Knowra Māori culture Māori culture Māori culture encompasses the living traditions, values, language, arts, and social practices of Māori, the Indigenous Polynesian people of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Whakapapa : Whakapapa is genealogy and the relational ordering of people, ancestors, and the natural world in Māori thought. It connects identity and belonging to ancestors, communities, and places.
Marae : A marae is a Māori communal complex centered on a meeting house and governed by local protocols. It is a key setting for gatherings, hospitality, debate, and ceremony.
Polynesian navigation : Polynesian navigation is the knowledge and practice of voyaging across the Pacific using environmental cues and specialized vessels. Māori ancestors reached Aotearoa through the wider history of Pacific voyaging.
Samoan culture : Samoan culture comprises the traditions, social structures, language, and arts of the Indigenous people of Samoa. It shares Polynesian connections with Māori culture while developing in a different island history.
Whānau : Whānau is an extended family and a central unit of Māori social life. Family networks shape care, responsibility, and collective identity.
Pōwhiri : A pōwhiri is a formal Māori welcoming ceremony that brings visitors and hosts into relationship. Its sequence of speeches, calls, and exchange enacts welcome and establishes relationships.
Māori creation traditions : Māori creation traditions are narratives explaining the origins of the world, people, and relationships among beings. Stories such as the separation of Ranginui and Papatūānuku express foundational relationships.
Hawaiian culture : Hawaiian culture comprises the traditions, language, arts, and social practices of the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi. Its Polynesian heritage invites comparison without making Māori and Hawaiian practices interchangeable.
Iwi : An iwi is a Māori tribal grouping whose members commonly share descent from founding ancestors. Iwi organize identity and relationships across interconnected whānau and hapū.
Te reo Māori : Te reo Māori is the Māori language, an Eastern Polynesian language and an official language of New Zealand. Language carries Māori knowledge, humor, identity, and ways of understanding the world.
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