Te Puia

During the planning process for my brothers trip here, a Maori experience was one of the things one his to-do list. I spend a lot of time with a Maori family here, and the European and Maori cultures co-exist in daily life, but after he mentioned it I realized I had not done a completely Maori cultural experience. So in conjunction with Google and the opinions of the locals, I determined that we should go to Te Puia, in Rotorua. Te Puia is a Maori carving and weaving institution, and home to a thermal valley. 

First up for the day was a daytime concert, where we experienced traditional dancing. First was a Powhiri, which is a ritual that is performed when two groups meet for the first time. This was performed in front of the Marae, or meeting house.

Once we were inside the Marae, we saw performances of Waiata-a-ringa, Poi Dance, and the Haka. Waiata-a-ringa are similar to ballads, and are used for telling the story or Maori history. The Poi is for ladies only and requires a bit of coordination to make the Poi work gracefully. 

The Haka is a traditional dance used to prepare warriors for battle. A few female members of the audience were invited up to learn the Poi, and some male members to learn the Haka. My dear brother got to learn, as you'll see in the following video.

Here is a video of the All Blacks doing the haka. New Zealand's professional rugby team performs the haka prior to each of their games.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbF4NG9_x7w

In additional to the song and dance, we got to see the carving and weaving schools, where students learn the traditional methods of creating the art. The area surrounding the Marae had some excellent examples of the work done there. The wood carvings are a record of tribal affairs and pay respect to ancestors. 

 Last stop was the thermal valley, home to the geyser Te Puia. We were lucky enough to see it shoot up about 5 feet. Nearly as delightful as the geyser was a group of Chinese tourists who saw us sitting on a bench taking a break and decided they needed pictures with us. None of them spoke any English, but they all lined up, passed their cameras to someone, and one at a time came and sat between us to take a picture. So when they were all done, I took a picture with them :)