Maori Culture

Today we had the opportunity to visit the Maori village. It was very interesting to see their culture and some of their traditions. I found the Hakka extremely entertaining. The Hakka is a cultural intimidation dance and chant that was used before going to war. This is deeply engrained in their culture. Within the Maori culture they believe that the land will remain but mankind will parish. They pray to their gods to ask for permission to hunt/gather and forage the land. After talking to the Maori chief he explained to us that when they go fishing they always release the first catch to show that they are there not to use all the resources and rather only take what they need. It is common for them to only collect the amount of food they need and not to have much storage for food. They believed that water is the life source to the land, the blood and source of Mother Earth and our ecosystem. Due to this they have heightened respect for water and cherish the resource without waste. The Maori people have a spiritual connection with the land and understand they must preserve it for future generations just as their ancestors have done for them. Overall the Maori people are very environmentally conscious and practice a quite sustainable way of living.