Tauranga, roughly meaning safe anchorage, is recognized as the landing place of some of the early voyages and canoes from Polynesia in the 13th century followed by the British 600 years later when Captain Cook sailed into the area in 1769. 1/3 of Rotorua’s population today is Maori, the highest in NZ.
A Maori community welcomes us to their marae – a real-life working meeting place. We’re greeted by a traditional warrior challenge to see if we come in peace or not! Then we received a warm welcome by pressing noses and were invited into their marae to learn about their tribal lives, carvings and arts and crafts.
The tongue is to scare the enemy. The Haka scream that the New Zealand ALL BLACKS rugby team uses is a Maori warrior tactic to scare the enemy. It must work, they’re champions. Really cool ;-r)
