Maiti Cultural Hangi Dinner and Performance

When we got to Maiti we were escorted into a huge tent (marae) and welcomed (kia ora).  Then we walked down to the river and watched the Maori Warriors come down the river in their Waka.  They were chanting as the rowed. 

 Once they turned around and left again we walked up to look at the Hangi.  The man in charge talked to us about how in the past, the Maori people would dig a hole into the earth and lined it with hot rocks, the food would have them been placed on these rocks, covered with palm or fern leaves, and then buried.  The food would have then steamed underground for several hours and then uncovered and eaten.  But for sanitary purposes they have created something that is not underground but still serves the same purpose.  Here is what it looked like.  There was lamb, chicken, potato, sweet potato, and stuffing steaming. 

 After that we got to see the food we went into the whare (meeting house) for a cultural performance.  It started off serious with the presenting of the chief and him welcoming us to his tribe and village.  Then it lightened up with some songs, dances, and ended with a haka (traditional war dance).  Then chief then explained to us about the Maori tattoos called Te Moko.  We learned that they are very sacred or Tapu and long ago they were carved into the skin when a person received an honor. 

Then we were shown back to the marae and we got to get our food and begin eating.  There were salads, breads, potato salads, and desserts.  The food was really good for the most part.  The lamb was really tender and the salads were great the potatoes however really absorbed the sulfur from being steamed on the hot rocks so I didn’t enjoy those very much; it was good to try though. 

After dinner we went on a glowworm walk through the woods and got to see some springs.  Then we walked over to Rainbow Springs and toured through their facilities.  We got to go into another kiwi house, only this time it was even cooler because the kiwis were not behind glass but there was just a short fence.  They were so active running around foraging for worms and bugs we got to see them up close.  We couldn’t take any pictures so I will leave you with one that I found on the Internet.  Then we went back to the hostel to bed.