Maori

PRONUNCIATION: MOW-ree
LOCATION: New Zealand
POPULATION: 565,329 in 2006 census
LANGUAGE: Maori; English
RELIGION: Christianity; traditional Maori, based on ancestor worship
RELATED ARTICLES: Vol 3: New Zealanders

INTRODUCTION

The ancestors of the present-day Maori created an outpost of Polynesian culture on the North and South islands of New Zealand. They remained relatively isolated from external contact until 1769, when Captain James Cook initiated a permanent European presence in New Zealand. In less than a century, Maori culture changed dramatically as a result. The Maori have been striving to revive aspects of their traditional culture, reclaim artifacts of their cultural history from foreign museums, and regain their ancestral homelands. As of 2006, the Maori of New Zealand numbered over 565,000, or about 15% of New Zealand's total population. While the overall number of Maori has risen over the past decade, the percentage of the total population has remained the same. The term "Maori" covers a number of different tribal and sub-tribal groups that view themselves and each other as very distinct. The Maori word for each tribal unit is iwi , and there are well over one hundred Maori iwi. The largest Maori iwi is Ngapuhi, which had a total enrollment of 122,211 according to the 2006 census. Not all Maori know their iwi; a situation that parallels Americans of American Indian descent who do not know their tribal affiliations.

LOCATION AND HOMELAND

The islands of New Zealand are the present-day homeland of the Maori. New Zealand consists of two islands, the North Island and the South Island. The topography of the North Island is hilly with areas of flat, rolling terrain. The South Island is larger and more mountainous than the North Island. The vast majority (86%) of present-day Maori live on the North Island. Prior to human habitation of the islands, there were extensive forests. These forests provided a resource for the ancestors of the Maori that ventured there from parts of present-day French Polynesia.

Maori oral history states that the original homeland of the traditional Maori was in the Society Islands of Polynesia, and that the Maori migrants left to escape warfare and the demands of excessive tribute. Archaeologists refer to two branches of Maori, the archaic and the traditional. The archaic Maori were likely the original inhabitants of New Zealand who relied on the moa, a large, flightless bird that they hunted into extinction. The artifacts that remain of this culture can be dated to around ad 1000 and are significantly different from those of the traditional Maori. The traditional Maori are believed to have migrated to the North Island around the 14th century. This is confirmed by archaeological dating techniques as well as the genealogical histories of the Maori.

In 1840, some 500 Maori chiefs signed the so-called Treaty of Waitangi with the British government. The treaty promised the Maoris that they would keep their lands and property and have equal treatment under the law as British subjects. However, the British later confiscated Maori lands and made the people move to reservations. As a result of war and disease, the Maori population fell to 42,000 by 1896. Since World War II, the government's policies have been more favorable to the Maoris. In recent years, the government of New Zealand has acknowledged its responsibility after a series of protests and court rulings. Since 1991, negotiations over specific claims have been underway. In October 1996, the government agreed to a settlement with the Maoris that included land and cash worth $117 million, with the Maoris regaining some traditional fishing rights.

LANGUAGE

Maori belongs to the Tahitic branch of Eastern Polynesian; Eastern Polynesian is, in turn, a branch of the larger Austronesian language family. Maori and Tahitian are very closely related, and earlier European explorers to the region commented on the similarity of the two languages. In fact, these were the first two Polynesian languages to have printed books in the early 19th century.

The Maori of today speak English and Maori. Prior to European colonization of New Zealand, there were two distinct Maori dialects: North Island Maori and South Island Maori, which is now extinct. Preschools that offer instruction in Maori language have sprung up all over the country at a rapid rate as a result of Maori activism. In 2006, nearly 25% of the Maori population indicated that they could hold a conversation in Maori.

FOLKLORE

Traditional Maori folklore describes an original couple, Rangi (sky) and Papa (earth), who were locked in copulation until the god Tane was able to push them apart and provide for the creation of human life. The god Tane was responsible for the creation of the first woman and the first man. Maori folklore focuses on oppositions between pairs, such as earth and sky, life and death, and male and female.

RELIGION

Like other New Zealanders, many Maori today are Christians (primarily Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Roman Catholics). Precontact Maori religion was based on the important concepts of mana and tapu. Mana is an impersonal force that can be both inherited and acquired by individuals in the course of their lives. Tapu refers to a sacredness that was ascribed by status at birth. There was a direct relation between the two: chiefs with the most mana were also the most tapu. The English word "taboo" derives from this general Polynesian word and concept. Ancestor worship was important in traditional religion.

MAJOR HOLIDAYS

Christian Maori celebrate the major Christian holidays as do other New Zealanders. Holidays as Westerners view them did not exist in precontact Maori society. Rituals were performed according to the religious calendar and the harvest and collection of foodstuffs.

A controversial New Zealand national holiday for the Maori is Waitangi Day (6 February), which commemorates the 1840 signing of the treaty that was supposed to guarantee their rights and privileges. In 1994, Maori radicals disrupted the Waitangi Day national celebration, forcing the government to cancel the festivities.

RITES OF PASSAGE

Modern Maori rites of passage are similar to those of other New Zealanders, but specific Maori traditions are still practiced at certain events. At weddings, for example, a relative of the groom traditionally challenges the father of the bride to a fight. The bride's father then approaches the challenger and is welcomed.

The Maori once practiced what anthropologists call "secondary burial." Secondary burial involves two interments of a corpse or its remains. When a person died, the body would be laid out on ceremonial mats for viewing by relatives and other members of the village. After a few days, the body was then wrapped in mats and placed in a cave, a tree, or buried in the ground. Different Maori groups had different practices. After one year had passed, the body was removed from the primary burial and the bones were cleaned and painted with red ochre. These remains were taken from village to village for a second period of mourning. Following that, the bones were interred in a sacred place.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Maoris today, like other New Zealanders, typically address each other informally and emphasize cordiality in relationships.

Feasting, called hakari in the Maori language, was an important aspect of precontact Maori culture. The Maori feasts brought together a number of different families and other social groups where a man of status would provide food and gifts for those who attended. In the end, he and his family would be left with very little in the way of material possessions or reserves of food, but instead would have gained enormous enhancement to his status.

Premarital sexual relationships were considered normal for Maori adolescents. Both males and females were expected to have a series of discreet relationships before they were married. When Maori females became sexually active, they were to publicly acknowledge this so that they could become tattooed. Tattooing marked their ritual and public passage into adulthood. It was also considered extremely attractive and erotic.

LIVING CONDITIONS

Today, 80% of the Maori live in the urban areas of New Zealand. However, until the 1920s, they lived almost primarily in rural areas. Maori housing today therefore typically reflects that of other urban New Zealanders [seeNew Zealanders ].

In coastal areas, Maoris traditionally relied on travel by canoes of various types, including both single-hulled outriggerless canoes as well as large double-hulled canoes. Waka taua were large Maori war canoes that were powered by both sail and paddles. As with other New Zealanders, travel today is by modern road, rail, water, and air transport.

FAMILY LIFE

Since most Maoris live in urban industrialized areas, family life is similar to that of other urban New Zealanders. Intermarriage between Maoris and Pakehas (the Maori term for whites) is common. Most Maoris have Pakeha cousins or other Pakeha relatives. Maori households may include relatives besides the nuclear family, such as grandparents, uncles, and aunts.

The traditional social unit of Maori society was the whanau. The whanau included both the nuclear and the extended family, oftentimes including up to four generations within on large social unit. Within the whanau, the grandparents were primarily responsible for the cultural socialization of their grandchildren. A special relationship holds between grandparents and grandchildren that is called mokopuna in Maori. The concept of mokopuna is that when a grandparent looks at a grandchild, the grandparent sees his/her reflection. Mokopuna is a powerful concept that guides the care and upbringing of grandchildren by their grandparents.

There were four distinct levels of descent groups in traditional Maori culture. The highest ranking was called waka, meaning "canoe," referring to a group of people who share descendants on both their mother's and father's sides who came on the same canoe in the historical migration to New Zealand recounted in Maori oral history. The lowest level was the whanau, which were households that represented as many as four generations of people related through the male line. Individuals chose their spouses from outside this group, but usually from within the village.

The system of naming members of the immediate and extended family in Maori culture differs from that found in American culture. In the Maori system, a person's brothers, as well as the cousins on both the mother's and father's side, would be called by the same term "brother." A person would call his or her sister, as well as his or her cousins, by the same term "sister." This lumping of relatives together within a generation continues across the generational divisions. Therefore, a Maori child would have as many mothers as his biological parents had sisters.

CLOTHING

Maoris typically wear modern Western-style clothing, but still wear their traditional clothing for special occasions. Traditional Maori clothing was some of the most elaborate in Polynesia. Elaborately decorated cloaks were an important item of dress for individuals of high status within Maori society.

FOOD

Maoris typically eat the same kinds of foods as other New Zealanders [ seeNew Zealanders ]. The traditional Polynesian foodstuffs of taro, yams, and breadfruit were not well adapted for cultivation on the temperate islands of New Zealand.

EDUCATION

Public education has now become the norm for most urban Maori, although a number of preschools based on Maori cultural education have been established throughout New Zealand. Education is state-supported and compulsory in New Zealand between the ages of 6 and 15. Students planning to attend one of the country's six universities continue their secondary education until the age of 17 or 18, when they have to take university qualifying exams.

CULTURAL HERITAGE

The haka dance of the Maori is one of the best-known cultural traditions of Polynesia. These dances are accompanied by song and body percussion created by clapping hands, stamping feet, and slapping thighs. There is a leader and a chorus that responds to his lead vocal line. The dance itself involves energetic postures, which represent warlike and aggressive poses.

Maori chanting follows very strict rules for performance and rhythmic structure and continuity. To break a chant in midstream would be to invite disaster or even death for a community. These chants often recounted genealogies or the exploits of ancestors.

WORK

Maoris today work at the same types of jobs and professions typical to any urbanized industrial economy, with about two-thirds engaged in services.

Traditional Maori culture developed a high degree of specialization in terms of the division of labor in society. Craftsmen in the form of tattoo artists, canoe builders, house builders, and carvers, were all classified as tohunga in Maori—a title that conveys the qualities of sacredness and translates best into English as "priest." These craftsmen paid homage to the gods of their various occupations and were initiated through a series of rituals into their craft. All craftsmen were descended from chiefly lines in traditional Maori society.

SPORTS

New Zealand, like its neighbor Australia, has rugby and cricket as national sports. Maori boys and men participate in and follow rugby in New Zealand. New Zealand Maori is the name of a rugby league team that traditionally plays teams touring New Zealand. The prerequisite for being a member of this team is that the player has to be of at least 1/16th Maori descent. New Zealand Maori competes in international competitions and it has participated in the Rugby League World Cup. There were traditional competitions among men in Maori society that stressed aggressiveness and provided practice for real-life conflicts.

ENTERTAINMENT AND RECREATION

The modern Maori have become not only consumers of video, television, and film, but also producers of their own stories in these media. Traditional storytelling and dance performance have been preserved by the Maori and serve as form of entertainment at the present.

FOLK ART, CRAFTS, AND HOBBIES

The New Zealand Maori are accomplished artists in a number of media. Collectors and the general public are most familiar with Maori carving and sculpture. However, the Maori also have a tradition of figurative painting dating back to the late 19th century. Each Maori sub-tribe is an art-producing and art-owning unit. Therefore, while there are certain similarities in style in Maori art, there are also a number of differences between the styles of different sub-tribes.

Large meeting houses of the Maori were decorated with elaborately carved facades containing figures of their ancestors. The entire structure was conceived as representation of an ancestor.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

The vast majority of all contemporary Maori are urban dwellers. The social problems that accompany urban life in conditions of poverty continue to beset the Maori. In some urban areas, Maori unemployment rates exceed 50%. The critically acclaimed film Once Were Warriors (1994) provides a Maori perspective on the social problems of alcoholism, domestic violence, and underemployment/unemployment.

GENDER ISSUES

Tattooing among the Maori was highly developed and extremely symbolic. Male facial tattooing, called ta moko, was done in stages in a male's life through adulthood. Maori facial tattoos were not only created by piercing and pigmenting the skin with a tattooing comb, but also by creating permanent grooves in the face with a chisel-like instrument. Females were also tattooed in Maori society and there has been an increasing revival of the art among younger women nowadays. Female facial tattooing was known as ta ngutu. Designs were placed on the chin and lips. Ngutu means "lips" in Maori and ta means "to strike."

A controversial gender topic in modern Maori society is that of role of homosexuality in precontact times. Takatapui is a Maori word that is defined in the earliest dictionary of the Maori language as "an intimate companion of the same sex" (Williams 1834). The word had fallen into disuse following colonization and the impact of Christian missionaries, but in recent times, takatapui has become part of the vocabulary of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBT) community in New Zealand. The controversy revolves around whether or not homosexuality was part of precontact Maori gender relations. The most current and comprehensive accounts clearly demonstrate the important roles of takatapui in precontact Maori society, and their incorporation into iki and whanau.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bangs, Richard. Quest for Kaitiakitanga: The Ancient Maori Secret from New Zealand that Could Save the Earth. Birmingham, AL: Menasha Ridge Press, 2008.

Best, E. The Maori. Wellington, New Zealand: The Polynesian Society, 1924.

Bishop, Russell. Maori Art and Culture. London: British Museum Press, 1996.

Gell, A. Wrapping in Images: Tattooing in Polynesia. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993.

Hazlehurst, Kayleen M. Political Expression and Ethnicity: Statecraft and Mobilisation in the Maori World. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 1993.

Tregear, Edward. The Aryan Maori. Papakura, N.Z.: R. McMillan, 1984.

Williams, William. A Dictionary of the Maori Language. Paihia: Mission Press,1834.

—by J. Williams