Maori Culture
‘Maori’ once just meant ‘common’ or ‘everyday’, but now it means…let’s just begin by saying that there is a lot of ‘then’ and a lot of ‘now’ in the Maori world. Sometimes the cultural present follows on from the past quite seamlessly; sometimes things have changed hugely; sometimes we just want to look to the future.
Maori today are a diverse people. Some are engaged with traditional cultural networks and pursuits; others are occupied with adapting tradition and placing it into a dialogue with globalising culture. The Maori concept of whanaungatanga – family relationships – is important to the culture. And families spread out from the whanau (extended family) to the hapu (subtribe) and iwi (tribe) and even, in a sense, beyond the human world and into the natural and spiritual worlds.
Maori are New Zealand’s tangata whenua (people of the land), and the Maori relationship with the land has developed over hundreds of years of occupation. Once a predominantly rural people, many Maori now live in urban centres, away from their traditional home base. But it’s still common practice in formal settings to introduce oneself by referring to home: an ancestral mountain, river, sea or lake, or an ancestor. There’s no place like home, but it’s good to be away as well.
If you’re looking for a Maori experience in NZ you’ll find it – in performance, in conversation, in an art gallery, on a tour…
Maori Then
Some three millennia ago people began moving eastward into the Pacific, sailing against the prevailing winds and currents (hard to go out, easier to return safely). Some stopped at Tonga and Samoa, and others settled the small central East Polynesian tropical islands.
The Maori colonisation of Aotearoa began from an original homeland known to Maori as Hawaiki. Skilled navigators and sailors travelled across the Pacific, using many navigational tools – currents, winds, stars, birds and wave patterns – to guide their large, double-hulled ocean-going craft to a new land. The first of many was the great navigator Kupe, who arrived, the story goes, chasing an octopus named Muturangi. But the distinction of giving NZ its well-known Maori name – Aotearoa – goes to his wife, Kuramarotini, who cried out, ‘ He ao, he ao tea, he ao tea roa! ’ (A cloud, a white cloud, a long white cloud!).
Kupe and his crew journeyed around the land, and many places around Cook Strait (between the North and South Islands) and the Hokianga in Northland still bear the names that they gave them and the marks of his passage. Kupe returned to Hawaiki, leaving from (and naming) Northland’s Hokianga. He gave other seafarers valuable navigational information. And then the great waka (ocean-going craft) began to arrive.
The waka that the first setters arrived on, and their landing places, are immortalised in tribal histories. Well-known waka include Takitimu, Kurahaupo, Te Arawa, Mataatua, Tainui, Aotea and Tokomaru . There are many others. Maori trace their genealogies back to those who arrived on the waka (and further back as well).
HOW THE WORLD BEGAN
In the Maori story of creation, first there was the void, then the night, then Rangi-nui (sky father) and Papa-tu-a-nuku (earth mother) came into being, embracing with their children nurtured between them. But nurturing became something else. Their children were stifled in the darkness of their embrace. Unable to stretch out to their full dimensions and struggling to see clearly in the darkness, their children tried to separate them. Tawhiri-matea, the god of winds, raged against them; Tu-mata-uenga, the god of war, assaulted them. Each god child in turn tried to separate them, but still Rangi and Papa pressed against each other. And then Tane-mahuta, god of the great forests and of humanity, placed his feet against his father and his back against his mother and slowly, inexorably, began to move them apart. Then came the world of light, of demigods and humanity.
In this world of light Maui, the demigod ancestor, was cast out to sea at birth and was found floating in his mother’s topknot. He was a shape-shifter, becoming a pigeon or a dog or an eel if it suited his purposes. He stole fire from the gods. Using his grandmother’s jawbone, he bashed the sun so that it could only limp slowly across the sky, so that people would have enough time during the day to get things done (if only he would do it again!). Using the South Island as a canoe, he used the jawbone as a hook to fish up Te Ika a Maui (the fish of Maui) – the North Island. And, finally, he met his end trying to defeat death itself. The goddess of death, Hine-nui-te-po, had obsidian teeth in her vagina (obsidian is a volcanic glass that takes a razor edge when chipped). Maui attempted to reverse birth (and hence defeat death) by crawling into her birth canal to reach her heart as she slept. A small bird – a fantail – laughed at the absurd sight. Hine-nui-te-po awoke, and crushed Maui between her thighs. Death one, humanity nil.
What would it have been like making the transition from small tropical islands to a much larger, cooler land mass? Goodbye breadfruit, coconuts, paper mulberry; hello moa, fernroot, flax – and immense space (relatively speaking). NZ has over 15,000km of coastline. Rarotonga, by way of contrast, has a little over 30km. There was land, lots of it, and a flora and fauna that had developed more or less separately from the rest of the world for 80 million years. There was an untouched, massive fishery. There were great seaside mammalian convenience stores – seals and sea lions – as well as a fabulous array of birds.
The early settlers went on the move, pulled by love, by trade opportunities and greater resources; pushed by disputes and threats to security. When they settled, Maori established mana whenua (regional authority), whether by military campaigns, or by the peaceful methods of intermarriage and diplomacy. Looking over tribal history it’s possible to see the many alliances, absorptions and extinctions that went on.
Histories were carried by the voice, in stories, songs and chants. Great stress was placed on accurate learning – after all, in an oral culture where people are the libraries, the past is always a generation or two away from oblivion.
Maori lived in kainga (small villages) which often had associated gardens. Housing was quite cosy by modern standards – often it was hard to stand upright while inside. From time to time people would leave their home base and go to harvest seasonal foods. When peaceful life was interrupted by conflict, the people would withdraw to pa (fortified dwelling places).
And then Europeans began to arrive.
Maori Today
Today’s culture is marked by new developments in the arts, business, sport and politics. Many historical grievances still stand, but some iwi (Ngai Tahu and Tainui, for example) have settled historical grievances and are major forces in the NZ economy. Maori have also addressed the decline in Maori language use by establishing kohanga reo, kura kaupapa Maori and wananga (Maori-medium preschools, schools and universities). There is now a generation of people who speak Maori as a first language. There is a network of Maori radio stations, and Maori TV is attracting a committed viewership. A recently revived Maori event is becoming more and more prominent – Matariki, or Maori New Year. The constellation Matariki is also known as the Pleiades. It begins to rise above the horizon in late May or early June and its appearance traditionally signals a time for learning, planning and preparing as well as singing, dancing and celebrating. Watch out for talks and lectures, concerts, dinners and even formal balls.
Religion
Christian churches and denominations are important in the Maori world: televangelists, mainstream churches for regular and occasional worship, and two major Maori churches (Ringatu and Ratana) – we’ve got it all.
But in the (non–Judaeo Christian) beginning there were the atua Maori, the Maori gods, and for many Maori the gods are a vital and relevant force still. It is common to greet the earth mother and sky father when speaking formally at a marae (meeting-house complex). The gods are represented in art and carving, sung of in waiata (songs), invoked through karakia (prayer and incantation) when a meeting house is opened, when a waka is launched, even (more simply) when a meal is served. They are spoken of on the marae and in wider Maori contexts. The traditional Maori creation story is well known and widely celebrated.
The Arts
There are many collections of Maori taonga (treasures) around the country. Some of the largest and most comprehensive are at Wellington’s Te Papa Museum and the Auckland Museum. Canterbury Museum in Christchurch also has a good collection, and Hokitika Museum has an exhibition showing the story of pounamu (nephrite jade, or greenstone).
You can stay up to date with what is happening in the Maori arts by reading Mana magazine (available from most newsagents), listening to iwi stations (www.irirangi.net) or weekly podcasts from Radio New Zealand (www.radionz.co.nz). Maori TV also has regular features on the Maori arts – check out www.maoritelevision.com.
Maori TV went to air in 2004, an emotional time for many Maori who could at last see their culture, their concerns and their language in a mass medium. Over 90% of content is NZ made, and programs are in both Maori and English: they’re subtitled and accessible to everyone. If you want to really get a feel for the rhythm and meter of spoken Maori from the comfort of your own chair, switch to Te Reo, a Maori-language-only channel.
Ta Moko
Ta moko is the Maori art of tattoo, traditionally worn by men on their faces, thighs and buttocks, and by women on their chins and lips. Moko were permanent grooves tapped into the skin using pigment (made from burnt caterpillar or kauri gum soot), and bone chisels: fine, sharp combs for broad work, and straight blades for detailed work. Museums in the major centres – Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch – all display traditional implements for ta moko.
The modern tattooist’s gun is common now, but bone chisels are coming back into use for Maori who want to reconnect with tradition. Since the general renaissance in Maori culture in the 1960s, many artists have taken up ta moko and now many Maori wear moko with quiet pride and humility.
Can visitors get involved, or even get some work done? The term kirituhi (skin inscriptions) has arisen to describe Maori-motif–inspired modern tattoos that non-Maori can wear.
Carving
Traditional Maori carving, with its intricate detailing and curved lines, can transport the viewer. It’s quite amazing to consider that it was done with stone tools, themselves painstakingly made, until the advent of iron (nails suddenly became very popular).
Some major traditional forms are waka (canoes), pataka (storage buildings) and wharenui (meeting houses). You can see sublime examples of traditional carving at Te Papa in Wellington, and at the following:
Auckland Museum (Click here) Maori Court.
Hell’s Gate (Click here) Carver in action every day; near Rotorua.
Otago Museum (Click here) Nice old waka and whare runanga (meeting house) carvings; Dunedin.
Putiki Church (Click here) Interior covered in carvings and tukutuku (wall panels); Wanganui.
Taupo Museum (Click here) Carved meeting house.
Te Manawa (Click here) Museum with a Maori focus; Palmerston North.
Waikato Museum (Click here) Beautifully carved waka taua (war canoe); Hamilton.
Wairakei Terraces (Click here) Carved meeting house; Taupo.
Waitangi Treaty Grounds (Click here) Whare runanga and waka taua .
Whakarewarewa Thermal Village (Click here) The ‘living village’ – carving, other arts, meeting house and performance; Rotorua.
Whanganui Regional Museum (Click here) Wonderful carved waka; Wanganui.
The apex of carving today is the whare whakairo (carved meeting house). A commissioning group relates its history and ancestral stories to a carver, who then draws (sometimes quite loosely) on traditional motifs to interpret or embody the stories and ancestors in wood or composite fibreboard.
Rongomaraeroa Marae, by artist Cliff Whiting, at Te Papa in Wellington is a colourful example of a contemporary re-imagining of a traditional art form. The biggest change in carving (as with most traditional arts) has been in the use of new mediums and tools. Rangi Kipa uses a synthetic polymer called Corian to make his hei tiki (carved, stylised human figure worn around the neck; also called a tiki ) the same stuff that is used to make kitchen benchtops. You can check out his gallery at www.rangikipa.com.
Weaving
Weaving was an essential art that provided clothing, nets and cordage, footwear for rough country travel, mats to cover earthen floors, and kete (bags) to carry stuff in. Many woven items are beautiful as well as practical. Some were major works – korowai (cloaks) could take years to finish. Woven predominantly with flax and bird feathers, they are worn now on ceremonial occasions, a stunning sight.
Working with natural materials for the greater good of the people involved getting things right by maintaining the supply of raw material and ensuring that it worked as it was meant to. Protocols were necessary, and women were dedicated to weaving under the aegis of the gods. Today, tradition is greatly respected, but not all traditions are necessarily followed.
Flax was (and still is) the preferred medium for weaving. To get a strong fibre from flax leaves, weavers scraped away the leaves’ flesh with a mussel shell, then pounded until it was soft, dyed it, then dried it. But contemporary weavers are using everything in their work: raffia, copper wire, rubber – even polar fleece and garden hoses!
The best place to experience weaving is to contact one of the many weavers running workshops. By learning the art, you’ll appreciate the examples of weaving in museums even more. And if you want your own? Woven kete and backpacks have become fashion accessories and are on sale in most cities. Weaving is also found in dealer art galleries around the country.
Haka
Experiencing haka can get the adrenaline flowing, as it did for one Pakeha observer in 1929 who thought of dark Satanic mills: ‘They looked like fiends from hell wound up by machinery’. Haka can be awe-inspiring; they can also be uplifting. The haka is not only a war dance – it is used to welcome visitors, honour achievement, express identity or to put forth very strong opinions.
Haka involve chanted words, vigorous body movements, and pukana (when performers distort their faces, eyes bulging with the whites showing, perhaps with tongue extended).
The well-known haka ‘Ka Mate’, performed by the All Blacks before rugby test matches, is credited to the cunning fighting chief Te Rauparaha. It celebrates his escape from death. Chased by enemies, he hid himself in a food pit. After they had left, a friendly chief named Te Whareangi (the ‘hairy man’ referred to in the haka ), let him out; he climbed out into the sunshine and performed ‘Ka Mate’.
You can experience haka at various
cultural performances including at Mitai Maori Village (Click
here), Tamaki Maori Village (Click
here), Te Puia (Click
here) and Whakarewarewa Thermal Village (Click
here) in Rotorua; Ko
Tane ( 
03-359 6226; www.kotane.co.nz; 60 Hussey Rd,
Willowbank Wildlife Reserve; dancing, tour & dinner package
adult/child $110/54; 
5.30pm Mon & Thu-Sat) at Willowbank in
Christchurch; Maori Tours (Click
here) in Kaikoura; and Myths & Legends Eco-tours (Click
here) in Picton.
But the best displays of haka are at the national Te Matatini National Kapa Haka Festival (Click here), when NZ’s top groups compete. It is held every two years, with the festival in February 2015 to take place in Christchurch.
Contemporary Visual Art
A distinctive feature of Maori visual art is the tension between traditional Maori ideas and modern artistic mediums and trends. Shane Cotton produced a series of works that conversed with 19th-century painted meeting houses, which themselves departed from Maori carved houses. Kelcy Taratoa uses toys, superheroes and pop urban imagery alongside weaving and carving design.
Of course not all Maori artists use Maori motifs. Ralph Hotere is a major NZ artist who ‘happens to be Maori’ (his words), and his career-long exploration of black speaks more to modernism than the traditional marae context.
Contemporary Maori art is by no means only about painting. Many other artists use installations as the preferred medium – look out for work by Jacqueline Fraser and Peter Robinson.
There are some great permanent exhibitions of Maori visual arts in the major centres. Both the Auckland and Christchurch Art Galleries hold strong collections, as does Wellington’s Te Papa.
Contemporary Theatre
The 1970s saw the emergence of many Maori playwrights and plays, and theatre is a strong area of Maori arts today. Maori theatre drew heavily on the traditions of the marae . Instead of dimming the lights and immediately beginning the performance, many Maori theatre groups began with a stylised powhiri (traditional Maori welcome into a marae ), had space for the audience to respond to the play, and ended with a karakia or a farewell.
VISITING MARAE
As you travel around NZ, you will see many marae (meeting-house complexes). Often marae are owned by a descent group. They are also owned by urban Maori groups, schools, universities and church groups, and they should only be visited by arrangement with the owners. Some marae that may be visited include: Huria Marae (Click here) in Tauranga; Koriniti Marae (Click here) on the Whanganui River Rd; Te Manuka Tutahi Marae (Click here) in Whakatane; and the marae at Te Papa (Click here) museum in Wellington.
Marae complexes include a wharenui (meeting house), which often embodies an ancestor. Its ridge is the backbone, the rafters are ribs, and it shelters the descendants. There is a clear space in front of the wharenui (ie the marae atea ). Sometimes there are other buildings: a wharekai (dining hall); a toilet and shower block; perhaps even classrooms, play equipment and the like.
Hui (gatherings) are held at marae. Issues are discussed, classes conducted, milestones celebrated and the dead farewelled. Te reo Maori (the Maori language) is prominent, sometimes exclusively so.
Visitors sleep in the meeting house if a hui goes on for longer than a day. Mattresses are placed on the floor, someone may bring a guitar, and stories and jokes always go down well as the evening stretches out…
The Powhiri
If you visit a marae as part of an organised group, you’ll be welcomed in a powhiri. The more common ones are outlined here.
There may be a wero (challenge). Using taiaha (quarter-staff) moves a warrior will approach the visitors and place a baton on the ground for a visitor to pick up.
There is a karanga (ceremonial call). A woman from the host group calls to the visitors and a woman from the visitors responds. Their long, high, falling calls begin to overlap and interweave and the visiting group walks on to the marae atea. It is then time for whaikorero (speechmaking). The hosts welcome the visitors, the visitors respond. Speeches are capped off by a waiata (song), and the visitors’ speaker places a koha (gift, usually an envelope of cash) on the marae. The hosts then invite the visitors to hariru (shake hands) and hongi. Visitors and hosts are now united and will share light refreshments or a meal.
The Hongi
Press forehead and nose together firmly, shake hands, and perhaps offer a greeting such as ‘Kia ora’ or ‘Tena koe’. Some prefer one press (for two or three seconds, or longer), others prefer two shorter (press, release, press). Men and women sometimes kiss on one cheek. Some people mistakenly think the hongi is a pressing of noses only (awkward to aim!) or the rubbing of noses (even more awkward).
Tapu
Tapu (spiritual restrictions) and mana (power and prestige) are taken seriously in the Maori world. Sit on chairs or seating provided (never on tables), and walk around people, not over them. The powhiri is tapu, and mixing food and tapu is right up there on the offence-o-meter. Do eat and drink when invited to do so by your hosts. You needn’t worry about starvation: an important Maori value is manaakitanga (kindness).
Depending on area, the powhiri has gender roles: women karanga (call), men whaikorero (orate); women lead the way on to the marae, men sit on the paepae (the speakers’ bench at the front). In a modern context, the debate around these roles continues.
Taki Rua is an independent producer of Maori work for both children and adults and has been in existence for over 25 years. As well as staging its shows in the major centres, it tours most of its work – check out its website (www.takirua.co.nz) for the current offerings. Maori drama is also often showcased at the professional theatres in the main centres as well as the biennial New Zealand Festival. Hone Kouka and Briar Grace-Smith (both have published playscripts available) have toured their works around NZ and to festivals in the UK.
Contemporary Dance
Contemporary Maori dance often takes its inspiration from kapa haka (cultural dance) and traditional Maori imagery. The exploration of pre-European life also provides inspiration. For example, a Maori choreographer, Moss Patterson, used kokowai (a body-adorning paste made from reddish clay and shark oil) as the basis of his most recent piece of the same name.
NZ’s leading specifically Maori dance company is the Atamira Dance Collective (www.atamiradance.co.nz) , which has been producing critically acclaimed, beautiful and challenging work since 2000. If that sounds too earnest, another choreographer to watch out for is Mika Torotoro, who happily blends kapa haka , drag, opera, ballet and disco into his work. You can check out clips of his work at www.mika.co.nz.
Maori Film-Making
Although there had already been successful Maori documentaries ( Patu! and the Tangata Whenua series are brilliant, and available from some urban video stores), it wasn’t until 1987 that NZ had its first fiction feature-length movie by a Maori director with Barry Barclay’s Ngati . Mereta Mita was the first Maori woman to direct a fiction feature, with Mauri (1988). Both Mita and Barclay had highly political aims and ways of working, which involved a lengthy preproduction phase, during which they would consult with and seek direction from their kaumatua (elders). Films with significant Maori participation or control include the harrowing Once Were Warriors and the uplifting Whale Rider . Oscar-shortlisted Taika Waititi, of Te Whanau-a-Apanui descent, wrote and directed Eagle vs Shark and Boy .
The New Zealand Film Archive (www.filmarchive.org.nz) is a great place to experience Maori film, with most showings being either free or relatively inexpensive. It has offices in Auckland and Wellington.
Maori Writing
There are many novels and collections of short stories by Maori writers, and personal taste will govern your choices. How about approaching Maori writing regionally? Read Patricia Grace (Potiki, Cousins, Dogside Story, Tu) around Wellington, and maybe Witi Ihimaera (Pounamu, Pounamu, The Matriarch, Bulibasha, The Whale Rider) on the North Island’s East Coast. Keri Hulme (The Bone People, Stonefish) and the South Island go together like a mass of whitebait bound in a frying pan by a single egg (ie very well). Read Alan Duff (Once Were Warriors) anywhere, but only if you want to be saddened, even shocked. Definitely take James George (Hummingbird, Ocean Roads) with you to Auckland’s West Coast beaches and Northland’s Ninety Mile Beach. Paula Morris (Queen of Beauty, Hibiscus Coast, Trendy but Casual) and Kelly Ana Morey (Bloom, Grace Is Gone) – hmm, Auckland and beyond? If poetry appeals you can’t go past the giant of Maori poetry in English, the late, lamented Hone Tuwhare (Deep River Talk: Collected Poems) . Famously sounding like he’s at church and in the pub at the same time, you can take him anywhere.