Whakarewarewa Thermal Village

S’wacky took me to Tewhakarewarewatangaoteopetauaawahiao (or Whakarewarewa for short) to see a tribal village built on thermal hot springs.

The village is near Rotorua

Maori

When we think of indigenous people in the United States, we think of Native Americans/American Indians, who immigrated to the continent thousands and thousands of years ago. New Zealand also has an indigenous population, called the Maori, but they only immigrated to the island in the 13 or 14^th century (as compared to the Europeans arriving in the 18^th century.)

Native art

Tribal meeting house

 

 

Religion

Christian missionaries were well received by the Maori in the 19th century
and faith is an important part of the tribe's culture

Most of the tribe is Catholic, but there are also Protestants

Haka

My favorite part was seeing the traditional dances called haka. A war haka is meant to intimidate opponents and is famous around the world because it is performed by New Zealand's national rugby team, the All Blacks, before matches. (See examples here and here)

One aspect of the haka is big eyes:

 

As well, the Maori stick out their tongues

This guy was the most into it and he loved to make faces

And, of course there is ferocity:

The different kinds of haka can be performed by men and/or women and can be for war or to tell stories.

They can be performed by singing or chanting

There can also be stick throwing and ball twirling

 

We also did the hokey pokey, although I don't think it qualifies as an ancient tribal dance.

              

Geothermal hot springs

The village is built on hot springs. This gives many benefits:

1. Cooking is easy

No fuel is needed for cooking, which saves time and cost

They put the cover on and after a couple hours, the food is fully cooked

 2. Free hot baths

They have funneled off little streams that heat pools. Everyone in the village comes to baths in the mornings. Swimming suits are not a part of the local culture and thus tourists are not allowed in the village for that part of the day.

3. Great views

The geysers are not artificially triggered and the natural exhaust puts on great shows

The Coin Divers

Tourists throw coins and the local kids jump off the bridge into water to retrieve it. If they succeed, they get to keep the money.

 

Some of the children earn more money by diving for coins than their parents make with their trades.

My education has taught me that I should find it problematic that tourists (mostly white) are throwing coins at "natives" for entertainment. I should feel it is condescending and degrading, and the vestiges of an imperial past that perpetuates the racial narrative that indigenous populations are second class. Yet, while I was there, I saw how much the kids loved it and how much enjoyment tourists had too. I realized that no one who participated had any problem with the arrangement. Sometimes I think that people enjoy getting offended on other people's behalf.  This condition is particularly pronounced in America and is manifested in situations such as when many colleges were forced to change the name of their mascot if it alluded to a Native American theme, even if the local tribes felt honored and supported it.

As we were walking around, the tour guide said, "All our children go to a local school where they learn the Maori language. Two generations didn't learn the language and it was almost lost. Now, no one will ever deprive our children of their language again." While that's great that the children will learn their ancestors' language, they naturally will have less time to learn other subjects like science and math. I wonder how this will affect their ability to compete with other Kiwis for university admission and jobs if they ever want to leave their village.

We have a related debate in America. Some people want to teach some schoolchildren entirely in Spanish because it would be easier, especially for those who live in heavily Hispanic areas. While we don't have a national language in America, English is the language of power. If students are denied learning how to effectively communicate in the broader society, they are deprived of opportunity. Kids in low-income areas already have an incredibly difficult time accessing paths towards prosperity and to further limit their learning is harmful, cruel, and unjust. The easiest way to create a permanent underclass in society is to deprive students of a certain background the learning and teaching they need to access the halls of power. Sometimes people using the justification of "cultural sensitivity" unwittingly limit the potential of those they are trying to serve. I hope that children from Maori, Spanish-speaking, or any other background are given the tools they need to succeed and thrive so they can become whoever they want to be.