Frances and Hayden on Blog duty this week!!!
We just left the Maori village and had a great time! We stayed with Paora and Aramanu on their small faremette just outside the actual village of Porongahou (sp?). They had a few cows and a few sheep and a small garden, and two cats. About half the group slept inside but the rest of had to rough it in tents outside. We battled fierce wind, rain, and cold but lived to tell the tale 🙂 It was actually quite fun!!!
On our first full day in the village, we were accepted into their community through a ceremony welcoming us into the Morai. We were herralded in with a traditional song recited in the Maori language. Then, various respected men of the community made individual speeches, all of which closed in a traditional song of their choice. After Paura’s speach, we sang a Maori song that we learned the night before (we were told that since everyone was flat, we sounded “ok”, haha). All of this was conducted in their native tongue, which is awesome… though we wish we could have understood what they were saying! After the speaches concluded, we ended the ceremony with a Hongi where all the village elders formed a line and we went through touched our noses to theirs (some of the girls got kisses :0 (but only on the cheek)). After the ceremony, we went into the community center for morning tea and a fascination power point on the benefits of reseeding Paoua (Abalone, a local shellfish).
Over the rest of the week, we learned a TON about the Maori culture and history. They use carvings to depict their ancestors and the stories that define not only the lives of their ancestors but their lives as well. To further our knowledge, we were broken in to groups and assigned different topics to research on Maori culture/life. at the end of the week, we did 15 minute presentations to the group on what we learned through reading material and interviews with the locals.
Some of the more fun things we did while in the village were going to the beach, visting the longest place name, and watching the Rugby World Cup at the local pub, where to our excitement, New Zealand won ( GO ALL BLACKS!!!!).
Until next time, over and out!
beach in porangahau
