: Get to know the nuances and richness of Maori Culture #IndiaNEWS #National,IANS Life By N. Lothungbeni HumtsoeNew Delhi, Feb 19 (IANSlife) New Zealands Maori culture is diverse and complex, encompassing

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Get to know the nuances and richness of Maori Culture #IndiaNEWS #National ,IANS Life
By N. Lothungbeni HumtsoeNew Delhi, Feb 19 (IANSlife) New Zealands Maori culture is diverse and complex, encompassing both traditional and contemporary arts. Throughout the country, traditional arts such as carving, weaving, kapa haka (group performance), whaikorero (oratory), and moko (tattoo) are practiced.
Have you ever witnessed or seen a patriotic dance routine performed by a group of individuals vigorously stomping their feet? It is known as Haka, a traditional Maori Culture dance performed when two tribes meet during a war or when a visitor is welcomed. However, the song is now performed even on pleasant occasions.
IANSlife recently spoke with Nanaia Mahuta, New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs, Local Government, and Maori Development, who was in India for four days to highlight New Zealands subtle and rich Maori Culture.
Read Excerpts
In your words, describe New Zealands Maori culture.
Nanaia: New Zealand is a pretty young country but the history of the Maori people in New Zealand extends back around about thousand odd years ago when our ancestors traveled from across the vast Pacific Ocean to Aotearoa New Zealand. So, we have got a navigation history and when we settled there, we brought with us our histories and our traditions and our connection to the broader pacific roots through songs, through Whakapapa (RH1), through talking about our ancestral connections, our mythology, how we brought about the way in which the creation extended and all of that was brought to Aotearoa New Zealand.
Nowadays, we have got a number of tribes that have settled throughout Aotearoa New Zealand. While we share common connections through Whakapapa (RH2) or our ancestry, there are also slight differences as well.
We value our connections to our mountains, our oceans, our lakes, and our rivers, and also where we grew up. We have lots of stories for example about being the first place to see the sun, and how Maori captured and steered the sun to slow it down so that we have got a long time to experience the fullness of our lives in Aotearoa New Zealand. We have also got stories about how we live by the lunar calendar. So that dictates when we fish, when we plant, when we harvest, and when we have downtime to rest, and also when we have high energy time to undertake a number of activities during the various seasons.
So thats a little bit about who we are as Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand and how we celebrate culture in our lives.
What steps is the government taking to promote and protect New Zealands unique heritage?
Nanaia: For a long period of time, we celebrate what Maori culture means to who we are as a country. When I think about our National Day of Significance which is Waitangi Day which was recently celebrated, we recognised Waitangi which is in the far north as a special place and a place that celebrates how we came to be as a nation.

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