The Maori People
The Maori people are the natives of New Zealand, or Aotearoa as they call the country. The word Aotearoa means ”long white cloud” in Maori language. Originally the Maoris are Polynesians who arrived to New Zealand in two waves of immigration. The first group came by canoes approximately 800 AD and the other arrived in 1300 AD. They have a rich culture and are well known for their art and tattoos. In 1769 the British explorer James Cook sat his foot on New Zealand and clamed it for Great Britain. A few years later, Europeans began to settle in the new British colony. Today the Maoris represent 14.6% of the total population of 4.3 million inhabitants. The purpose of this essay is to learn more about the New Zealand natives and how the colonization of their country has affected them.
The early Maori culture was characterized by warfare between tribes and probable cannibalism. They lived in villages and subsisted on hunting, fishing and cultivation of sweet potatoes and taro, which is a root and leaf vegetable. As mentioned earlier, afore mentioned the Maoris are today known for amongst others their tattoos. This art form has been a part of their culture for over a thousand years. They also decorated their houses and canoes by carving patterns into the wood.
The Maori society was divided into tribes, hapu, which was lead by a chief, rangatia. The chief represented his tribe and its ownership of the land it inhabited. The Maori culture remained uninfluenced by the Western culture for a long time, which has allowed it to grow and develop independently until the beginning of the 1800’s.
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Before the white man, pakhea, arrived they did not have a written language. The Maori people orally passed on their legends and history from generation to generation. One of their legends conveys the story of their arrival to Aorearoa. It tells that they originated in a mysterious country by the name Hawaiki, not to be mistaken for Hawaii. Today scientists believe that the country is purely mythical and has placed their origin in eastern Polynesia.
Before the Europeans arrived to New Zeeland the Maoris as group did not technically exist. They were living in tribes and did not see themselves as a homogenous group of people. Maori actually means “normal” or “ordinary ” and this was what the original inhabitants of New Zealand started to call themselves when the Europeans arrived. In the early 1800’s they arrived in large numbers bringing war and illness to the Maoris.
The British colonization of New Zealand had tremendous affects on the Maoris and their culture. When New Zealand became a colony in 1841, the Maori population had already suffered great loss due to the European immigration. Another impact was that this huge wave of British immigrants also brought Christian missionaries who forced on Christianity on the Maoris. This lead to the Maori people integrating pieces of Christian culture into there own, such as the prayer and the building of churches.
In the 1840-1860’s Britain confiscated approximately 40% of the Maori peoples land. This happened as a result of armed conflicts, contrary to the previous contract the Treaty of Waitangi between Britain and the Maoris, which granted them British citizenship and recognized their right to keep their land. Due to the British warfare and introduced deceases the Maori population had been reduced to 42 000 people in 1896, compared to 150 000 in the 1840’s. Today a part of the Maoris has been, or will be, compensated by the British and the New Zealand government for the land that was illegally taken from them. This is an on going process.
The Maoris has a wide range of interesting traditions. One of the most well known is the Haka , which is a war dance, originally performed by warriors before going into battle. The dance is supposed to show strength and courage and the words pronounced simultaneously are said in order to humiliate their opponent. The dance consists of hand gestures, claps, stomping and showing of tongue. To day the Haka is mostly used for entertainment. The most well known situation in which the Haka is performed is by the rugby team All Blacks of New Zealand before every game.
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The traditional Maori way of welcoming a person or a group is called powhiri and involves speeches, singing and dancing. The ceremony ends with the hongi, which is done by pressing ones nose and forehead to those of the person being greeted. Hongi means breath of live and is a tradition thought to have descended from the gods.
Ta Moko is the name of the traditional tattoos of the Maori people. The Maoris have a unique way of making their tattoos. Instead of puncturing the skin with needles they use chisels to carve the skin leaving it with irregularities. Today the needles have replaced the chisels since they are quicker and safer, but the traditional patterns are still used. It is said about the Maoris that they brought this art-form from Polynesia. Before the Europeans arrived to New Zealand, the moko was a sign of high social status. The moko was received to mark the transition between childhood and adulthood, along with other rituals. It was also a way to make a person more attractive to the opposite sex. The moko has traditionally a meaning, usually conveying one’s background and telling stories about one’s ancestors.
The Maori language is one of the official languages of New Zealand along with English and New Zealand sign language. In the early 19th century it was the main language of New Zealand but in 1950 most inhabitants spoke English as first language, due to the arrival of many English speakers. In the 1980’s people started to recognize the cultural value of the language, and made effort in bringing it back to the Maori population. Maori was taught in some schools and a Maori radio station was founded in 1983. In 2006 about 160 000 Maoris had a reasonable command of their language and approximately 60 000 considered themselves to speak Maori fluently.
The Maori language alphabet is built of five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and ten consonants (p, t, k, m, n, ng, wh, h, r, w).
The vowels in a word can either be pronounced short or long. If it is a long vowel it is written with a macron, for example a long a is written ā. In Maori language all syllables must end with a vowel.
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The Maori people have traditionally had a very strong connection to the nature and the land. They believe that everything in the natural world is connected and that the natural world and the supernatural world is one. They do not consider humans superior to nature, but as a part of nature. The nature can convey knowledge and understanding to the humans if they become one. Kaitiakitanga is Maori for guardianship or protection. The word represents the traditional Maori relation to nature.
Despite this view of nature they were not vegetarians. They consider death a part of the natural cycle, which has its basis in the sun. They believe that the suns birth (rising) represents the birth of mana, power, in the world. Everyday the sun is reborn to make its journey across the sky and dies in the evening. The traditional Maori view is that everything in nature in some way will follow the same pattern.
To sum up the Maori people are the natives of New Zealand. They developed a culture and way of life separated from the Western society for a very long time. This has lead to a lot of the original Mori culture being well preserved.
The European settlers had a great impact on the Maori people. Due to war and illnesses their population numbers went down but they also integrated some parts of the Western culture into their own. The British colonization of the country lead to yet another period of war and disease and many Maori tribes lost their land.
Today the Maoris make up approximately 14.6% of the entire New Zealand population and their language is an official language of New Zealand. There are an increasing interest in preserving their culture today, both amongst the Maoris and the New Zealanders. They have a radio station completely in Maori and the Maori language can be taught in schools.
The Maoris have a lot of traditions that lives on today. They are a people who traditionally are very connected to nature and believe that humans and nature are one.
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Sources
http://www.maorilanguage.info/mao_phon_desc1.html
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/kaitiakitanga-guardianship-and-conservation/page-2
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/te-ao-marama-the-natural-world/page-1
http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/death-rates-and-life-expectancy/page-4
http://www.newzealand.com/travel/media/features/maori-culture/maori-culture_ta-moko-maori-tattoo_feature.cfm
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language
http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/culture/maori/
http://www.margaretaivarsson.se/uploaded/pdf/maori_culture.pdf
http://www.ne.se/lang/maorier
http://www.maori.com/aotearoa
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[ 1 ]. http://www.maori.com/aotearoa
[ 2 ]. http://www.ne.se/lang/maorier
[ 3 ]. Ibid
[ 4 ]. http://www.margaretaivarsson.se/uploaded/pdf/maori_culture.pdf
[ 5 ]. http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/culture/maori/
[ 6 ]. http://www.margaretaivarsson.se/uploaded/pdf/maori_culture.pdf
[ 7 ]. Ibid
[ 8 ]. http://www.ne.se/lang/maorier
[ 9 ]. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/death-rates-and-life-expectancy/page-4
[ 10 ]. http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/culture/maori/
[ 11 ]. http://www.newzealand.com/travel/media/features/maori-culture/maori-culture_ta-moko-maori-tattoo_feature.cfm
[ 12 ]. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/maori-language-week/history-of-the-maori-language
[ 13 ]. http://www.maorilanguage.info/mao_phon_desc1.html
[ 14 ]. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/kaitiakitanga-guardianship-and-conservation/page-2
[ 15 ]. http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/te-ao-marama-the-natural-world/page-1
