Maori: New Zealand aborigines

Maori are the aborigines of New Zealand, people from the Polynesian peoples who first stepped onto the land of this country. The exact date of settling of the islands is unknown, and various historical sources say that it was approximately from the 8th to the 14th centuries. In New Zealand, the Maori population is just over 500,000. In the number of less than 10 thousand people representatives of this people live in Australia, Britain, USA, Canada.

As a result of numerous wars with the British who arrived on the islands in the XIX century, as well as new diseases that came from white people, the New Zealand aborigines significantly reduced their numbers. Today they are in the minority and make up about 15% of the country's 4 million population, but they have the opportunity to speak their native language. Maori language in New Zealand, along with English, has the official status. In Maori, the name of the country sounds like Aoteroa (a "white long cloud"). This name was given to it by the first Polynesians, who approached the shore by canoe. The island was wrapped in a dense fog and resembled a cloud in its configuration.

The territory of the country occupies 2 large islands, Northern and Southern, and about seven hundred small islands. So geographically located New Zealand. Aborigines in the bulk of them occupy the lands of the North Island of the country. This is the territory of geysers and rivers. In the north-west of the Isle of the North lies Cape Reing. This is the place where the Pacific and the Tasman Sea meet , it is very important in the mythology and traditions of Maori. The ocean and the sea symbolize the male and female principle. And the eight-hundred-year-old tree growing on the cape and rooted in the sea, according to tradition, carries the souls of the deceased representatives of Maori to their spiritual homeland.

Modern natives 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 greetings of this people is known far beyond New Zealand. At a meeting, two people approach and come in contact with foreheads and noses, closing their eyes and dying for a minute. Everyone who is interested in rugby saw the fighting Maori dance "haku". The National New Zealand team performs it before each match.

The pagan religion of the Maori ancestors, which is still now practiced by the aborigines of New Zealand, is based on the worship of the gods of the general Polynesian pantheon, whose figures, along with images of their ancestors, were often carved out of wood. In the national craft, wood carvings, spiral ornaments predominate.

Moko, widely known today, has a special, sacral significance for this people. By tradition, a tattoo covers the whole 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 right energy and, conversely, to get rid of unnecessary. Women in Maori are considered to be more perfect externals, so the female body rarely decorates moko.