Maori Culture

Nau mai, haere mai! Welcome to Aotearoa, Land of the Long White Cloud, home of the Maori people and wellspring of a culture deeply ingrained in the New Zealand identity.

The Maori are descended from an ancient line of Polynesian people who made epic journeys in waka hourua (voyaging canoes) from an ancestral homeland known as Hawaiki to reach these shores over 1,000 years ago. Gradually settling throughout the country, Maori established deep relationships with the land, personifying its natural features to create a history in which the people and the land are interwoven.

Then & Now

From the earliest years of European settlement, trading relationships were established between Maori and the new arrivals. In 1840, at the Northland settlement of Waitangi, the relationship was formalised in an historic treaty between Maori and the British Crown – The Treaty of Waitangi – signed by chiefs from many Maori tribal groups. Today the Treaty remains a cornerstone of New Zealand’s law and is fundamental to contemporary settlements negotiated between Maori and the Crown in compensation for losses of land and rights during the colonial era. Explore this aspect of history with a visit to the Waitangi National Trust Estate in the Bay of Islands, where you can see the Treaty House as well as a fully carved Maori Meeting House and one of the world’s largest waka toa (war canoes).

Today Maori make up over 14 percent of the New Zealand population, and their rich cultural heritage makes a unique and important contribution to the character of the country. Visitors to New Zealand will find many opportunities to experience both traditional and contemporary forms of Maori culture first-hand.

The Art of Story

Before European colonisation, tradition and history played an important role in a unique and complex social structure. As the Maori people had no written language, they preserved their past through spoken stories. This spellbinding art is preserved and performed at various sites around the country. Explore the culture by visiting a marae (meeting grounds) for a traditional welcome, tasting a hangi prepared in an underground oven, viewing a cultural performance or taking a guided tour in one of the many wilderness areas with a Maori host.

Maori Culture Today

As a nation, New Zealand embraces the Maori element of its culture and in recent times there has been a resurgence of Maori language and culture. Maori culture has thrived because in many ways Maori have succeeded in uniting traditional culture with contemporary interpretation. Today the culture is expressed through music, both in the Maori language and in English, the arts, which may draw on contemporary mediums or themes, and the media. The Maori television channel, for instance, supports the culture by telling stories by and about Maori people. www.maoritelevision.com