“Everything in Maori culture goes according to rhythm. We are a very rhythmic people and I guess that’s why we’re so good at everything from music to rugby.”
I hadn’t actually realised it up until then, but this was nothing short of the truth.
The person who uttered this comment was showing a group of visitors from Fiji how to operate a real waka, a traditional Maori canoe, the likes of which, according to Maori oral traditions, carried the original inhabitants of New Zealand over from their mythical homeland of Hawaiki in Polynesia.
To the chants of “Kokiri he, Kokiri he” we manoeuvred our wooden boat, working in unison up a freezing stream with banks lined with a variety of ferns and giant pines.
I was at Hamurana Nature Reserve in the Lake Rotorua area, a place of great beauty that offered stunning lake views as well as forest and riverine scenery.
The earliest impression I ever had of Maori culture was a jade hei tiki given to me as a young boy growing up in the compounds of the University of the South Pacific.
In Maori culture the hei tiki represents the first born, first man and traditionally regarded to be a good luck charm.
I lost the tiki over time and with it supposedly my Maori luck.
Luck was on my side though decades down the line having been chosen to be part of a group that ventured into the heart of Maoridom in the North Island of New Zealand.
If there was a chance to experience Maori culture up close and personal this was it.
Aotearoa or Land of the Long White Cloud lived up to its name from day one of our NZ excursion, given the billowing mass of vapour that enveloped much of the country’s largest island as our Fiji Airways flight continued on to Auckland International Airport.
First impressions are important and the first feeling I had was that this was going to be one cold experience.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Thankfully we were all kitted with warm clothing to help us deal with the frigid conditions that New Zealand generally offers visitors.
After a short stay in Auckland we ventured into the Bay of Plenty area, on our way to Lake Rotoiti, where I would get my first-hand experience of Maori culture.
Maoris are an uncompromising and tough sort of race of Polynesians whose impressive physical attributes match their intimidating yet rich and very interesting culture.
We travelled to Hamilton en route to Rotorua where we were welcomed by our hosts for the next two days, the Maori tribe of Ngati Pikiao, in their traditional Marae Tapuaeharuru, located just a few hundred metres away from beautiful Lake Rotoiti, one of several large lakes in this scenic location.
Our visit was streamlined by the fact that we had a number of Maori travelling in the group, including siblings Lee and Sarndra Mackie who prepared us all with what to expect from the first real interaction with Maori culture.
Like iTaukei, Maoris are are a very respectful race of people evidenced by the strict protocol we had to follow once we entered the vicinity of the Marae.
We huddled in a waiting shed until a Maori lady of considerable proportions began the whiri, the welcoming ceremony which begins with the TeKaranga which is the traditional call of welcome.
After repeated calls of haere mai were made we advanced towards the marae at a respectful pace and once we arrived at the beautifully decorated red-painted building we stopped filming and taking photographs out of respect for the Maori elders who were already congregated inside.
The marae is a sacred open meeting area or communal meeting house and regarded as a place of great mana and spirituality or turanga- waewae of the Maori.
It was beautifully decorated with Maori designs and was actually quite warm inside compared with the freezing conditions outside.
After two lengthy welcome speeches delivered in the Maori language by the elders, we reciprocated in the normal iTaukei way, with the clapping of the hands and a short vakavinavinaka by a chosen representative in Ba lad Isikeli Navuni,.
A koha (gift) by the manuhiri ( visitors) of a Fijian kava tanoa, which was presented to the Ngati Pikiao completing the traditional formalities between people who have very distinct cultures but that which is not dissimilar in terms of elaborate and respectful protocols.
We were welcomed as part of the whanau or extended Maori family.
Everyone took part in the hongi or pressing of the noses, which is the traditional way Maoris greet visitors.
When engaged in their traditional protocols, like other Pacific cultures, the Maoris take on a very serious disposition and it is considered rude to interrupt or make noise.
“Our ancestors are buried all across that ridge over there. It’s a very sacred place to our tribe,” shared a Maori elder, pointing to a mountain range that formed to the backdrop to the marae Tapuaeharuru.
For hundreds of years Lake Rotoiti was the ancestral home and source of food for the Te Arawa people.
Today various Maori tribes, most linked to Ngati Pikiao, have rights around the lake.
In 1920, Ngati Pikiao gifted land to the Crown meaning that much of the lake shore remains untouched and undeveloped. A rich Maori culture still exists there, with many marae still sitting along the shores of the lake.
The Aroha accorded to us during our stay at the marae was not too far off from what one would expect from other island cultures.
Our bellies never really got the chance to be empty the whole time we were at the marae and it goes without saying that Maori people love their kai (food).
Served copious amounts of meat and vegetables and kumara, the root crop that Maoris prefer over taro, we were not wanting for food at any time.
During the course of our Rotorua sojourn, we visited Mitai Maori Village, a tourism attraction and restaurant about 45 minutes from the marae.
It was at Mitai Maori Village where we got our first taste of the hangi, which is the Maori equivalent of the earthen oven we call lovo.
The hangi, like the lovo, was prepared underground, but in this instance a stainless steel tray was used in more sanitised conditions, probably in keeping with New Zealand health and safety standards.
Personally, I found the food bland, but I developed this bias purely because I kept comparing the taste to our own lovo.
Maori people, and New Zealanders in general, despite their tough exterior and intimidating culture have a great sense of humour and it spills out into their every day life.
I saw a sign on a Rotorua cake shop that read “Skinny people are easier to kidnap. Stay safe and eat cake.”
One thing that Maoris have in common is their love of music and it is a known fact that Maori people are extremely talented musicians and singers in particular.
I got a taste of this talent at Mitai Maori Village and Whakarewarewa — The Living Village, a geo-thermal attraction also located in Rotorua.
Maori men and women, and even children are generally not shy and can really belt out a song, singing from their hearts when it matters.
I had to recall Herbs the groundbreaking New Zealand reggae group that toured Fiji in the 1980s and the impression they left on lovers of the genre.I got to find out that Maori people always seem to have a guitar somewhere around the place and normally share a song as a group in informal social settings, preferably around a few beers.
From the homeless dreadlocked bauking guitarist belting out Bob Marley songs on the main street in Rotorua to DJ Bub Dewes, who I had the pleasure of conversing with over a few, Maori people appreciate music and are very soulful.
Travelling in and about Rotorua, one will have to get used to the smell of sulphur everywhere, indicated by the steam emanating from the many geothermal vents that abound in the area that is an integral part of Rotorua’s tourism industry.
The whole area surrounding the lakes is steeped in Maori mythology and is one of the most important sites in Maori culture.
Maori legend has it that Lake Rotoiti was discovered by the Maori explorer Ihenga, an early ancestor from the Te Arawa waka.
Ihenga named it Te Rotoiti-kite-a-Ihenga, which translates to “The Small Lake Discovered By Ihenga”,
The story goes that because when he first saw the lake, Ihenga was only able to see a fraction of it and thought the lake was smaller than it actually was.
The legend has it that while hunting one day Ihenga’s dog Potakatawhiti disappeared for some time and on return, vomited up whitebait. Ihenga realised he was near water but because of the size of the particular bay he arrived into, was deceived into thinking the lake was small.
He called it Lake Rotoiti, or Te Roto-whaiti-i-kite-ai-a-Ihenga-i-Ariki-ai-a Kahumatamomoe (the small lake discovered by Ihenga).
Lake Rotoiti is actually a relatively large lake lying to the east of Rotorua, and is connected to Lake Rotorua by the Ohau Channel.
Lake Rotoiti flows to the coast at Maketu, a historically significant New Zealand landmark given that is the landing site of the Te Arawa waka (canoe), in around 1200 AD.
Interaction with Maori culture isn’t complete without the haka, the ancestral war cry, dance challenge that is important part of its culture.
Maori are very proud of their culture and particularly the haka and always relish the opportunity to perform their cherished war dance.
“In the old days during times of war, tribes did the haka to scare off their enemy and they did it with such ferocity that most of the time it worked,” explained John, a talented and humourous MC at Mitai Maori Village who could speak in at least six different languages.
“Those performing the haka had to do it with passion because their lives depended on it and in some cases it involved all members of the tribe including the women,” he added.
The expression of “show your pukana in the haka” is a deeply meaningful cultural reference in Maori dance where an artist will “show his being” through intense, and, sometimes, slightly frightening facial.
Facial expressions played a prominent part in Maori displays of intimidation with Bub Dewes remarking that “when our women open up the whites of their eyes, you know you’re in trouble”.
More often pukana involves sticking one’s tongue out and in old Maori culture, as well as these days, it is enough to send chills down someone’s spine.
In modern times, the NZ All Blacks are the most famous exponents of the haka intimidating opponents and proving a huge hit with rugby fans the world over.
Wherever our entourage went, from Te Kura Kaupapa Maori School at Lake Rotoiti to Western Heights High School in Rotorua, an institution that produced former All Black greats Wayne “Buck” Shelford, Steve McDowell and Caleb Ralph, we were greeted with brilliant and dynamic haka performances from children as young as seven years old.
All good things must come to an end and with sadness our entourage left Rotorua and many Maori friends and family we had befriended.
I left New Zealand with a deeper appreciation of Maori culture and safe in the knowledge that our Polynesians whanau have very unique traditions that are unlike any other found in the world.
* The Sunday Times
Features writer
Ernest Heatley accompanied 10 Fiji students and two chaperones on the Crest Chicken/Goodman Fielder “Cool Stuff for Schools” Cultural
Exchange tour of New
Zealand in August.
