Maori Night

When European settlers colonize other countries, they usually suppressed and often replaced previous populations. That was true for the Maoris as well. They still occupy rather low income jobs. Nevertheless, they their social and legal standing in NZ is (and has always been) much higher than e.g. the Aborigines in Australia.

Maori clans still own a lot of their own land (and have good changes to get back what was stolen). They were also deliberately adopting western technology whenever they found it useful for their culture (and thus were not forced to adopt a foreign lifestyle). Traditionally they are a warrior culture and they still remember the immigration their clans to New Zealand. That might have made them a bit more practical in their dealings with the new European settlers.

Modern Maori form a natural part of NZ modern society. In bars or businesses you would never guess that they had been much suppressed. By speaking to them I got the impression that no one has the desire to live like in the old days anymore (like no European wants to live like in the middle ages). However, they hold their old culture in high esteem and are very proud of it (the Europeans share that pride even to some extent). Since today Maori blend in normal NZ life, to learn something about their traditional culture we booked ourselves into the Tamaki Maori Village. Of cause it was only build for educational purposes. But the employers here are indeed all Maoris and and you feel the passion, pride and also honesty with which the want to show their ancestry to the next generation (also of their own kin).

It was a great experience. We executed the traditional welcoming ceremonies, played old group games (most of them were actually fighting trainings for children), learned the war dance (which we had to perform later in front of ca 100 other visitors), and enjoyed an all you can east feast of Maori food in the evening.

The staff of the village went home into their modern western houses. Our group stayed overnight in one of the huge wooden houses. Hot tubs and fire places made it still a great night for our group.

 

Sunday 22th of May