Summer reissue: Dragon tears, meteorites, or just plain shit – ambergris is an olfactory miracle of the deep. Sought after for thousands of years, and worth upwards of $10,000/kg today, ambergris washes up on beaches across New Zealand all year long. Don Rowe goes looking for it. This story originally ran in Barker’s 1972 magazine. … Read more
Morgan Godfery tries to make sense of the last decade for Māori in te ao hurihuri, the changing world. Here he looks at the highs, the lows and the TBCs… Taika’s interesting world There are three roads out of Opotiki, the rural town where the Eastern Bay of Plenty becomes the East Coast. You can … Read more
At the end of the decade, Ātea editor Leonie Hayden tries to eke some positivity out of a garbage year. The 2010s weren’t as volatile for Māori as say the 70s and 80s, but neither were Māori unprovoked during this decade. There’s been so much to be hurt by – Treaty breaches surround us and … Read more
Start learning te reo Māori anywhere in Aotearoa with this list of introductory, part-time classes. ‘Learn te reo Māori’ is at the top of a lot of people’s New Year’s resolutions. The problem is, it can be hard to enrol after the new year, which is typically when resolutions are meant to be resolved. Many … Read more
Whiringa-ā-rangi (November) brings blossoming native flowers and delicious kaimoana. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. We are well into the second phase of summer Matiti Hana (see list below for phases). This phase ends around December 8, merging into the next, which is Muramura. A key tohu (sign) is the movements of … Read more
Kassie Hartendorp (Ngāti Raukawa) has been looking to Māori stories and storytellers to learn more about our gender identities before colonisation. There’s a lot to be read between the lines, she writes. Te ao Māori can be a very gendered place to be. In some settings, your gender can tell you where you stand, what … Read more
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff in association with Callaghan Innovation. Host Simon Pound speaks with innovators and commentators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Kiri Nathan, the co-founder of a Māori-inspired fashion brand that’s been gifted to some of the world’s biggest … Read more
In June 2018, Rawinia Higgins was appointed chairperson of Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori. She’s the first woman and the first te reo Māori second-language speaker to hold the role, and during Te Wiki o te Reo Māori, she sat down with The Spinoff to talk about her life. “You can’t do a … Read more
A new version of Bic Runga’s classic single ‘Sway’ is among the tracks on Waiata/Anthems, a compilation of te reo Māori versions of hit New Zealand songs. Runga spoke to Alice Webb-Liddall about how recording ‘Haere Mai Rā/Sway’ helped her reconnect with her whakapapa. Bic Runga’s father Joseph was a Māori ex-serviceman whom Runga and … Read more
Hōkai Rangi is a recently-released strategy aiming to drastically lower the ratio of Māori in prison in New Zealand, using Māori strategy to do so. Alice Webb-Liddall spoke with Tuari Potiki, the University of Otago’s director of the Office of Māori Development, about what these changes mean for incarcerated Māori and their whānau. Over half … Read more
Mahuru (September) is a time of regrowth and rebirth and triggers matiti kura, the first phase of summer. It is Mahuru (September) and many of us are excited about warmer days! The name Mahuru is a shortened version of the name ‘Te ahunga o uruao’ which means the new generation of whitebait. This name aligns … Read more
Families come in all different shapes and sizes. But when the British came to New Zealand they decided Māori families were the wrong shape. In this episode of Kaupapa on the Couch, we have a look at what family means in different cultures and the effects of colonisation on whānau and whakapapa. Written and presented … Read more
In the third episode of Actually Interesting, The Spinoff’s monthly podcast exploring the effect AI has on our lives, Te Aroha Grace talks to host Russell Brown about the Iwi Algorithm. Subscribe to Actually Interesting via iTunes or listen on the player below. To download this episode right click and save. At this year’s AI … Read more
This year Nicole Hawkins has decided to opt out of Wellington on a Plate over its lack of engagement with people who are offended by its marketing creative. Read Wellington On a Plate’s response at the end of this article. It’s annual burger and bougie plate season in Te-Whanganui-a-Tara. I ordinarily relish this time of … Read more
When we decided to do an episode of On the Rag on ageing, I knew immediately I wanted to talk to one of my kuia, and I knew who I wanted it to be, writes Ātea editor Leonie Hayden. Growing up, Naida Glavish (Ngāti Whātua) was one of my adopted mum’s very good friends, her … Read more
An ancient grove of pōhutukawa on Takapuna beach was once used by Māori to prepare the dead for burial. Today the trees are frail and pose a danger to the path below. Mana whenua want it closed but some residents want to keep it open as it provides easy access to the beach. There’s a … Read more
Hōngongoi/July is all about planning. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. The month of Hōngongoi/Hūrae (July) is about getting ready and prepared for the rest of the year. Hūrae was traditionally a time for wānanga which consisted of intense planning, goal setting and putting timelines in place for the coming year. Prior … Read more
Matariki is here! It’s time to look to the stars to see what the year ahead has in store. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. The Māori New Year is marked by the rising of Matariki (Pleiades star). It is a common ‘New Year’ tohu (marker) however we are not limited to this … Read more
Matariki is a time to gather with friends and family and reflect on the year that has been and plan for the year ahead. Here’s a quick explainer. Extra reporting by Leonie Hayden Matariki is the Māori name for the Pleaides star cluster. It rises during Pipiri (June/July) and marks the beginning of the Māori … Read more
Haratua/May is the 12th lunar month in the Māori year, a time to prepare for winter and Matariki. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. In recent years we have seen more activities around June to celebrate Matariki, the Māori New Year. Haratua has also become a time to prepare for this. Haratua … Read more
This week Statistics NZ released its update on last year’s disastrous census, also confirming that iwi data was too low to release at a time when Māori need it most. Our census is the flagship of the official statistics system and is essential both to functions that underpin democracy and core government services. But we’ve known … Read more
A lot of knowledge has been lost about traditional Māori attitudes to menstruation, but some extraordinary Māori women are making sure it’s not lost forever, writes Leonie Hayden Like a bolt of lightning out of the blue it sometimes occurs to me that a thing I’m doing, or feeling, is a product of colonisation. When … Read more
Activist, actor and advocate Anzac Wallace has passed away yesterday at the age of 74. Anzac Wallace (Ngāpuhi) is lying in state at Ngā Whare Waatea marae in Māngere, the urban marae he helped build in the 1980s. Ngā Whare Waatea chairman, Minister Willie Jackson paid tribute to Matua Zac Wallace last night, describing him … Read more
We finally reach the last summer phase ‘Matiti Rauangina’, when the Paengawhāwhā constellation appears in the sky and the leaves fall from the tress. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. Nau mai ki te marama a Paengawhāwhā. April/Paengawhāwhā is here and we look forward to a productive cycle ahead. Add the dates below … Read more
For most of his life, Brian Ireland had no idea about his Māori whakapapa, but when he discovered it he found a whole new way to look at the world and to teach about how we look after it. He spoke to Simon Day about bringing mātauranga Māori to the Auckland Zoo. “Most of this … Read more
How dare our national airline continue to brand itself with Indigenous symbols while rejecting employees who wear those same symbols on their bodies, writes Leonie Pihama. As I sit at a conference on the island of Maui, I see tā moko and kākau (a Hawaiian form of moko) proudly worn by Indigenous Peoples. The power … Read more
The summer is nearly over and it’s time to harvest and store for the winter months ahead. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. Tēnā koutou te hunga e kauawhitia nei i tēnei kaupapa! We have reached Poutūterangi, the tenth lunar month of the Māori year, which is equivalent to the month of … Read more
Taken from RNZ’s the Raising the Bar series, researcher Dan Hikuroa looks at the fate of our waterways and how matauranga Māori can help us read the warning signs earlier. “What if the river had its own voice?” asks Dan Hikuroa. “What would the river be saying to us?” Dismayed by the increasing degradation of our … Read more
It’s Huitanguru, the ninth month of the Māori year – also known as Pēpuere – when we move from the fifth summer phase to the sixth and seeds pods burst and release their seeds onto the ground. Learn more about the maramataka, the Māori lunar calendar, here. Tēnei te reo o mihi e rere atu nei ki … Read more