The culture of any place is what I mostly nerd out on, of course. I didn't have great expectations for lots of cultural differences in New Zealand. However, I did find a few interesting cultural differences that surprised me.
One of the things that I was most excited about was learning about the native New Zealanders, the Maori.
We learned a lot on out trip through the Southern Alps as we travelled towards to Maori tribe. I had read up on the Maori before this meeting (shocked?! Yeah...didn't think so.) and was so looking forward to experiencing their customs!! We learned that they were the first humans to inhabit New Zealand and most likely came from the Polynesian Islands. According to the Maori legend, around the year 900, a Maori explorer took a long journey to see what was out there. When this explorer first spotted New Zealand, all he could see was an island practically engulfed in a long white cloud. Guess what he named this place? "Aotearoa" which means, you got it, "Land of the Long White Cloud". To this day, most Maori can trace their heritage back to that explorer, or the seven subsequent canoes carrying Maori settlers. Many, historically, had face tattoos that told the story of their lineage and ranking in the tribe. The most exciting part--the thing I had most hoped for, was the "Haka". This was a traditional dance(??) or greeting (???) or scare tactic (???). It was used to greet visitors or scare potential enemies away. It consisted of a lot of chanting in a very loud voice, stomping of feet, sticking out of tongues and bulging of eyes. If the potential enemy did not retreat, they were killed and their bodies eaten. The Maori were not cannibals, but rather ate the bodies of the enemy to gain whatever power said enemy had, for themselves. Wow! Oh, boy was I excited about that?! I was especially excited because I had read that the first European to try to check out the island, Abel Tasman, a Dutchman, experienced this form of greeting. He was so scared after loosing 4 of his men that he didn't even get out of his boat (he just sent those poor unsuspecting fools in to get eaten!!). However, he did name the island(s) "Staten Landt", the body of water between the north island and Australia "the Tasmanian Sea" and the little island south of Australia and north of New Zealand "Tasmania". He never set foot on New Zealand.
When we arrived at the Maori marea, or traditional meeting hall, we were greeted by a Maori gentleman in European clothes (hold the phone here!!) who introduced us to his cousin (hmmm...turns out just about everyone is "cuz"). The two of them told us how we would be greeted and although the "Haka" was never mentioned, I still had high hopes for it. We had elected a "chief" of the bunch who would represent us. Chief Will had a speech prepared and led us in the rehearsal of a song for the tribe. He chose "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", which we practiced on the bus. I was worried that WE were going to be the lunch upon hearing our ability!! Egads!
I guess what could I expect? We weren't going to the jungle of New Zealand. We weren't coming to their land via boat. We weren't coming to see a man about a boat (or whatever). We went into the marea, took our shoes off and sat in folding chairs. The building was a very modern cabin-type. Our tribe was introduced by the Maori representative and then we were greeted by the Maori chief. He shouted at us in the Maori language for about 7 minutes. We then replied to his shout with an introduction from OUR chief, Will. The Maori replied with a song, again in their language and we replied with our iffy version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". We were then invited to a buffet lunch of...traditional food, right? Yes...IF traditional food consists of wraps and veggies and ranch. We did have pumpkin soup, which is very traditional to New Zealand, apparently, because we had it often.
We were invited, because we needed a special invitation, to hunt for "punamu" or green stone (we know it as jade) in the private river adjacent to the Maori property. They regained the rights to the land and river in the 1870s after having signed it all away to the British in 1840. We were given a lesson on how to look and what to look for. We set off on our search. I heard a lot of "Is this it?" and a lot of "No, that's not it." There were a couple of lucky kids who found some punamu.
We were then taken to Hokatica, where there was a punamu cutter and several punamu stores. Again, our phenomenal guide, Sarah, had a chance to talk with our Maori hosts. She told them that some of us were very interested in seeing or experiencing a "Haka". As we exited the bus, there on the sidewalk outside of the punamu store, stood a Maori dude (in jeans and a nice dress shirt--can't have everything!!), in a traditional stance, shouting at us in a very threatening sort of way. We got our Haka!! Most of us were kind of caught off guard and not sure of what to do, so Sarah encouraged us to greet the man and enter his store. I, at least, was a very happy camper...sure, we missed out on the face tattoos, but the Haka was what it was really about for me.
As we left Hokatika, Sarah said, "You know, you can see the Haka at the beginning if the rugby game tonight." Apparently there is a Haka performed (not sure that "performed" would be e right word, but...) at the beginning of each game that the national team, the "All Blacks" plays. Rugby is such a part of New Zealand culture...wow. I think it is more a part of them than football is for us. Or maybe I didn't really understand our guide. Practically everyone we encountered wanted to talk rugby with her. Se seemed to know a lot about it, and my assumption was that it was so big that everyone just knew it. True, but...
From what I understand, the most important player on a rugby team, like the quarterback (?? As if I know and/or make time to pay attention to this stuff.), is called the number "10". Each position is numbered the same for all rugby teams. It came out shortly after the Maori adventure that Sarah's brother played for the "All Blacks", as number 10. Oh, yeah, and, he was thE rugby player in New Zealand. Sarah never said it, but our bus driver did. Hmmmm. Who exactly is this "Dan Carter"? Well, according to Wikipedia, he IS Mr. Rugby in New Zealand, and is well-known world-wide in rugby circles and by rugby fans. He is ALSO an underwear model AND was voted "New Zealand's sexiest man". You can look him up for yourself and check him out.
We learned some New Zealand phrases that were culturally just New Zealand. First, a greeting between people, Maori or not, from the Maori language is "Kia Ora". It means the same thing to me that the Costa Rican greeting "Pura Vida" means. It's a general term for "what's up?". It is the "question" and the "answer". Every morning, Sarah would say to us "Kia Ora" and our response would be "Kia Ora". We never heard this phrase in Australia, because it is a purely "Kiwi" saying. (However, I do recall that several people greeted "Sarg" this way when she greeted us with the Australian "g'day". Ooooooo, she hated that!! Heehee!! It wasn't me, but I secretly giggled!!)
We heard "sweet" or "sweet as" so much!! It's just a generic phrase to mean that it's all good. It's the answer to questions and a response to something good or something cool. Since kiwi seem so pleasant and happy and easy-going, we heard that a lot!! I love their positive attitudes. There were lots of people from other countries working in New Zealand. No matter if we were talking to the Irish dude or the German dude on the Fox glacier, the Italian dude at the snow farm or any number of others we encountered, the positivity spilled over into everything they did and said, often in the form of "sweeeeet"!!
Overall I'd say that our cultural experience of New Zealand was..."swEEEt"!
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