Rotorua is a showcase of Maori-culture and we headed to spend an evening in a Maori-village.
Boats were important, especially getting into New Zealand in the first place!
She's trying to sneak to the captains seat.
Suddenly there was turmoil on the river! A group of Maori men!
Despite their fierce look they came in peace.
Following the boat we moved into an open air theater for a crash course of Maori history, culture, song and dance. The presentation was prepared and performed by the Mitai Maori family/tribe and was actually a really good one, it was strong, skillful, funny, informative and proud. It portrayed Maori-culture as a living and well integrated part of contemporary New Zealand heritage and identity.
The scene was set as a historical Maori village.
The show was an eye-opener.
Weapons were demonstrated.
The white balls were originally used for wrist training.
Maori culture experienced a revival in the 60's when old songs were arranged for guitar and they became popular among the youth. Nowadays guitar is the most important Maori instrument.
Some of the songs were cheerful!
Some were intimidating.
Some were nightmarishly spooky.
Every Maori tribe has their own haka war dance. Mitai Maori family has won the national championships for their performance on several occasions. We agree with the judges without seeing any competition.
I'll eat you.
After the excellent show we had a buffet dinner that was all good.
The Maori-village visit was really interesting and spiriting and not too touristy and degrading as might be feared. Only the beginning of the evening was a bit lame as they obviously had to kill time in order to get different groups through the program without disturbing each other.
We warmly recommend if visiting Rotorua!
As the sun set we wandered through a darkening forest by the creek. We got flashlights to carry and saw some glow-worms (not pictured)!
