In New Zealand, Rotorua is the unofficial capital of Maori culture.
While we arrived from Auckland/Hobbiton via automobile, the Maori probably came via boat from Taiwan, moving through SE Asia and Polynesia before arriving in New Zealand. About 15% of New Zealand’s population is Maori.
For our first night in this city, we attended a traditional “hangi” meal (steamed food, basically): pork, chicken, lamb, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and a few other things. To “put down a hangi” involves digging a pit in the ground, heating stones in the pit with a large fire, placing baskets of food atop the stones, and covering everything with earth for several hours before uncovering the hangi. Our hangi meal was prepared in the earth, but in a pre-prepared oven with stones and gas fire: traditional taste but not traditional method.
Beyond the hangi aspect of the meal, it was a complete buffet. The mussels were delicious and HUGE, and the mussel salad was delicious and unique. Other favorites were the venison ragout. The hangi chicken won our award for the best part of the traditional portion of the meal.
The modern version of hangi cooking
Part of our meal tonight
After the meal, we were entertained by a group of Maori who performed many selections. First, they showed us their traditional welcome song/dance, along with the giving of a leafed branch -- a silver fern -- to show a peaceful welcome. Their greeting is not a handshake or a kiss on the cheek but rather two bumps of the nose. They lay down a leafed branch in front of the newcomer to welcome him/her and as a sign of peace. The newcomer then picks up the branch and the two people bump noses twice.
The branch was accepted and the group was welcomed
We learned even more during their performance of the Maori cultural music -- "Kapa haka," a traditional Māori performance art, encompassing many forms, including haka (posture dance), poi (dance accompanied by song and rhythmic movements of the poi, a light ball on a string), waiata-ā-ringa (action songs) and waiata koroua (traditional chants). Julie and Deborah tried the “poi,” and Harold and Gil attempted the Haka. This dance, done before battle, features the traditional fearsome face with wide-open eyes and sticking out one’s tongue. It truly is a fearsome look, and perhaps it is why the British were never able to beat the Maori in battle -- perhaps.
On the milder side, a traditional love song was also sung. The song heralds love between two ancestors from different tribes (think Romeo and Juliet), but their love overcomes all oppositions, and they are able to unite and live happily. Their descendants are now the Maori of New Zealand. The singing was excellent, and it was a delight to watch the native dances.
The next day we went to Whakarewarewa – a living Maori village.
First the community -- There are about 80 people living in this traditional village atop the thermal springs, although the surrounding area encompasses many more of the Maori for whom this area is a base. Since this small village is a historic area, they can’t add to it and change it, even though several people would like to move to this community. We learned that they are part Catholic, part Protestant, part Maori religion, sometimes all mixed together, and we learned about their lifestyle in this community.
As I mentioned, the community is built on thermal springs, and they apparently originally placed their houses on this thermal area to keep themselves warm during the winter. Not sure how they kept themselves cool during the summer. . . .
Boiling mud
One of the houses which was "condemned" because part of the floor
fell into a newly opened thermal spring. Yikes.
sulphur -- smelly
Their version of Old Faithful
The thermal waters are used for more than just heat though. They are also used for cooking in the hangi tradition. The hangi here is a bit different here from what we saw last night however. Here they use the thermal water/steam for the cooking. Originally, they would drop flax baskets into the steaming "oven" or directly into the water and allow the ingredients to cook. However, they now use linen instead of the baskets, and actually will toss in anything wrapped in foil and bagged in plastic or whatever. Our guide tossed in a couple of plastic bags of garlic bread which had been wrapped in aluminum foil. He also dropped into the hot waters some corn on the cob wrapped in a linen bag and tied with a flax rope/string for his lunch.
the community oven built on boiling water from the springs (above)
(below) what it looked like inside the cover. Someone had their dinner cooking in the black container.
These baths are also used for community bathing every evening. Today, some kids were using the community bath area to warm up after swimming in the cold river.
The community hall is a very important gathering place for meetings, or elections (as were being held today), weddings, funerals, or any other kind of community gathering. We also learned about their use of flax for clothing. Our guide wore a traditional style shawl made with flax, the same kind of flax that is used in the women’s skirts and that you also see in various forms in other male dress. Flax is wild and plentiful in their area, so when the need arose for warmth, they used flax. It is also used to make cord-like ropes, and the flax was woven into baskets to use for hangi.
above and below: wild flax at end of season. Not at all like the flax from the US.
The flowers, in season, are orange, and the stalks are used for the traditional dress materials.
Another delight of this adventure was to see a second performance done by the Maori, and several of the types of “Kapa haka” dances were the same as we saw last night, and the repetition was beneficial:
The welcome with the branches
The haka (posture dance done before battle),
The poi (dance accompanied by song and rhythmic movements of the poi, a light ball on a string),
The waiata-ā-ringa (action songs accompanied by hand movements like waving and shaking your hands)
This pic is from last night
The waiata koroua (traditional chants), including the traditional love song
The haka performed with sticks.
We continued our learning trek by walking around the village, seeing their houses, seeing the community house, more of the thermal springs, bubbling mud, spewing geysers, the school, the cemetery. All fascinating, but we decided we would not want to live there – dangerous and smelly!
