The Maori people are the indigenous habitats of New Zealand with eighty-six percent of them living in North Island. They form up to fifteen percent of the country’s population and are believed to have migrated from Polynesia using canoes between 9th and 13 century AD.
There is a notion that men are the de facto leaders of the family. In this respect, women submit to them and make most of the decisions. However, the notion of men been the leaders is disappearing slowly among the Maori. Moreover, men have been leading in most of the social and economic activities such as higher education, income despite the trend changing with time. Marriage is by mutual choice, and the nuclear family is predominant. A celebrant, church priests or a vicar can conduct unions in the weddings. However, in recent times, there is an emergence of the single parent families.
Before the coming of the white man (Pakeha), the Maori passed literature from one generation to the other orally. The traditions were in the form of songs (Waiata) and legends. They also engraved some of the stories on carvings. The most important tradition practiced today is the war dance (Haka). They press their noses as opposed to kissing during greetings. The males tattoo their full faces while the females tattoo the chin, upper lips, and nostrils. The Hangi, a feast cooked inside the earth is also common today (“Maori Culture,” n.d). They also reserved the first fruits for the relevant atua.
There are up to sixteen religious sects in New Zealand. It follows that the indigenous Maori are part of the mainstream religions. Christianity is the dominant religion comprising of 18.4 percent and 13.8 percent Anglican Church and Catholics respectively, among others. Other include Buddhist and Muslims. About twenty-six percent of the Maori people do not affiliate themselves to any religion. These modern religious beliefs wiped out the native Polynesian Concepts like tapu, noa, mana, and wairua that guided the early Maori lives.
The Maori people participate in the national government that holds elections periodically. The 1840 Treaty of Waitangi was one of the major political achievement of the Maori people. Since 1868, the Maori have seven out of one hundred and twenty-two reserved seats in the New Zealand Parliament. Besides, the Maori people can vie for other electoral posts. There have been political parties formed by the Maori people that with the recent Maori Party earning them a 1.32% in the current New Zeeland government.
New Zealand has noncontributory income schemes for the challenged, sick, unemployed, and the retired. However, most of the government funded projects rely on volunteers to run efficiently (Wilson, 2016). New Zeeland legalized gay marriage in March 2013 (“Timeline: Gay rights in New Zealand,” 2013). Non-governmental organization provide essential services to the poor and the challenged people.
References
Timeline: Gay rights in New Zealand. (2013). Retrieved on March 20, 2016 from http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10878135
Maori Culture. (n.d). Retrieved on March 20, 2016 from http://www.virtualoceania.net/newzealand/culture/maori/
Wilson, P. J., (2016). New Zealand. Retrieved on March 20, 2016 from http://www.everyculture.com/Ma-Ni/New-Zealand.html
