Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Te Puia (Maori HQ) – Monday, December 13th

Te Puia is the central loction for Maori affairs in NZ, and they have a Maori village meeting house there, along with schools to preserve the crafts of wood and greenstone carving and weaving the flax.






We went through a welcoming ceremony at the entrance gates and then we got to see them sing native songs of love and war and welcome, and dance to them too, all inside the lodge. Part of the opening ceremony was an aggressive dance by a Maori warrior.









The ladies were more welcoming, with ‘poi’ demonstrations
(white fluffy balls on the ends of long string/ropes) to accompany the singing.





Carving Schools ... in session









No comments:

Post a Comment