Blog : label 'Māori'

Yes. Surely, yes. Our wairua exists beyond death. And our reo never fully died, despite sanctioned strategies to rip up the land and scorch the seeds of language and connection. All cruelty comes from weakness. But we are a strong people. And because of resistance, persistence, and courage, our language is being cultivated again, sown even stronger, nourishing more and more every day. Author: Natasha Lampard (Whakatōhea, Ngāpuhi, Pākehā) is the co-founder and director of Webstock, co-founder of Lil Regie and creator of Extraordinary Tales of Strength & Daring. She completed an MA in Creative Writing at Te Pūtahu Tuhi Auaha o te Ao, IIML. source: Natasha Lampard 2022 – TURBINE | KAPOHAU   Despite the current National + ACT + NZ First coalition government's quick, persistent, and ongoing attacks on Māori via their language te reo is never going away. Government agencies, companies, the general hoi polloi are all becoming well versed in hearing te reo, using te reo, and expec...

It's been all go here over the Christmas / New Year times and beyond, and whilst I have been continued sharing a daily photo on Mastodon * I had forgotten to do my weekly catch-up blog post. I'll let you pop into the photo album  🖼️ Mike's daily photo - Themes for the yuletide images, but back to the themes and I have two topics from the current Art & Fashion series to share with you. (this week I have just started sharing images from the  Painting  topic before next week's  Eye opening ) Street Art Sculpture * I've given up on Bluesky and Facebook tbh

The Weekend Spy - @weekendspy@mastodon.nz (Oct 31, 2025) https://mastodon.nz/@weekendspy/115464239518163279 Here’s a list of common tropes and narratives people use to marginalise Māori , especially in discussions about Te Tiriti o Waitangi and Treaty settlements . These are recurring rhetorical devices used to delegitimise Māori rights, minimise historical injustices , and preserve colonial advantage. 1. “It’s all in the past” Trope: “That happened 180 years ago  [1840] — why can’t Māori just move on?” Purpose: Erases ongoing impacts of colonisation — dispossession, poverty, and structural racism — as if they ended with the signing of Te Tiriti . It shifts responsibility away from the Crown and society to “time.” 2. “Māori have already been compensated” Trope: “Haven’t Māori already had their settlements? They got millions!” Purpose: Creates the illusion of generosity while hiding the fact that Treaty settlements usually represent less than 2% of the actual value of confisca...

Glorious mural on the side of the shops in Shannon and a sight I get to see every Monday as I esconce myself for a few hours work in the community there. Tūmanako is a Māori word that translates to hope in English. Kukutauaki was originally a stream at the northern section of Waikanae, Kapiti district. However, during the sitting of the Native Land Court in the 19th century it was broadened to include a much larger area known as the Kukutauaki-Manawatu block. [ source ] Moutoa is a rural community in the Horowhenua District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island, on the Manawatū River. It is located Foxton and State Highway 1 in the west, and Shannon and State Highway 57 in the west. [ source ] Ōtauru Stream (also known as Stansell Stream) was once a flourishing home to giant kōkopu, tuna (eels), whitebait, freshwater crayfish and more, nourishing more than 1,000 people living by the stream. [ source ] Te Maire was the original name of the town of Shannon ...

Colonisation - a series of European countries sailing out, over many centuries, from their own homes to invade and conquer other lands in order to enrich the already rich, and to "civilise" whoever they found living there. Here in AoNZ the local people, collectively called Māori , initially welcomed the Europeans, the English. They even signed a Treaty that allowed these immigrants to stay on their lands in return for being treated as any British Subject would be. This wasn't how it played out but that's not for this article. Māori are, like anyone that says they are from "the UK", one people but separate. Iwi is akin to Scottish clan . Each iwi has it's own homeland, it's place inside what we now call Aotearoa New Zealand. Each of these places have names, of course they do, be mad not to eh. So, if you're in AoNZ, do you know the first (not the last, not the most common) name of the land you're currently standing on? Nope, nor me. "Bu...

It always gets a photograph from me as I'm passing, I had guessed it was something to do with Māori, obvs, but knew nothing about it until I came to do this post. source: Trip ideas: Ngā Tapuwae o te Kāhui Maunga (Wellington City) Ngā Tapuwae o te Kāhui Maunga (the Footsteps of the Ancestors) is a memorial at the base of Pukeahu Hill in Pukeahu National Memorial Park, Wellington. It generally commemorates the participation of Māori in all the wars of New Zealand Aotearoa, including within NZ. More specifically, the monument represents the historical journey and association of Te Āti Awa with Pukeahu. It consists of three boulders, set in a garden, representing the mountains, Taranaki, Ruapehu and Tongariro, and the statue of Hinerangi. Each boulder has engravings representing Māori of the moa hunter era (pre-1600s) who lived around the Taranaki and Wellington regions. The gardens reflect the once extensive Māori gardens that covered the hill and surrounding area. The statue of Hine...

Consisting of three mōuri (vitality) markers, two carved pou (carved posts) flanking the steps of Parliament House and a pare (carved lintel) above the main entrance to the Beehive, they are physical recognition of Parliament’s significant relationship with Te Āti Awa Taranaki. ... The two pou flanking the steps of Parliament House, named Tupua-horo-nuku and Tupua horo-rangi , are a gesture of welcome and protection for the public, parliamentarians, and staff on the parliamentary precinct.  ... Te Āti Awa Taranaki Whānui has named the two pou (carved posts) which flank the steps of Parliament Tupua-horo-rangi (the western activation) and Tupua-horo-nuku (the eastern activation) in honour of the path (Te Ara Tupua) that Ngake and Whataitai followed when they created Te Whanganui-a-Tara. The area on which Parliament and the Bowen Precinct reside is within the ancient pathway of Tupua-horo-rangi. [sources: New Zealand Parliament,  Te Kāhui Mōuri: the clan of vitality  and T...

Well, folks, it's been a while since we've seen a hīkoi of this magnitude. Thousands are taking to the streets, their voices echoing down the Golden Mile, demanding change. This ain't no walk in the park – this is a protest, a call to action, a damn good old-fashioned hīkoi. People have been walking from the very top of the north island, the bottom of the south island, and even overseas , congregating in Wellington later today. Now, I'm not one to get all political, but when you see a sea of people, young and old, Māori and Pākehā, all united by a common cause, you can't help but get a bit stirred up. These folks aren't messing around. They're marching for their rights, for their future, for a fairer Aotearoa. So, what's got everyone so fired up? It's a complex issue, but at its heart, it's about Te Tiriti / the Treaty of Waitangi and how the right-wing Act party, enabled by National, are wanting to re-write the nation's founding document. T...

Hundreds of years ago, a man named Tara founded the first permanent human settlement in Wellington. The city still bears his name: Te Whanganui a Tara. But what do we actually know about him? And so starts the excellent The first Wellingtonian Spinoff article ... have a read, go on, edjumikate yourself 😁 As an aside, here's a list of names for the harbour / city: Te Whanganui-a-Tara (the great harbour of Tara) Wellington Harbour  (see below) Port Nicholson (after Sydney's harbour master Captain John Nicholson) Pōneke (said to be a transliteration of Port Nick) Wellington (from Arthur Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington) Te Upoko o te Ika a Maui (the head of Maui’s fish)

Motu , (noun), island, country, land, nation, clump of trees, ship - anything separated or isolated. Example: Ko ētahi wāhi atu o te motu nei ka nui te mate i te waipuke, i te tūpuhi. / Some other parts of this island have major problems with floods and storms.

Mural in Ōtaki by local artist Hōhepa " The Hori " Thompson (Ngāti Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, Toa Rangatira and Ngāi Tahu). [..] at an exhibition that he did with artist Tame Iti (Tūhoe) where, Thompson says, a media reporter revealed his lack of cultural awareness. “I could tell Tame wasn’t vibing with the guy. At the end the journalist said, ‘it’s great to get these Māowry stories into mainstream media’. Tame then turned to him and said, ‘We are the mainstream’. That’s always stuck with me,” says Thompson. source: Newsflash, mainstream media: te ao Māori is the mainstream [The Spinoff]

Māori dude on Seatoun wharf, fishing and photographing the sunrise - the two Fs 😜 Him: Morning bro' Me: Hey hey, mōrena. Him: Ka pai [smile] There was an instant, positive, and lovely change in both of us and all I had done was use the word "mōrena". Amazing eh. "all" is doing a lot of lifting in that last sentence. Takes a moment to see the moment and make another  kairos ! Walking over the bridge is a wondrous thing. (oh, and the "2Fs" joke, that was his, ha ha ha) < 70: "No because .." is fine 72: Counselling is hard hard work >

Yes, that painting just moved ... WTF? Harry Potter time from Vaka !

It's the small things in life that make a massive difference eh.

One of the last hackathons I facilitated was the most awesome AgTech Hackathon 2019 as created by Johnelle Hosking  from (at the time) The Factory. Before everyone dived into work a "get to know each other" dinner was held at Te Hotu Manawa O Rangitaane O Manawatū Marae.

I totally support what the peeps at Save Shelly Bay ( https://www.mauwhenua.co.nz/ ) are doing and I hope the Council steps away from being obvious and basically colonialist with its behaviour.  I took a wee drive around the Peninsula today and stopped off to take some photos and have a chat with a few of those doing the hard yakka.

"We have spent the last 200 years battling for our right to speak te reo. Keep in mind Europeans have also had 200 years to learn te reo," she [Mawera Karetai] said. [source: RNZ: Councillor disgusted by comments over reo Māori karakia at Grey Power meeting ] Seems fair enough eh, the law backs it up: Although English is currently the most widely spoken language in New Zealand, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language both formally have special status under the law as official languages of New Zealand. People have the right to speak Māori and New Zealand Sign Language in any legal proceedings.  [source: Human Rights Commission: New Zealands official languages ] Do I speak te reo, no, I don't. Like most Kiwis I am learning , picking up words as they become more and more prevalent but I certainly can't speak it. Nor can I speak any other language excepting English. I have the odd word or phrase in Welsh, a smattering of French from the dim and distant past, and that's ...

Back in August 2014 I popped up an article titles,  When Miramar Was A Lake , all based on a photo from the NZ National Library they had shared on Flickr . It was, when I lived on the 6022 Peninsula a fascinating read and I was chuffed to have found it. You'll notice that in 2017 an unknown user left a comment Hey Mike, just saw that this page is linked in the Shelly Bay Cultural Assessment document. :-) Ok, so I may not be the quickest off the mark with seeing that, but here we are. Um, linked in the what now? This is a job for Google ... and I found it https://wellington.govt.nz/-/media/property-rates-and-building/resource-consents/files/hashaa-applications/shelly-bay/shelly-bay-2019/appendix-13-shelly-bay-cultural-impact-statementa13-cultural-impact-statement.pdf And there I am, at the very end, page 25 ... a reference to my post . Funny old world eh ...

This is the email I received during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori ("Māori Language week") in 2020 and, seeing as we're halfway to this years on 13-19 September, I thought what better time to to pop this out.

Wero Mai is a Māori board game intended for students and those at a beginner level in Te Reo Māori.   Originally created by six students at Wellington East Girls College and now run by two of them. Seems like a grand idea, check out how it works and then buy your own .