Day 1: Arriving in New Zealand…
700 hundred years ago, it was believed that Polynesian voyages found themselves in New Zealand. Soon becoming the indigenous culture which developed their own language, traditions and culture - aka, the ‘Maori’ culture.
Through oral language, the Maori people were able to create stories and legends, which were used to teach among the villages/ iwi (these stories might have been altered throughout the years, just a guess).
700 years have passed, and a new generation stands. After the British settlers and the treaty had happened, they introduced a new way of communicating, written language. The newness of this made it easier to record stories and history. That, is how I learnt of the Maori legends and myths.
A common example of this would be the legends of Maui, a mischievous god and shapeshifter who challenges the great and mighty. I think kids should be able to know at least 2-3 things about Maui, because he is a big part of the Maori culture.
Here are 3 facts about Maui -
- The first ever thing that I read about Maui was that he captured the sun and beat it until it was weakened. Then he demanded/ threatened the sun to slow down for longer, enjoyable and providing days.
- Second, Maui being the trickster. After his village ran out of fire, Maui goes on a quest to meet the goddess of fire - Mahuika. Upon arrival, he explains how his village needs fire, where she contributes in helping by lending Maui one of her nails (of fire). Which he (purposely) drops in a nearby river. After using all her nails she became angered and a brawl began.
- Third and most obvious, Maui and the great fish. A story of which Maui and his brothers go fishing to catch kaimoana for the village. Which actually turns out to be the north island, with the canoe/waka being the south island. This makes up New Zealand.
But that begs the question, what is Stewart Island? Is it the hook? A chunk from the great fish? That’s for you to decide.
I hoped you enjoyed this, and I hope that this was interesting. Please give me feed forward and feedback!
Hi Huriata,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Patricia Santos and I will be blogging with you for the Summer Learning Journey. I am so glad to know that you are enjoying and learning with the program. You will find that the activities are fun and highly engaging.
You are off to a great start here, I found your post very interesting because you did a introduction about Aotearoa New Zealand history. This is important because your blog is public and by writing an introduction you created context for your followers, therefore they can understand and engage more with your post.
Another aspect of your writing that I liked is that you finished it with a question. This will provoke your followers to think about a potential answer and comment in your post.
Very well done indeed!
Kia Kaha,
Patricia
Hey Huriata, What amazing,thoughtful and creative learning you have put into this blog. I would like for you to adapt and relate the task to other point of views. But I love this blog post and hope you do more blogging throughout the school holidays. Can't wait to see you and Tamaki College! :)
ReplyDeleteHey huriata , First of all , A very nice and informative piece of information you have written . I like your story about Maui and the goddess . I've finished my journey in only a matter of days and I see you have just begun . Good luck with the rest . Paris said it and I'mma say it again . Can't wait to see you at tamaki college. Hey , Here's a small tip , Try adding images next time . Probably if you want to attract your audiences more . You don't have to do images if you don't want to . Just a tip I wanted to leave with you . Like I said . GOOD LUCK!!!
ReplyDeleteHey there Huriata,
ReplyDeleteIt's Miss Jade from school, I'm one of the commenters for the Summer Learning Journey programme this summer! :)
Great job on your three facts on Maui! I really liked how each one is based off different stories about him. You must have heard of lot of stories about Maui! I'm impressed :) Which story about Maui would you say is your favourite? Let me know in a comment!
Looking forward to hearing from you soon and keep up the awesome blog posts.
Cheers,
Miss Jade :)
Kia ora Huriata,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Emiely (pronounced “Emily”) and I work alongside Patricia at the Summer Learning Journey!
You have done a great job of completing the first activity! I really like the way you have added a bit of background about how Maori myths and legends came to be. You have done an awesome summary in that first section. Well done, Huriata! Can I suggest that you just slightly change the formatting to this blog post. Unfortunately I wasn't able to read all the words because some of them went off the page. Is there a way to fix this?
What a great question!! I'd like to say that Stewart Island is the hook, but I'm really not sure at all. What do you think?
It is great to see you have made a start to the Summer Learning Journey! I know the Summer Learning Journey team have enjoyed reading and commenting on your blog. We can't wait to see what else you will blog!
Noho ora mai,
Emiely :)