Mama Teuke teaches me to weave
Kia Ora!
I’m writing this to you from the bus on the way to Paihia in the Bay of Islands, just north of Auckland. I just saw my first sheep! :+) It’s nice to be out of the city. Auckland is the largest city in New Zealand with 1.3 million people. We’ll be back there after this two day excursion.
Yesterday we had the chance to visit a suburb south of Auckland where we went to a market and visited the Pacific Arts Center. One thing that I don’t think some people realize is that New Zealand is actually part of Polynesia. It is one of the corners that form the Polynesian triangle (Easter Island, Hawaii, and New Zealand). Because of this, there is a strong presence of Polynesian culture in certain areas of New Zealand. In addition to Maori culture, there are a number of people from Samoa and other Pacific Island cultures. Approximately 25% of the population identifies itself as Maori or of Pacific Island heritage.
The best part about the center is that it was not a typical place for tourists. The center exists to educate the school children and community members of the area through hands-on activities. First, we learned about the hula and then had the chance to do the hula – you will see no photos of that! :+) We then learned about the traditional drums called pate and had a chance to play them. The drums are carved out of tree trunks of different sizes to create the different sounds. Each drum has a high sound “te” and a low sound “ta”. It was pretty fun – even though I messed up the rhythm a bit! We were served food from the Cook Islands such as rice with coconut and plantains, but the best part was the weaving lessons given by the “mamas”. The “mamas” are the elders of the community who pass down the culture to the next generation. First, we all made a rose by folding flax leaves (harakeke). Then, Mama Teuke sat by my side and worked me through the different weaving skills needed for making headbands and necklaces. She had her eye on every one of us to be sure we each had at least one completed product to take home. If she noticed one of us lacking, she would lift up a tangle of materials and swiftly transform it into a woven memory. She refused to take a break to eat despite the many calls of “Mama eat!” from the younger women. She always found one more amongst us in need of her talents. We truly did not want to leave when the time came. Mama Teuke placed her own shell necklace around my neck when I left and I promised to send her a copy of the photo we took together after I got home. I plan to send her something to thank her for her kindness, but this is one of those times you can never really show enough gratitude… Until next time!
