Maori

Do you know what the haka is? It's a traditional Maori dance that's become world famous because the All Blacks, New Zealand's rugby team, perform the haka before each international match they play. There's more to the Maoris than just the haka, however, as I discovered on my recent trip to New Zealand.

The Maori people came to New Zealand a thousand years ago in canoes from Polynesia. The fact Maori settlers preceded European immigrants is evident as soon as you look at a New Zealand map and try to twist your tongue around all the Maori place names.

Maori culture receives substantial government funding so it is flourishing in New Zealand. All New Zealand children, no matter what their ethnic background, learn Maori songs and dances at school and are taught Maori history. There is a Maori political party that holds five seats in the New Zealand legislature and Maori tourism brings thousands of visitors to New Zealand.

Whale Rider, a popular 2002 movie about a young Maori girl and the haka dance at international rugby games have sparked a global interest in Maori culture.

A Maori carver at work.

We attended a Maori cultural evening along with European, Australian and Asian tourists. Our guide taught us the traditional Maori greeting. You place your left hand on the other person's shoulder. Your heads are bent, eyes closed and your foreheads touch as your noses are pressed together twice. The two people have now shared the breath of life with one another.

Our cultural evening began with a tour through a recreated Maori village where we saw carvers at work creating totem poles, people weaving flax baskets and mats, men building cages to catch birds and among many other things, women practising sparing with long sticks. I asked the jousting women if long ago Maori females had fought in battle. They said they had not gone off to war, but they still needed to be fierce warriors to protect their villages if the men were away hunting and the village was attacked by another tribe of Maori or by the British.

Later we filed into a marae, a Maori meetinghouse, and saw a performance of lusty singing and colorful dancing. There was juggling, drumming and little mini-dramas on stage. Leaving the marae, we gathered around a pit in the ground where our supper was cooking. The food had been wrapped in wet cloths, put in flax baskets and lowered into the hole lined with very hot stones.

This traditional method of cooking method is called hangi. We had yams, potatoes, rice, chicken, lamb, mussels, stuffing and special bread called takakua. Hot gingerbread had also been baked in the pit and was served with a rich cream sauce for dessert.

After the meal we joined hands with the others at our table and our hosts taught us a traditional Maori friendship song. I left the experience with a newfound respect and understanding for the Maori.

However, as we travelled through New Zealand the next two weeks I discovered not everyone has "warm" feelings about the Maori influence. Some New Zealanders think the Maori receive too much government money. Some parents don't think their children should be forced to learn Maori history and culture in school. The Maori have many social and health problems and people grumble about the financial burden those problems create for the public health and welfare system of New Zealand.

Although the Maori have certainly found a way into the hearts of New Zealand tourists it appears they are still working at establishing a warm and mutually rewarding relationship with many of their own countrymen and women.