New Zealand was a place that was keept apart from the rest of the world in many million years. But 1250 AD the Maoris came to New Zealand. They were the first human people on the island and they came probably from the eastern Polynesia. To come to New Zealand they had to cross open sea in canoes, but luckely, they were good sailors. The first European to meet the Maori people was the Dutchman who "discovered" NZ. When the European ships became more normal in the 1800 the chief of the Maori signed a contract named "Treaty of Waitangi". It was a contract that fooled the Maori people and made them lose all their land and resources.

 

The Maori word means "normal", but now a days alot of the Maori people calls them selves tangata whenua, it means "the people of the country". 

 

Nowadays there's not as much pure Maori people left because of the Pakeha, the mixed marriages of white and Maori people. Only 530 000 people has Maori in them.

 

The Maori does a thing, a performance for the NZ people and tourists. In the show they are doing wierd expresions in their face and if you laugh, they think you are humiliating them and you get kicked out. In the show you also get to see how they cock their food (the old way). They put in potatoes and fish in a big hole in the ground and lets it be there with warm stones for a couple of hours. It is called Hangi.

 

Their is a rugby team that is called "All Blacks". It's a Maori team that is perfoming a dance before every game. You can find the dance here. The dance comes from the earlier generation, they used to performe the dance before every war.

 

Powhiri is a welcome "kiss" that they do when they are welcoming someone. They put their noses togheter just like the picture below.

 

The Moko is their famous tattoos that they have in their faces and body. The women only tattoos their chin area, the upper lip and the nostrils, this, I think, is because it's more feminine and that you should be able to distinguish males and females.