Prima| (Feral Aizawa)

(b) Māori culture

Māori culture (Māori: Māoritanga) is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture and, due to a large diaspora and the incorporation of Māori motifs into popular culture, is found throughout the world.[1][2] Within Māoridom, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word Māoritanga is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori culture, the Māori-language suffix -tanga being roughly equivalent to the qualitative noun-ending -ness in English.[3][4] Māoritanga has also been translated as "[a] Māori way of life."[5]

A wharenui (meeting house) at Ōhinemutu village, Rotorua, with a tekoteko on the top

Four distinct but overlapping cultural eras have contributed historically to Māori culture:

before Māori culture had differentiated itself from other Polynesian cultures (Archaic period)

before widespread European contact (Classic period)

the 19th century, in which Māori began interacting more intensively with European visitors and settlers

the modern era since the beginning of the twentieth century

Māoritanga in the modern era has been shaped by increasing urbanisation, closer contact with Pākehā (New Zealanders of European descent) and revival of traditional practices.

Traditional Māori arts play a large role in New Zealand art. They include whakairo (carving), raranga (weaving), kapa haka (group performance), whaikōrero (oratory), and tā moko (tattoo). The patterns and characters represented record the beliefs and genealogies (whakapapa) of Māori. Practitioners often follow the techniques of their ancestors, but in the 21st century Māoritanga also includes contemporary arts such as film, television, poetry and theatre.

The Māori language is known as te reo Māori, shortened to te reo (literally, "the language"). At the beginning of the twentieth century, it seemed as if te reo Māori - as well as other aspects of Māori life - might disappear. In the 1980s, however, government-sponsored schools (Kura Kaupapa Māori) began to teach in te reo, educating those with European as well as those with Māori ancestry.[6]

Change and adaptation over time

Cultural conceptsEdit

A tohunga under tapu could not eat with their hands for an extended period.[56]

A hongi (greeting) for Dame Patsy Reddy from Kuia Dr Hiria Hape

Some of the fundamental cultural concepts of Māoritanga are present throughout Polynesia, but all have been altered by New Zealand's unique history and environment.

Mana (power and prestige)Edit

Mana is a cultural concept of the Māori, meaning a sacred power or authority. Mana is sacred power bestowed by the gods on the ancestral lineage of chiefs, or tohunga. While the mana itself is a supernatural gift, the chief is free to waste or magnify it.[57] Historian Judith Binney says that maintaining and increasing the mana of whānau and hapū and loyalty within the group is unquestionably at the heart of Māori cultural concepts. She says that Māori cultural history is confusing to the uninformed as it consists of narrative-myths that stretch far back in time. Also confusing is that chronological time is irrelevant or distorted[58][citation not found] to the Māori cultural story, so a person living in the present may narrate a story about their family or hapū that happened centuries ago; nonetheless, the narrator appears as a contemporary figure in the myth.