and ‘kai' (food).

We've also included some Maori words and their meanings.
AHI: fire
AO: cloud
Aotearoa: land of the long white cloud; Maori name generally given to New Zealand
ARA: path or road.
ATA: shadow.
ATUA: god
AWA: river, channel, gully or valley
Haere mai: welcome
HAKA: fierce war dance
HANGI: traditional earth oven
HAPU: sub-tribe
HAU: wind
HIKURANGI: sacred mountain of the Ngati Porou tribe from the East Coast of the North Island
HONGI: pressing of the noses
HUA: fruit, egg
HUI: meeting or gathering of people
IKA: fish
ITI: small
IWI: tribe
KAI: food
KAUMATUA: the elderly
KAITIAKITANGA: guardianship
KAI ORA: Maori greeting
KINO: bad
KOROWAI: decorative cloak
MA: white or clear
MANAAKITANGA: caring and sharing
MANGA: branch, tributary or stream
MANU: bird
MANUHIRI: visitors
MATA: headland and many other meanings
MAUNGA: mountain
MOANA: sea
MOTU: island
MURI: end
MUTU: end, finished
NUI: big or plenty of
O: of or the place of
PA: fortified village.
PAE: ridge or resting place
PAPA: broad, flat or ground covered with vegetation
PAPATUANUKU: mythological Earth Mother
PO: night
POI: soft little balls on lengths of string
POUNAMU: type of jade
POUPOU: carved posts of the meeting house representing ancestors
POWHIRI: welcoming ceremony
PUKE: hill
PUNA: spring or water
RANGI: sky
RANGINUI: mythological Sky Father
RAU: hundred or many
RIKI: small or few
ROA: long or high
ROTO: lake
RUA: cave or hollow
TAHI: one, single
TAI: sea, coast or tide
TANGAROA: god of the sea
TANGATA WHENUA: people of the land; hosts
TAONGA: treasure
TAPU: forbidden or sacred
TAWHIRIMATEA: god of the winds
TEA: white or clear
TE REO MAORI: the Maori language
WAI: water
WAKA: canoe
WAKA TAUA: war canoe
WERO: challenge
WHAIKORERO: speech making/oratory
WHAKAPAPA: genealogies
WHANAU: family
WHANAUNGATANGA: kinship ties
WHANGA: bay, inlet or stretch of water
WHARE: house
WHARENUI: carved meeting house
WHATA: raised platform for storing food