MAORI CULTURE

THE EARLY ARRIVALS OF THE MORIORI, PRIMARILY FISHED AND HUNTED OTHER BIRDS THAT ARE EXTINCT. THEIR FINAL PRE EUROPEAN IMMIGRATION WAS BY 7 CANOES OF THE GREAT FLEET. THESE PEOPLE ASSIMILATED THE ORIGINAL INHABITANTS BY MARRIAGE AND CONQUEST. BY 1350 FOLKS ARRIVED WITH THEIR OWN DOMESTICATED PLANTS AND ANIMALS. SEVERAL DID NOT SURVIVE THE TRANSITION POSITION FROM THEIR TROPICAL CLIMATE.

THE ARCHAIC PEOPLE WERE PROBABLY THE ORIGINAL PEOPLE OF NEW ZEALAND. THEY DATE BACK TO 1000 A.D. THEY ORIGINALLY LIVED IN THE SOCIETY ISLAND. THE DESCENDANTS OF THE POLYNESIAN CULTURE LANDED ON THE NORTH AND SOUTH ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. THEY WERE ISOLATED FROM EXTERNAL CONTACT UNTIL 1769. IN THAT YEAR ENGLISH NAVIGATOR, CAPTAIN COOK BROUGHT IN PERMANENT EUROPEANS CAME.

THE ANCESTORS OF THE POLYNESIAN CULTURE ON THE NORTH AND SOUTH ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. THEY WERE ISOLATED FROM EXTERNAL CONTACT UNTIL 1769. IN THAT YEAR CAPTAIN COOK BROUGHT IN PERMANENT EUROPEAN PRESENCE IN NEW ZEALAND. AS THE EVENTS HAPPENED MAORI CULTURE WAS DRAMATICALLY CHANGED. THEY HAD 200,00 AND THEY DECLINED AFTER EUROPEANS CAME.

IN THE 1790'S WHALERS AND SEALERS WERE COMMON TO NEW ZEALAND IN 1790'S AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH THE MISSIONARIES WERE UNFRIENDLY AND VIOLENT. THE FIRST MISSIONARIES ARRIVED IN 1814. AND BY 1830'S EUROPEANS AND AUSTRALIANS WERE MOVING HERE. WITH A TREATY OF WAITANGO IN 1840 THE INDIGENOUS CHIEFS, THE MAORI RECEIVED RIGHTS AND PROTECTION TO NATIVE LANDS.
IN 1840 50 CHIEFS SIGNED A TREATY WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT. . IT PROMISED THE MAORI THAT THEY WOOD KEEP THEIR LAND AND PROPERTY. THEY WOULD HAVE EQUAL TREATMENT UNDER BRITISH LAW. HOWEVER,THE BRITISH SEIZED MAORI LANDS AND MADE THE PEOPLE MOVE TO RESERVATIONS. BA CAUSE OF WAR AND DISEASE, THEIR POPULATION FELL BY 1896. SINCE WWII (1939 - 1935).

DURING 1860 TO 1865 MANY BATTLES TOOK PLACE ESPECIALLY OVER LAND RIGHTS. BY 1900 THEIR POPULATION HAD REVERSED.
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TODAY ONLY 1/3 SPEAK THEIR ANCESTRAL LANGUAGE THE REST KNOW ENGLISH. THEIR FOLKLORE HAS A TALE ABOUT A COUPLE WHO WERE IN LOVE AND A GOD WHO PUSHED THEM TO PROVIDE FOR CREATING HUMAN LIFE

MOST MAORI ARE CHRISTIAN. THEIR TRADITIONAL RELIGION WAS WAS BASED UPON THE CONCEPTS OF MANA AND TAPU. MANA IS A FORCE THAT CAN BE ACQUIRED. TAPU IS THE SACREDNESS THAT WAS ASSIGNED AT BIRTH. ANCESTRY WORSHIP WAS ASSIGNED AT BIRTH. ANCESTOR WORSHIP WAS IMPORTANT TO THEIR TRADITION. FOR HOLIDAYS THEY DID SOME RITUALS. THEY PRACTICED SECONDARY BURIAL. WHEN SOMEONE DIED THEY LAID THEM ON CEREMONIAL MATS FOR TWO DAYS. THEN THE BODY WAS WRAPPED AND PLACED IN A TREE OR A CAVE. AFTER A YEAR THEY COLLECTED THE BONES AND PAINTED THEM FOR A SECOND MOURNING. MOST MAORI ARE FRIENDLY TOWARDS EACH OTHER.

ONE MAORI CUSTOM IS CALLED "FEASTING" AND IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF MAORI AND IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF MAORI CULTURE. THEY BROUGHT TOGETHER DIFFERENT AND OTHER SOCIAL GROUPS.
SOME MEN WOULD PROMOTE FOOD AND GIFTS. HOWEVER, WITH LITTLE IN RESERVES OF FOOD HIS STATUS WOULD INCREASE ENORMOUSLY.

THEY HAD PREMARITAL SEXUAL RELATIONSHIPS. BOTH MEN AND WOMEN HAD SEVERAL BEFORE MARRIAGE ONCE WOMEN WERE SEXUALLY ACTIVE THEY GOT TATTOOS AS A RITE OF PASSAGE AND THEY WERE CONSIDERED EROTIC. THE MAORI'S TOUCH NOSES WHEN GREETING SO THEIR SPIRITS MERGE. 80% TODAY LIVE IN CITIES. BUT BEFORE THEY WERE RURAL. THEY BUILT AND DOUBLE HULLED CANOES. SOME WERE WAR CANOES. TODAY THEY USE CARS, TRAINS, AND AIRPLANES.

THEY INTERMARRY WITH OTHER PAKETAS OR WHITES. MAORI HOUSEHOLDS MAY HAVE GRANDPARENTS, UNCLES, AND AUNTS. IN MAORI A PERSON'S BROTHERS AND ALL MALE COUSINS WERE CALLED BROTHER.

TODAY THEY WEAR TRADITIONAL CLOTHING ON SPECIAL EVENTS. THE POLYNESIANS WHO ARE OF HIGH STATUS INTRICATELY DECORATED CLOTHING. THEIR TATTOOS ARE EXTREMELY SYMBOLIC. THEY HAD FACIAL AND BODY TATTOOS.

THE MAORI EAT SIMILAR TO TO US. EGGS. BACON, AND LARGE DINNERS WITH MEAT AS A MAIN DISH. TRADITIONAL POLYNESIAN FOODS ARE OF TARO, TARO, YAMS, AND BREADFRUIT. THEY TYPICALLY EAT HANGI, A FOOD PREPARED IN THE REGIONS OF THE COUNTRY WITH HOT SPRINGS. A PIT IS DUG WITH MEAT AND VEGIS STEAMED FOR SEVERAL HOURS.

THEY HAVE STATE SUPPORTED ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS. THEY ALSO HAVE 6 UNIVERSITIES. THEIR HAKA DANCE IS ONE OF THE BEST KNOWN CULTURAL TRADITIONS OF POLYNESIA. THEY CLAP HANDS, STOMP FEET AND SLAP THIGHS. THEY HAVE A CHORUS ALSO. THEIR CHANTING FOLLOWS STRICT RULES FOR PERFORMANCE, AND A CONTINUITY . THEIR STORIES TELL OF EXPLOITS OF THEIR ANCESTORS.

THE FOLKS DEVELOPED A HIGH DEGREE OF SPECIALIZED LABOR- TA TOO ARTISTS, CANOE AND HOUSE BUILDERS, AND CARVERS. THEY WERE INITIATED INTO THEIR CRAFTS THROUGH RITUALS. TODAY ABOUT 2/3 ARE EMPLOYED IN INDUSTRIAL ECONOMY.

THEIR TRADITIONAL STORYTELLING AND DANCE PERFORMANCE HAVE BEEN BY PRESERVED BY THIS TRIBE. THEIR HOBBIES ARE OF ACCOMPLISHED ARTISTS. THEY CARVED WOOD MAKE SCULPTURE. THEY DO FIGURATIVE PAINTING AND THE HOUSES HAVE ELABORATE ANCESTRAL FIGURES CARVED ON FACADES.

MANY MAORI ARE UNEMPLOYED AND SUFFER FROM ALCOHOLISM, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.