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Whare
A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called '' whare'' (a more generic term simply referring to any house or building). Also called a ''whare rūnanga'' ("meeting house") or ''whare whakairo'' (literally "carved house"), the present style of wharenui originated in the early to middle nineteenth century. The houses are often carved inside and out with stylized images of the iwi's (or tribe's) ancestors, with the style used for the carvings varying from tribe to tribe. Modern meeting houses are built to regular building standards. Photographs of recent ancestors may be used as well as carvings. The houses always have names, sometimes the name of a famous ancestor or sometimes a figure from Māori mythology. Some meeting houses are built at places that are not the location of a tribe, but where ...
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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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Marae
A ' (in Māori language, New Zealand Māori, Cook Islands Māori, Tahitian language, Tahitian), ' (in Tongan language, Tongan), ' (in Marquesan language, Marquesan) or ' (in Samoan language, Samoan) is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian culture, Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term also means cleared and free of weeds or trees. generally consist of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular (the itself), bordered with stones or wooden posts (called ' in Tahitian and Cook Islands Māori) perhaps with ' (terraces) which were traditionally used for ceremonial purposes; and in some cases, such as Easter Island, a central stone ' or ''a'u'' is placed. In the Easter Island Rapa Nui people, Rapa Nui culture, the term ''ahu'' or ''a'u'' has become a synonym for the whole marae complex. In some modern Polynesian societies, notably that of the Māori people, Māori of New Zealand, the marae is still a vital part of everyd ...
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Māori Mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in. The Māori did not have a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, therefore they relied on oral retellings and recitations memorised from generation to generation. The three forms of expression prominent in Māori and Polynesian oral literature are genealogical recital, poetry, and narrative prose. Experts in these subjects were broadly known as . The rituals, beliefs, and general worldview of Māori society were ...
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Poupou (architecture)
A poupou is a wall panel located underneath the veranda of a Māori wharenui (meeting house). It is generally built to represent the spiritual connection between the tribe and their ancestors and thus each poupou is carved with emblems of the tohunga whakairo’s (carver's) particular lineage. The poupou may also be decorated with representations of the tribe's ancestral history, legends and migration stories to New Zealand. As such each wharenui, and by extension the poupou, are thus treated with the utmost respect, as if it were an ancestor. Tohunga whakairo (carver) For Māori the ability to carve wooden crafts is both a spiritual and intellectual endeavour. The tohunga whakairo had to be well versed in his tribal lineage and history to carve something that was commemorative of his ancestors. At the same time particularly amongst the traditionalists, he had to be cognizant of the proper protocols. For example, in traditional times, the tohunga whakairo never blew the shav ...
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Waikato Tainui
Waikato Tainui, Waikato or Tainui is a group of Māori ''iwi'' based in the Waikato Region, in the western central region of New Zealand's North Island. It is part of the larger Tainui confederation of Polynesian settlers who arrived to New Zealand on the Tainui '' waka'' (migration canoe). The tribe is named after the Waikato River, which plays a large part in its history and culture. Pōtatau Te Wherowhero, the first Māori king, was a member of the Ngāti Mahuta hapu (sub-tribe) of Waikato iwi, and his descendants have succeeded him. The king movement is based at Tūrangawaewae marae (meeting place) in Ngāruawāhia. The Waikato-Tainui iwi comprises 33 hapū (sub-tribes) and 68 marae (family groupings), with a population of over 80,000 tribal members who affiliate to it. In the 2023 New Zealand census, 47,664 people gave Waikato as an affiliation. Hamilton City is now the tribe's largest population centre, but Ngāruawāhia remains its historical centre and modern capital. ...
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Mokoia
Mokoia is a small settlement in south Taranaki, in the western North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 3, to the east of Hāwera and about 17 km northwest of Patea. History and culture Mokoia is close to the site of Taiporohenui, a wharenui constructed in the 1850s between the Tangahoe and Manawapou rivers. The structure was 27.6 metres long and 9.2 metres wide, which at the time was one of the largest wharenui ever built in New Zealand. The settlement of Mokoia was founded in 1867. Early settlers farmed sheep, cattle and horses. A flour mill was run by local Māori. A creamery was built in 1904 and expanded into a dairy factory in 1908. It expanded to include cheese-making in 1913, and again to produce casein in 1923, and closed in 1970. A meteorite exploded above Mokoia on 26 November 1908, showering the area with fragments. It made international headlines. Two large fragments were recovered from the farm of Cecil Hawken by the Curator of the Wang ...
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King Country
The King Country ( Māori: ''Te Rohe Pōtae'' or ''Rohe Pōtae o Maniapoto'') is a region of the western North Island of New Zealand. It extends approximately from Kawhia Harbour and the town of Ōtorohanga in the north to the upper reaches of the Whanganui River in the south, and from the Hauhungaroa and Rangitoto Ranges in the east to near the Tasman Sea in the west. It comprises hill country, large parts of which are forested. The region, albeit loosely defined, is very significant in New Zealand's history. The term "King Country" dates from the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s, when colonial forces invaded the Waikato and forces of the Māori King Movement withdrew south of what was called the ''aukati'', or boundary, a line of ''pā'' alongside the Puniu River near Kihikihi. Land behind the ''aukati'' remained native territory, with Europeans warned they crossed it under threat of death. Known for its rugged, rural roads and diverse landscape, the King Country has a warm c ...
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Te Kūiti
Te Kūiti is a town in the north of the King Country region of the North Island of New Zealand. It lies at the junction of New Zealand State Highway 3, State Highways 3 and New Zealand State Highway 30, 30 and on the North Island Main Trunk railway, south of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton. The town promotes itself as the sheep shearing capital of the world and is host to the annual New Zealand National Shearing Championships. Te Kūiti is approximately 80 km south of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton and 19 km south-east of Waitomo. The area around Te Kūiti, commonly known as the ''King Country'', gives its name to the Heartland Championship Rugby Union, rugby team based in Te Kūiti. History and culture Te Kūiti is the Māori name given to the area. In its original form of "Te Kūititanga", it literally means "the valley", "the squeezing in" or "the narrowing". Several marae are located in and around Te Kūiti, associated with Ngāti Maniapoto hapū: * Te Kumi Mar ...
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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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Polynesian Society
The Polynesian Society is a non-profit organisation based at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, dedicated to the scholarly study of the history, ethnography and mythology of Oceania. History The society was co-founded in 1892 by Percy Smith and Edward Tregear, largely in response to a conviction widely held at the time, that the Māori and other Polynesian peoples were a dying race. Smith and his friends hoped that it would help to preserve the traditional lore of the Māori before it disappeared and provide scholars with a forum for learned discussion of their ethnographic research (Byrnes 2006). The initial membership of the society was 112, which had grown to 1,300 by 1965. Presidents have included bishops H. W. and W. L. Williams; James Pope, Edward Tregear, Percy Smith, Elsdon Best, William Skinner, Sir Āpirana Ngata, Harry Skinner, J. M. McEwen, Professor Sir Hugh Kawharu and Dame Joan Metge. The present president is Dr Richard Benton. Until her death in ...
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Waioeka
Waioeka is a rural community in the Ōpōtiki District and Bay of Plenty Region of New Zealand's North Island. Its name was officially changed to Waioweka in 2024. The community is on the east bank of the Waioeka River. Demographics Oponae statistical area covers and had an estimated population of as of with a population density of people per km2. Oponae had a population of 330 at the 2018 New Zealand census, an increase of 36 people (12.2%) since the 2013 New Zealand census, 2013 census, and an increase of 30 people (10.0%) since the 2006 New Zealand census, 2006 census. There were 93 households, comprising 165 males and 168 females, giving a sex ratio of 0.98 males per female. The median age was 35.1 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 90 people (27.3%) aged under 15 years, 57 (17.3%) aged 15 to 29, 144 (43.6%) aged 30 to 64, and 39 (11.8%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 49.1% European/Pākehā, 60.0% Māori people, Māori, 2.7% Pasifika New Zealander ...
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