Maori/Aboriginals

During my time in New Zealand and Australia I was able to learn about the history, culture, and traditions of the Maori and aboriginal people.

In New Zealand we visited the Marae, a sacred meeting place, to gain insight of the Maori people. Not only did we learn about the culture and traditions but we were able to interact and take part in their lives. I was chosen to play a Maori stick game, learned the Haka, shared the breath of life, and ate a dinner that was cooked underground.

In Australia, we visited the Tjapukai center to learn about the aboriginal people. This experience was similar to our experience in New Zealand because we were also able to engage and interact. We learned how to throw boomerangs and spears as well as watching traditional dances.

Both of these experiences exceeded my expectations and it was super interesting being able to compare the cultures to see their similarities and differences as well how they integrate into today’s society while still upholding their traditions and values.

The first aspect that stood out to me was the appearance of the people. The Maori people decorate their bodies with tattoos of different meanings. One side of their face had tattoos that represented their father’s side and the other represented their mother’s. For the aboriginal people they decorated their bodies with paint. The paint on them represented either animals or weather of where they come from. I was fascinated to hear that men and women could not marry from the same, either wet or dry, because of the close relationships of family. If someone from dry married someone else from dry it would be likely that they would be close cousins. But when wet and dry marry it is more likely to be distant family relatives. Ifound it interesting because although the way of expression was slightly different, both had meaningful ways to portray their lives on their bodies. And both had to do with their history and family which is clearly important to both.

Although not entirely the same, I saw a similarity of women in both cultures. In the Maori culture, the women did not receive face tattoos because the men did not want the women to go through additional pain. They wanted to eliminate any extra pain since they already go through enough with child birth. For the aboriginals, the men typically hunted while the women got bush food and took care of medicine. Both of these cultures value their women so the inequality is not because of the belief that women are incapable, but it is due to respect. There are no rules against aboriginal women being able to hunt, but the men want to make it easier for them.

Being allowed to see into a different way of life was humbling and I am happy to say that I am part of the tribe and we are now a family together.

Kaylie

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