How in the hika did those Māori make that? Answers here. 🎨👷🏽♂️🤓
Kia ora e te whānau,
Nau mai, hoki mai ki Te Arawhata!
We’re back with more epic Māori arts, media, and event recommendations to fill your cultural kete this working wiki.
In today’s pānui/newsletter:
- ‘Talk of the tāone’ brings you hīkoi prep, dessert inspo, and a new waiata from Moana Maniapoto,
- we get (Māori) crafty with a ‘How-to’ ‘Top Four’ list,
- we get (Māori) nerdy with rangahau/research highlights to delight (and possibly annoy) your friends.
Panuku ki raro/Scroll on down to get into it.
- ‘Moana & the Tribe’ just released a new album feat. Indigenous wāhine from all over the world.
- ‘Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti’ organisers are making sure their three whāinga/goals are crystal clear in prep for the big (seven) day(s).
- Our mouths are watering after catching the latest Christmas dessert inspo from the WhānauKai ‘Giving Series’.
- New Māori books here! And here! And here!
- Kura kaupapa Māori just won US$100k at the Library of Congress Literacy Awards in the big ol’ US of A.
- A bad Crown deal with hapū from Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka-a-Māui is finally being acknowledged in a massive High Court ruling and journo, Liam Rātana, has explained it in full.
The ‘How-to Māori Crafts’ edition
‘How the heck did they do that?’ is a pātai/question heard daily in the Te Arawhata office.
In its tribute, and because the answers often open up a whole new part of the Māori world for us that we’d love to share with you too, it’s serving as inspo for today’s recommendations. Enjoy!
for the 'about to become weavers'
Rourou are the coolest pereti/plate ever used, anywhere, but beware; learning to make them ruins your ability to ever walk past harakeke without serious urges again.
Find it on Youtube I 13mins 30secs I Free I Te reo Pākehā I Created by Veranoa HetetWi
for the crafters (and great gift givers)
Good Ngāti Nerds will enjoy this quick history lesson, before ripping into this fun DIY kit—a nostalgic process for many of us and pretty cute to be able to pass on to little ones!
Find it on the Pōtiki Poi website I 15mins I $26 I Created by Pōtiki Poi
for the art lovers
Find out how Nikau (now a very famous Māori artist) makes these beautiful aute star maps. The answer involves incredible traditional matauranga/knowledge, deliciously technical details, and a Hawaiian love story.
Find it on Spotify I 1 hour I Free I Mostly te reo Pākehā, some te reo Māori I Produced by Qiane Matata-Sipu
for the ngāhere/bush dwellers
We didn’t realise how many pātai/questions we had about Māori hunting back in the rā/day until we watched this. Prepare to open Pandora’s box.
Find it on Youtube I 2mins 30secs I Free I Te reo Māori with te reo Pākehā subtitles I Produced by Hunting Aotearoa
Reaching that point where you should prooooobably get back to mahi?
We’ve been neck-deep in Māori media all wiki researching the ins and outs of how Māori crafted their world so we can give you a facts highlights package in less time than it’ll take Aaron from marketing to send you another follow up īmera/email. Let’s get into it.
Marae and other big structures accurately
By using their bodies to measure things. A Takoto unit is the length of a prone body with arms outstretched. One person would be the ‘ruler’ for a big project to keep things consistent. And yep, we cranked decimals super early too.
(Source - Measurement Standards Lab of NZ)
Hīnaki/eel traps that let eels in but not out
The akura/entrance to the hīnaki has a circle of sticks pointing inwards and touching at the centre. The eel can push through to enter, but can’t then get back out (like getting your trolley into hokomaha/supermarkets). Other hīnaki used a small bag-like net inside the akura.
(Source - Te Ara)
Paint
To make paint from the ground you need three ingredients: 1. clay, 2. water and 3. (the secret one), tree gum.
(Source - Kauae Raro)
Those hue/gourds that look painted
A lot of the time Māori artists will carve hue (carefully as the skin is often only ⅜ of an inch thick), but another modern practise is to draw on the hue using wax, then paint over everything, and later peel off the wax to expose the clean pattern.
Source: Te Ara
With such beautiful, symbolic designs in their artworks
Well, in modern times, like this!
Source: TeKotiri
Containers to keep food fresh over long periods
Using pōhā—bull kelp bags, the outer skin of which is air tight. Kai stored correctly in these bags could last for 2-3 years.
Source: Te Papa
Thread
With muka, the fibre found in flax. They would use a mussel shell to extract it from the leaf, then beat it with a special type of patu. Groups of the fibres were then hand rolled, often against the leg, to produce whenu/warp threads) and aho (weft threads). Finally, they might be dyed. All this before you even start, yikes.
Source: Te Ara
Fascinating nē?! Here’s to arty, innovative, nimble-handed Māori tūpuna—and our creatives carrying on and helping us to learn about these ātaahua/beautiful crafts today.
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That’s it for this wiki fam, we hope you got a bit of joy, learning, and connection time with te ao Māori out of your read today (and some nerdy fodder to casually inject into kōrero with mates).
Catch ya ā tērā wiki/next week!
P.s know someone who is crafty and might like this issue of Te Arawhata? Maybe Aaron from marketing? We’d really appreciate you forwarding them this īmera/email so they can check us out.
P.p.s if you’re that person this email was forwarded to, kia ora! You can sign up to get all our pānui free, here.
