Our Maori People
One of the members asked me about our indigenous people and I am so glad she did because it allows me to speak on what is one of my favourite subjects. I am a white person, (the Maori for which is Pakeha ( par key har)) who has a true deep love and respect for his Maori people.
In my early childhood years I lived in a suburb of Auckland called Orakei (oh ra key) and this was adjacent to a suburb called Okahu (oh car who) Bay. In Okahu Bay there was a genuine Maori Pa the head of which was Princess Te Puia (tay poo ee ah) I remember the time of her passing and listening to the time of their wailing.
At school I had many Maori friends whose company I look back on with fond memories. When I got married my best man was a maori and his name was Kuranea Ruka and I have a vivid memory of a joke he used to share. While his name correctly was as I showed he actually went by Ned. Often he would be asked "how come you sign your name K Ruka when your name is Ned?' "Simple," he replied, " it's K for Ned the same as K for Knife"
The Maori people came to New Zealand in what was known as the Great Migration which was led by a famous Maori by the name of Kupe (coo pay). This migration was a wondrous feat as they came from Polynesia in canoes with no use of sails and there only source of navigation being the stars. Over these early years there were many inter tribal wars and wars of course with the British. The Maori became known as quite a fearsome warrior who strangely used no throwing weapon and it was all hand to hand combat. Their main weapon was a hand held club called a Mere which was formed out of a very hard stone called Greenstone. (New Zealand's Green Jade). They were also clever warriors as they always set up their fortifications on a hill to make it easier to defend. These were protected by moats and similar.
I said earlier that I was genuinely proud of my Maori people and I am. They have aspired to achieve everything that the white man has done except for as yet being the Prime Minister. In the entertainment world our leading money earning male soloist would be John Rowles who has been presented the OBE by Her Majesty. Far and away the most famous of our female soloist would be Dame Kiri Te Kanawa who was the singer at the wedding of Charles and Di. Both of these I have mentioned are obviously Maori.
To finish this just a little bit of their folklore. Maui was out in his canoe fishing for supplies for his village. Suddenly he hooked on to something very big. After a huge struggle he managed to get it to the surface and being immediately scared of it he started beating it wildly with the only thing he had which was his paddle. This beating he inflicted giant welts and huge lumps. These welts were then the ravines and similar and the huge lumps became the mountains on what was New Zealand. I should say more correctly what was Aotearoa ( Ay oh tay ah roar) the Maori for New Zealand. Again I must make a little correction. It is commonly accepted that Aotearoa stands for New Zealand the literal translation is Land of the Long White Cloud.
Enough for now
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Such marvelous history. Again, thank you for your had work and creativity. I enjoyed it very much.
Kia ora Kotou katou Neil
Nau Mai Haere mai
Tena kotou tena kotou tena kotou katou
E tino Pai e nga Korero te nga Whanau, raua ko TangataWhenua raua ko Manuhere raua ko e nga Tupuna te Aotearoa te Wairua e tu Pai.
E atahua e te painui e Komutu te Korero te reo Maori
(translation)-
Thank you Neil, for a wonderful speech about my people you honor my Ancestors with you heartfelt memories and knowledge of my people. Again a wonderful blog.
I to remember well the stories told by my grandmother who was full bloodied Maori and dies at the wonderful age of 104 in Taihape many years ago. As many of you here in WA I am Maori descendant I can recall my Whakapapa (lineage) back to when Kupe first arrived here in new Zealand. My people like all native people around the World I suppose wither it be the native North American Indians, the Canadian Indians, the Australian Aboriginals, or any indigenous people have this ability to remember and pass on our lineage. that can be an amazing gift to know my children can recite there Lineage back 6 generations. Thanks again my Friend and we are all whanau (Family) here at WA.
Nau Mai Haere Mai, tena kotou tena kotou tena kotou Katou.
(Welcome, and thankyou once again.)
Great post! And also coming from New Zealand I whole-heartedly agree with everything here. Great to hear one of the Maui legends again. One of my fondest school memories was an overnight visit to a Marae (meeting house) and learning Waiatas (songs) and a Haka (war dance).
A strongly cultural people with a great sense of humour and self-confidence (a generalization of course but this is what I have found with the majority of Moari I have spent time with).
nathan there was a saying when I was growing up. If it looked like trouble at a party just give the Maori a guitar and a beer and everything was sweet. Proved to be true
Thanks for your words Lemark much appreciated. I just wish I could find as much fluency for content for my site.
Can you send an e mail to neco1943@hotmail.com telling me what to do as I am very much a novice
I think I can answer you here :) It is just a suggestion really and I would like to see others' comments on it.
You already have a blog - it is your web page. You have categories - they are in your main menu.
As I can see there is one category - Memorable moments - that in my eye already qualifies as a 'personal' category.
Why not add another category - Blog - and publish stuff like an article above into it.
But maybe there is not enough space on the menu for the additional item :)
Again - it is just a suggestion...
Question If i managed to achiev this cld I just copy and paste everything in or is that Duplicate Content
It is a duplicate content, of course. But I wouldn't be bothered about it.
You can change a thing or two and state bellow the post that it was originally published here. And link it to here. This way you might even get a referral :)
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a lovely tribute to the Maori people, interesting bits of history