Maori Village

 Instead of paying to see the geyser we decided to pay to have the Maori (pronounced like Maui but with an "r" and roll it) Village experience.  This included being picked up in this bus at our motel, driven by a marvelous Maori tour guide, taken to the Maori Village about 15 km outside Rotorua, greeted by the tribal chiefs, given a song and dance performance and treated at traditional Hangi, which is a Maori meal.  Our tour guide knew how to converse in all the languages and accents of the tourists on the bus.  This included English with British and Scottish accents, French, Russian, Spanish, and Korean.  It was amazing.  He had a wonderful sense of humor and incorporated his pride of the All Blacks rugby team as much as he could.  If there is one thing all New Zealanders take pride in, it is the All Blacks.  Their pride is fierce, loyal, and EVERYWHERE!  During our bus ride to the village, we had to pick a tribal chief.  There were five buses and each bus was a tribe.  One of the Scottish tourists, Dave, was picked by the tour guide to be our chief.

 These are the five tribal chiefs receiving instruction on how to greet the Maori chief. We had a chief Peter from England, a chief Peter from Denmark, and a chief Peter from Spain.  It was hilarious when they were introduced.  The other chiefs were Dave from Scotland and Matthew from Spain. The tradition was for the Maori chief of the village being visited to come out and issue a challenge to the visiting chief.  A peace offering would be offered and if the visiting chief accepted the peace offering then they were not about to declare war.  If the peace offering was not accepted, both villages would prepare to battle.

 Here is the first warrior coming to issue a challenge.  The tribal bus chiefs were instructed not to smile or laugh or do anything except look directly at the warrior.  Otherwise it would be taken as an insult.  Three warriors came out, one at a time, spinning weapons, shouting, and making ferocious faces at the bus chiefs.

 These two came out together to announce the coming of the village chief.

 This chief did the same things with weapons, shouting and making faces but he offered the peace offering, a palm leaf.  He laid it on the ground and backed away.  One of the bus chiefs was then tapped on the shoulder and walked forward to pick up the palm leaf, all the time keeping eye contact with the village chief. It was an amazing thing to watch.  The whole crowd was hushed and even though it was part of the show, you could feel the intensity of the moment.

 This is our chief, Dave, from Scotland.  This is the traditional Maori greeting.  Pressing noses together two times.  Each bus chief did this with the village chief.  You can see the seriousness on their faces.  This was not a humorous moment.

 We were then welcomed by the village chief and brought into the village.  There were different displays where you could talk to the Maori and see what they were making.  Some were making baskets or skirts.  Some making weapons and the warriors who began the challenge were taking pictures with tourists.

 Here are our bus chiefs learning the Haka, the traditional warrior challenge to enemies before battle.  It is what the All Blacks do before every rugby game.

 It involves lots of slapping the chest and legs, and lots of rolling and widening of the eyes and tongue showing.  It means to the enemies, "Your flesh looks good enough to eat and when I kill you, that is what I am going to do".  Obviously it is meant to intimidate the enemies and make them run away in fear having never done battle.

 Here is chief Peter from Denmark doing a great Haka face.

 Kyle and his Haka face with a Maori Haka face.

 This guy was big and scary when doing the challenge but was so sweet and patient when taking pictures with the tourists.

 Here is our food being brought out of the ground.  Traditional Hangi meal is cooked in the ground with coals being heated to white hot and placed in the pit first.  Then the baskets of meat are placed on the coals with the  vegetables on top of the meat and the dessert on top of the vegetables.  Then wet leaves are placed on top of the whole thing and covered with a wet cloth and left to cook for 3-4 hours.  I was in the back of the crowd and Kyle was elsewhere talking to another Maori about the history of how the people came to New Zealand, so I didn't have his tallness to take pictures for me.  Fortunately, there was a man standing on a a tree stump that was about as high as I was so he had a good look over the crowd.  He wasn't taking pictures so I tapped on his hand and asked if he would take some pictures for me.  He was more than happy to do it.  So the pictures of the food being brought out of the pit are from my tree stump friend.

 While our meal was being set up we were directed into this pavilion where we were treated to a song and dance performance.

 This warrior was carving this staff on the stage of the performance.

 As the Maori village chief tells us what we are about to see, you can see in the other corner of the stage a woman laying on the floor receiving the Maori tattoos on her face, called tomoko.

 The Maori began with some dances and songs depicting their warrior heritage, stories of their past and genealogy, which are passed down through song and dance.

 This dance showcased the weapons used in battle.  The first warrior is holding a weapon that is a club on one end and a spear on the other.  The club was used to cleave the forehead and rip it open to expose the brain.  The next warrior is holding a spear that was used to stab into the chest, twist and rip it back out exposing the heart and other vital organs.

 I don't remember what this dance was for but the sticks were used individually and as a group.

 This song and dance told the story of how the Maori people came to be.  It was a forbidden love between a warrior and a maiden of warring tribes.  One night, she slipped out of the village down to the water intending to row to the next island to be with her warrior. Her father had removed all the canoes so she couldn't go.  Instead she wrapped herself with something ( I can't remember what it was called) and floated the three miles to the next island.  She and her warrior gave rise to the Maori people.

 This ball dance was so much fun.  The women swung them around and tapped the balls on their arms, shoulders, and backs of hands to tap out the beat of the song and dance.  It was very cool.

 Here is the same dance only the length of string on the balls has increased dramatically.  The people in the front row were moving back so they wouldn't get hit but they weren't in danger of that. The women never missed a beat.

 Here was the last dance, the Haka.  So very, very cool when done by people who know what they are doing.  Very intimidating and raised goose bumps on my arms.

 After the performance, we were lead in to the dining hall.  The tourists were seated on each side of the hall and the food was laid out on the tables you can see to the left in the picture.  This is at the end of the night and the tour bus drivers are serenading everyone up front.

The whole experience took about three hours and was so amazing.  On the ride home, our tour guide had us sing the national anthems from each country on the bus and then some.  Not only did he know every language and accent on the bus, he knew every national anthem as well.  The last song we sang was  "The Wheels on the Bus".  When we got back to town, we entered one of the many round-abouts and he sang and sang as he kept going around and around the round-about.  It was hilarious.  There were three buses doing it at the same time and to the other drivers trying to get into the round-about, it was probably frustrating.  It was such a worthwhile experience and a wonderful memory.  One of the best times we have had here in New Zealand.