integral part of Kiwi life and adds a unique, dynamic experience for visitors.
Māori are the tangata whenua, the indigenous people, of New Zealand. They came here more than 1000 years ago from their mythical Polynesian homeland of Hawaiki. Today Māori make up 14% of our population and their history, language and traditions are central to New Zealand’s identity.
Experience Māori traditions in action
The best place to observe Māori culture is on a marae (tribal meeting grounds). In Northland, Auckland, Rotorua and Canterbury, organised tours provide a traditional Māori welcome onto a marae, where you’ll hear Māori speeches and singing, see carved meeting houses, meet the local people (you’ll greet them with the traditional pressing of noses) and enjoy a hāngī feast cooked in earth ovens. You need to be part of a tour to visit a Marae.
New Zealand’s unique mix of Māori and European ideas and customs began with the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi – our founding constitutional document. The Treaty, signed by Māori chiefs and representatives of the British crown when New Zealand first became a colony, continues to be hugely important in defining the relationship between Māori and Pakeha.
MAORI TATTOOS
ArtisticallyCultured 