“Don’t Trust The Birds- They’re Really Dinosaurs”

Hello!

The title of this post is a quote from one of our biology lecturers.
It's hard to argue with him when there are birds like these running around; they look like baby raptors!

Anyway! I'd like to share some of the information I've learned so far in just our first week of learning and experiences.

I think it was Monday that we took part in a Maori welcoming and initiating ceremony. We stood outside a large, carved building (I've forgotten the name!) at the edge of a large concrete circle. There the ceremony began.

It consisted of these steps:

Karanga- a Maori woman stood across the concrete circle, by the carved building's doorway, and called in Maori. She  (this was obviously translated later) was welcoming us in and telling us to come forward.

Karanga- a Maori man who was standing with our group returned her call with his own. He was telling the woman that we come in peace and wish to bring no harm. As the man called, our whole group moved forward slowly towards the door. There, we took off our shoes and entered the building, women going first and sitting in the back and men entering behind and sitting in the front seats.

Whaikorero-  There were two other groups besides us, so a Maori representative from each group (they weren't part of the group, only speaking for us) stood and spoke in Maori. I honestly don't know entirely what was being said, but I know that they were introducing us and welcoming us. This was not a quick sentence or two spoken- it was maybe ten minutes each of these people (all men) speaking Maori.

Waiata- This is when, after their speaker was finished, a group would stand and sing a song that represented them. The other two groups sang songs that sounded Maori (I'm not sure, the groups themselves weren't Maori). Our group chose the song "Lean On Me".

Anyway, the last two steps:

Hongi- A welcoming gesture in which you grab a person's shoulders, touch foreheads and noses, and sniff quickly. This is basically sharing the breath of life. Only some of each group did this, since there were so many.

Kai- Goodbye or end of ceremony.

This is a very rough description of this ceremony, I must admit, and some of the information might be a tad confused or left out entirely. I apologize!

A few quick notes:

• The Whaikorero and most all of the speaking done in this ceremony is done in Maori- this is to make the point that Maori was the first language spoken in that sacred place.
• Women sit in the back not because of inequality, but because they are protected there. This ceremony is to welcome new people and it was often unknown if these people were violent or not.
• For a reason I don't know, the initial Karanga is always spoken by a woman.
• Photos were not allowed to be taken of this ceremony.
• And lastly, I did not know the lyrics to "Lean on me" until the day we sang it. I had to read it off a piece of paper.

 My reaction to all of this:

Being a part of the Karanga was nearly overwhelming, but an honor. It was very intense but beautiful at the same time. The Maori culture is so well preserved and I am extremely grateful that it allows outsiders to learn and enjoy it!

That's all for now, thanks for reading!