Maori Culture

West coast city New Plymouth is about to be set alive with music and dance, by a festival designed for all ages and tastes – WOMAD.

Te Matarae i Orehu, a Māori culture group based in New Zealand’s geothermal Rotorua district, won the national Kapa Haka Championship title in Gisborne over the weekend.

New Zealand’s largest city - Auckland – is inviting visitors to extend their imagination and “explore new artistic worlds” during the city’s biennial Auckland Arts Festival.

An attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest ever haka will be made at New Zealand’s Te Matatini o Te Ra 2011 Kapa Haka Festival in Gisborne on Sunday (20.2.11).

New Zealand’s fabled Pink Terraces – one half of the long lost ‘eighth wonder of the world’ – have been found on the bottom of a volcanic lake near Rotorua.

The call of a traditional Māori greeting echoed across the waters of Lake Ngatu in the far north today (2.02.2011) as New Zealand became the first country in the world to welcome the dawning of World Wetlands Day.

Thousands of food lovers will swoop into the small Waikato town of Kāwhia on 5 February for a hands-on experience of New Zealand’s kai Māori / traditional Māori food.

An authentic Māori cultural experience that includes sailing on a traditional waka to the Bay of Islands to celebrate Waitangi Day – New Zealand’s national holiday – is being offered by a new Auckland tour operator.

More than 50,000 people are expected to make a pilgrimage to Gisborne in February 2011 when New Zealand’s culture-rich Eastland plays host to Te Matatini – the biggest festival of Māori performing arts in the world.

The final stage of Te Parapara – New Zealand’s first and only traditional Māori garden in a public setting which will be unveiled at Hamilton Gardens tomorrow (10.12.2010) – offers rare insight into the region’s pre-European history.