Lay of the land: Celebrating Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori (Maori Language Week), designed to encourage New Zealanders to promote the use of the Maori language, was  held last week. 

During the week, Shawn McAvinue asked people in the southern rural sector for their favourite  Maori word or phrase.

‘‘I grew up at Clifden, 
near Tuatapere, in the 
1970s and we had a 
Maori principal by the 
name of Joe Kingi and 
he used to say to us 
whakarongo - listen 
- and that’s my 
favourite word.’’

‘‘Probably nga mihi. 
When you’re writing to 
someone you’ll usually 
put a nga mihi at the 
end as a thanks.’’

‘‘I have these three in my 
pepeha:  Tiakina te mauri o 
te wai - look after the life 
force of the water; Ka taea 
 e tatou te mahi - together 
we can achieve more; and 
me maumahara tou ingoa 
- remember your name/
be true to yourself.’’

‘‘My favourite word is 
kaitiakitanga, which 
means guardianship - 
looking after the land. It 
sums up me and farmers 
in general and what they 
think of their land.’’

‘‘Ahuru mowai, 
our sanctuary, 
which is what we 
refer to our farm 
and describes 
what we are trying 
to achieve.’’

‘‘I’m a geographist, 
so sense of place is 
everything...  so a 
favourite is Patearoa, 
the Maori name for the 
Rock and Pillar Range. 
It’s my maunga 
(mountain).