We headed back in the late morning for a tour of the Maori museum near the war memorial. The museum tour included a fascinating display from local performers of some of the native songs and dances from the island culture. Our favorite was the “Haka” that is performed as a dance to provide energy and intimidation before a conflict took place. The Haka is still used in modern day New Zealand sports, including New Zealand All Blacks rugby games. The entire team, which includes many Maori players, performs the ritual before every game to intimidate the other team as well as energize the audience.
It is very surprising, coming from America, how much the native culture influences the feel of the city here. From my understanding, there was a great deal of opposition to assimilation efforts by Europeans during colonization, leading to a very prominent Maori culture still here today. Many signs and brochures around the city are written in both English and traditional Maori languages. It is very different from the way the westerners simply forced Native Americans to become “civilized” and join our society.
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| Maori Mask |
The rest of the day was taken off to get some work done, as well as catch up on a little sleep we have been dearly missing. Four weeks of travel around Australasia has finally started to take its toll on our group, evidenced by lots of yawning and dozing off on our frequent 3-4 minute bus rides.
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