The Maori are the natives of New Zealand, immigrants from the Polynesian peoples who first set foot on the lands of this country. The exact date of settlement of the islands is unknown, and various historical sources suggest that this was from about the eighth to the fourteenth centuries. In New Zealand, the number of Maori is a little more than 500 thousand people. In an amount of less than 10 thousand people, representatives of this people live in Australia, Great Britain, the USA, and Canada.
As a result of numerous wars with the British, who arrived on the islands in the 19th century, as well as new diseases that came from white people, the natives of New Zealand significantly reduced their numbers. Today they are in the minority and make up about 15% of the country's four millionth population, but have the opportunity to speak their native language. The Maori language in New Zealand, along with English, has official status. In Maori, the name of the country sounds like Aoteroa ("white long cloud"). This name was given to her by the first Polynesians, who approached the coast by canoe. The island was shrouded in thick fog and resembled a cloud in configuration.
The country occupies 2 large islands, North and South, and about seven hundred small islands. So geographically located New Zealand. Aborigines for the most part occupy the lands of the North Island of the country. This is a territory of geysers and rivers. Cape Reinga is located in the northwest of the North Island. This is the place where the Pacific Ocean and the Tasman Sea meet , it is very important in the mythology and traditions of the Maori. The ocean and the sea symbolize the masculine and feminine. And an eight-hundred-year-old tree growing on a cape and rooted in the sea, according to legend, carries the souls of deceased Maori representatives to their spiritual homeland.
Modern Aborigines of New Zealand to this day preserve the traditions of their ancestors. This is expressed not only in rituals, but also in everyday behavior. The ceremony of warm and friendly greeting of this people is known far beyond New Zealand. At a meeting, two people approach and touch their foreheads and noses, closing their eyes and freezing for a minute. Maori martial dance “haku” was seen by everyone who is interested in rugby. The national New Zealand team performs it before each match.
The pagan religion of the ancestors of the Maori, which is now partially practiced by the natives of New Zealand, is based on the worship of the gods of the pan-Polynesian pantheon, whose figures, along with images of their ancestors, were often carved from wood. In the national craft, wood carvings, spiral patterns prevail.
Moko Maori, widely known today, has a special, sacred meaning for this people. By tradition, a tattoo covers the entire face of a man, sometimes shoulders and hips. Tattoo not only reveals the social status and origin of the owner, but is also used to strengthen internal connections in the body, attract the necessary energy and, conversely, to free oneself from the unnecessary. Maori women are considered to be more perfect in appearance, so the female body is rarely adorned with moko.