Gains from history

A Maori welcome onto a marae for visitors, a walking tour with Footprints Waipoua and the All Black performance of the haka are all examples of Maori reclaiming their heritage and promoting their culture through tourism, according to an article in The Vancouver Sun. “New Zealand was what I signed up for when I booked my ticket. I expected a sort of Australia-lite with dashes of Mordor, Rivendell and Hobbiton thrown in. What I experienced was a nation giddily celebrating its uniqueness,” writes Grant Stoddard. “It’s a jubilee that’s born out of an overdue embrace of the rich culture of the Maori – the archipelago’s first settlers. The 19th and 20th centuries saw a marginalisation of the Maori people and a suppression of their culture. So much so that Maoris are learning about their heritage, language and traditions only slightly ahead of visitors like me.”