Marae Trip

We went to a Marae at the beginning of the year. I didn't get to write about so now I am going to.

Going to the Marae was really fun. I learnt a lot about Maori people and Maori culture. My favourite part about going to the Marae was the story telling. We heard stories about Kupe and the octopus finding Aotearoa, Maui and how he caught the giant stingray that was the North Island of New Zealand and the story about the 2 brothers who were building the Marae and how the Whale which they were going to eat, kept going back and forth.

 But before we could go to the Marae there had to be a lot of learning involved. We learnt a lot of song and dance. My favourite song was an action song. It was called Te Whenua o Raumati which means Summerland or Land of the Summer. The Marae we went to was called Hoani Waititi Marae. The first thing we did was get into our lines. Then Mr. Morris led us onto the grass in front of the whare nui. Then one of the elderly women called to us and Mr. Morris replied. We had to walk really slowly. At one point we had to stop but only for a few seconds. When we finally got to the whare nui we had to take our shoes off before entering. When we got inside we listened to two men from the tangata whenua speak and then we had two people on our behalf talk. After Mr. Cross spoke we sang Ka Waiata on of our songs. Then Mr. Morris spoke and we the sang Te Whenua o Raumati. 

After that we had Morning Tea. We were only allowed to go on the field next to the grass we entered on because the field we entered on is Tapu which is sacred. After that we played  a game called  Nga Whitu which is seven in Maori. In the Marae it was a little bit warm because some of us were sitting on mattresses. The game was where you had to slap your thighs then do some actions in the middle then end with a slap on your thighs. But you have to do seven actions and each time it gets harder. That took quite a long time because we had to teach the the little kids and then we had a battle between parents and kids. Then after that there was a battle between the biggies and the littlies. We then had our lunch. After lunch was STORY TIME!!!!!!!! The stories were really cool.We also got put into 3 groups. There were 3 stories and a colouring sheet for each. I enjoyed the one about Kupe. 

A lot of work was put into this and I think we all did really well.