travelandleisureindia.inTāne Mahuta in all its mightiness.
Opposite: A troupe of Maori warriors
at Waitangi Treaty Grounds.The dancers move in a synchronised
rhythm, their palms tremble like leaves,
eyes glare to evoke fear, and tongues stick
out. The men slap their intricately tattooed
bodies while the women show their power
with widened eyes and chin tattoos. It is
extremely special to observe haka on the
very grounds where the Maori and the
British first formed a relationship—
signing the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840.
The Maori folk have their traditions
deeply rooted in nature—fine patterns seen
in ocean waves and fern fronds find a place
in their carvings, weaves, jewellery, and face
tattoos. In worship, too, they turn to 150
elemental nature gods. The most popular is
the 2,000-year-old kauri tree Tāne Mahuta,
the God of the Forest, in Waipoua Forest on
the Northland, which is home to 75 per cent
of the country’s kauri trees.
The performative war cry in haka
strikes me as a symbol of the battle the
country is fighting against phytophthora
agathidicida, a soilborne pathogen that is
killing kauri trees. First discovered on the
mainland in 2006, this pathogen latches
onto the root system of the kauri tree and
starves it to death. The disease itself has
been called kauri dieback.
THE TREE GOD
On a walk through the museum at
Waitangi grounds, we are introduced
to the legend of Kupe, the man who
discovered the land and set his people
out on the great migration from Hawaiki,
their homeland in Eastern Polynesia.
Next day, on our way to Waipoua Forest,
we pass Hokianga, or Te Hokianga-nui-a-
Kupe—which translates to ‘the place of
Kupe’s great return’. It offers a clear view
of the harbour where Kupe and his people
entered the land. At the entry of the trail
that will take us to Tāne Mahuta, our Maori
guide Charlie Naera, who is a fifth-
generation descendant of the Ngāpuhi tribe,
chants a prayer to the kauri tree, “who is as
old as Jesus,” telling him about the guests
who come to meet him from a faraway land.
Before we enter, we must pass the
cleaning stations as per the guidelines
What makes kiwi the national bird of New Zealand?
According to Maori legend, one day, Tāne Mahuta heard his trees crying due
to constant attacks by insects. Tāne needed a bird to come down from the
tree to eat the insects. The tui said it was frightened of the dark, the pukeko
refused to step in the mud, while the shining cuckoo said it was busy building
a nest. Only the kiwi agreed in an instant, willing to give up its right to fly. And
so, legend has it that the tui wears a white tuft of feather as a sign of
cowardice, the pukeko lives in the swamp, and the cuckoo never builds a
nest, exploiting another bird’s nest to lay its eggs.DID
YOU
KNOW?