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Tukutuku
Tukutuku panelling is a distinctive art form of the Māori people of New Zealand, a traditional latticework used to decorate meeting houses (wharenui). Other names are Tuitui and Arapaki. Tukutuku flank the posts around the edge of the wharenui; the posts are usually carved and represent ancestors. The patterns of tukutuku have symbolic meanings. Tukutuku are made with various materials. One description is vertical rods of toetoe stalks, with wooden slats across. These slats are held in place with knotting or weaving that forms a decorative pattern. The materials for this weaving are narrow strips of kiekie or harakeke, some died black and the coastal plant pingao as yellow colour. The traditional skills of tukutuku are held mostly within the Māori women weaving community alongside other Māori traditional weaving techniques as the skills of whakaīro (carving) are mostly held within the Māori men carving community. Tukutuku for a wharenui are designed alongside the ...
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Māori Traditional Textiles
Māori traditional textiles are the indigenous textiles of the Māori people of New Zealand. The organisation Te Roopu Raranga Whatu o Aotearoa, the national Māori weavers' collective, aims to preserve and foster the skills of making and using these materials. Textiles made from locally sourced materials were developed by Māori in New Zealand after migration from Polynesia as the plants used in the Pacific islands did not grow well in the New Zealand climate. In traditional Māori weaving of garments the main fibre is called muka and is made from Phormium tenax, harakeke. The Māori language terms for different types of weaving are commonly named as raranga, whatu and whiri. Raranga is a plaiting technique used for making baskets and mats; whatu is a pre-European finger weft twining weaving method used to make cloaks; and whiri is braiding to make cord. Most people weaving traditional Māori textiles were and are women. Traditionally, to become expert a young woman was initiate ...
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Māori People
Māori () are the Indigenous peoples of Oceania, indigenous Polynesians, Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand. Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of Māori migration canoes, canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed Māori culture, a distinct culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori. Early contact between Māori and Europeans, starting in the 18th century, ranged from beneficial trade to lethal violence; Māori actively adopted many technologies from the newcomers. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Treaty of Waitangi/Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. Rising ten ...
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Tohunga
In the culture of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, a tohunga (tōhuka in Southern Māori dialect) is an expert practitioner of any skill or art, either religious or otherwise. Tohunga include expert priests, healers, navigators, carvers, builders, teachers and advisors. A tohunga may have also been the head of a whānau (family) but quite often was also a rangatira (chief) and an ariki (noble).Mead, S. M. (1997). ''Landmarks, bridges and visions: Essays''. Wellington, New Zealand: Victoria University Press. (p. 197). The equivalent and cognate in Hawaiian culture is ''kahuna'', tahu'a in Tahitian. Callings and practices There are many classes of tohunga (Best 1924:166) including: *Tohunga ahurewa: highest class of priest *Tohunga matakite: foretellers of the future *Whakairo, Tohunga whakairo: expert carvers *Māori traditional textiles, Tohunga raranga: expert weavers *Tohunga tātai arorangi: experts at reading the stars *Tohunga kōkōrangi: expert in the study of ce ...
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Waitangi, Northland
Waitangi is a locality on the north side of the Waitangi River (Far North District), Waitangi River in the Bay of Islands, north of Whangārei, on the North Island of New Zealand. It is close to the town of Paihia, to which it is connected by a bridge near the mouth of the Waitangi River estuary. While Statistics New Zealand and NZ Post consider the southern boundary of Waitangi to be the river and estuary, with the area further south being part of Paihia, the area by Te Tī Bay, immediately south of the river, is sometimes referred to as part of Waitangi. The Treaty of Waitangi was first signed at Waitangi on 6 February 1840. It is also the place where the Declaration of Independence of New Zealand was signed five years earlier, on 28 October 1835. This document was ratified by the British Crown the following year (1836). "Waitangi" is a Māori-language name meaning "noisy waters" or "weeping waters", probably referring to the Haruru, New Zealand, Haruru Falls on the Waitan ...
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Ngāti Maru (Hauraki)
Ngāti Maru is a Māori '' iwi'' (tribe) of the Hauraki region of New Zealand. The stronghold of Ngāti Maru has been the Thames area. Ngāti Maru are descendants of Te Ngako, also known as Te Ngakohua, the son of Marutūāhu, after whom the tribe is named. It is one of five tribes of the Marutūāhu confederation, the others being Ngāti Paoa, Ngāti Rongoū, Ngāti Tamaterā and Ngāti Whanaunga. The Marutūāhu tribes are descended from Marutūāhu, a son of Hotunui, who is said to have arrived in New Zealand on the '' Tainui canoe''. The Marutūāhu tribes are therefore part of the Tainui group of tribes. The Marutūāhu confederation is also part of the Hauraki collective of tribes. The tribal seat of Ngāti Maru is said to have been Kirikiri, just south-east of Thames. History Te Ngako was younger than his half-brothers Tamatepō (whose descendants are Ngāti Rongoū), Tamaterā (whose descendants are Ngāti Tamaterā) and Whanaunga (whose descendants are Ngāti W ...
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Haka
Haka (, ; singular ''haka'', in both Māori language, Māori and New Zealand English) are a variety of ceremonial dances in Māori culture. A performance art, hakas are often performed by a group, with vigorous movements and stamping of the feet with rhythmically shouted accompaniment. Haka have been traditionally performed by both men and women for a variety of social functions within Māori culture. They are performed to pōwhiri, welcome distinguished guests, or to acknowledge great achievements, occasions, or funerals. Kapa haka groups are common in schools. The main Māori performing arts competition, Te Matatini, takes place every two years. New Zealand Haka in sports, sports teams' practice of performing a haka to challenge opponents before international matches has made the dance form more widely known around the world. This tradition began with the 1888–89 New Zealand Native football team tour and has been carried on by the New Zealand national rugby union team, Ne ...
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Tāne
In Māori mythology, Tāne (also called Tāne-mahuta, Tāne-nui-a-Rangi, Tāne-te-waiora and several other names) is the god of forests and of birds, and the son of Rangi and Papa, Ranginui and Rangi and Papa, Papatūānuku, the sky father and the Earth goddess, earth mother, who used to lie in a tight embrace where their many children lived in the darkness between them (Grey 1956:2). On Tahiti, Tane was the god of peace and beauty. Separates his parents The children of Rangi and Papa grew frustrated at their confinement in the cramped space between their parents. Tūmatauenga, Tū, future god of war, proposes that they should kill their parents. But Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to separate them, sending Rangi into the sky and leaving Papa below to care for them. Tāne's brothers Rongo, then Tangaroa, Haumia-tiketike and Tū all try in vain to separate the parents. After many tries, Tāne lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs, and f ...
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Whakapapa
Genealogy is a fundamental principle in Māori culture, termed specifically in this context as ''whakapapa'' (, , lit. 'layering'). Reciting one's '' whakapapa'' proclaims one's identity among the Māori, places oneself in a wider context, and links themself to land and tribal groupings and their '' mana''. Experts in ''whakapapa'' can trace and recite a lineage not only through the many generations in a linear sense, but also between such generations in a lateral sense. Link with ancestry Raymond Firth, an acclaimed New Zealand economist and anthropologist during the early 20th century, asserted that there are four different levels of Māori kinship terminology that are as follows: Some scholars have attributed this type of genealogical activity as being tantamount to ancestor worship. Most Māori would probably attribute this to ancestor reverence. Tribes and sub-tribes are mostly named after an ancestor (either male or female): for example, Ngāti Kahungunu means 'descen ...
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Koru
The is a spiral shape evoking a newly Circinate vernation, unfurling frond from a Cyathea dealbata, silver fern frond. It is an integral symbol in Māori people, Māori art, bone carving, carving and Tā moko, tattooing, where it symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace. Its shape "conveys the idea of perpetual movement," while the inner coil "suggests returning to the point of origin". Use in traditional design The ''koru'' is the integral motif of the symbolic and seemingly abstract ''kōwhaiwhai'' designs traditionally used to decorate ''wharenui'' (meeting houses). There are numerous semi-formal designs, representing different features of the natural world. More recent adaptations The logo of Air New Zealand, the Flag carrier, national carrier, incorporates a ''koru'' design — based on the Ngaru (Ngāti Kahungunu) ''kōwhaiwhai'' pattern — as a symbol of Flora of New Zealand, New Zealand flora. The logo was introduced in 1973 to coincide with the arrival of ...
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Whakairo
Toi whakairo (art carving) or just whakairo (carving) is a Māori traditional art of carving in wood, stone or bone. History Timber was formed into houses, fencepoles, pouwhenua, containers, taiaha, tool handles and waka (canoe). Carving tools were made from stone, preferably the very hard pounamu (greenstone). Bone was used for fish hooks and needles amongst other things. Designs on carvings depict tribal ancestors, and are often important for establishing iwi and hapu identity. After European contact, many traditionally carved items were no longer widely produced in favour of using Western counterparts, such as waka huia treasure containers being replaced with lockable seaman's chests by the 1840s. Traditionally, many expert carvers focused on creating elaborate waka taua (war canoes), however this declined during the 1860s when waka taua were superseded by whaleboats or small European style sailing ships. During the decline, carvers focused instead on carved marae, o ...
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New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of island countries, sixth-largest island country by area and lies east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The Geography of New Zealand, country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps (), owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. Capital of New Zealand, New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and subsequently developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. ...
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Ficinia Spiralis
''Ficinia spiralis'' (pīngao, pīkao, or golden sand sedge) is a coastal Cyperaceae, sedge endemic (ecology), endemic to New Zealand (including the Chatham Islands). Originally widespread, it has suffered severely from competition with introduced marram grass and animal grazing and now has only a patchy distribution. Description Pīngao is a stout, grass-like plant, 30–90 cm tall, from the sedge family, found on active sand dunes. It is found only in New Zealand and is easily distinguished from other dune species such as Spinifex sericeus, spinifex or Ammophila arenaria, marram grass. Seen from a distance, pīngao patches have a distinctive orange hue. Most plants produce long, prostrate, tough rope-like stolons that creep along the sand surface until buried by shifting sand, leaving just the upper portion of leaves exposed. Some southern South Island populations produce dense tussock-like plants without extensive stolons. Numerous tough, roughly textured leaves are ...
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