<< BACK   TE REO Te Reo is the Maori Language. Below is a selection of words and their meanings.            WHAKAPAPA - Genealogy     Rangatira A Chief who may be either male or female. Usually associated with the hapu (section of an iwi grouping)     Tupuna An Ancestor or Grandparent (pictured is Tom Ellison)     Kaumatua The Elder of a whanau or extended family         Moko/Mokopuna Grandchild              TIKANGA - Customs       Marae Meeting place. The complex includes the Wharenui or sleeping house (the building shown), the Wharekai or Dining Hall and the Whare Atea which is the sacred ground to the front of the Wharenui where traditional rituals of welcome are carried out.           Wharenui Meeting house       Tapu Sacred. People or objects regarded by Maori as Tapu or sacred have restrictions imposed on them. Anyone violating tapu was certain to be overtaken by clamity. Elaborate ceremonies were sometimes necessary to remove the tapu and make anything noa.         Noa What is Secular (tapu and noa always go hand in hand.)             Karanga Literally call or summons. When visitors arrive at the marae a tangata whenua (of that place) wahine (women) will issue a piercing and ritualistic karanga to the Manuhiri (visitors) who have arrived.             Karakia Commonly regarded as a Prayer. In traditional times it was more properly regarded as the rite or incantation proper to every important matter in the life of the Maori.         Waka The word for Canoe or in fact any long narrow receptacle. The waka shown are styled on the traditional war canoe and were built by the people of Ngati Whatua, the prominent iwi of the Auckland isthmus.     Haka Literally means Dance. Some haka were performed as a ritual at the commencement of battle and were designed to be deliberately provocative.       Taiaha A weapon of hard wood, about 5 feet long, having one end (the arero) carved in the shape of a tongue with a face on each side and adorned with hair or feathers, the other end being a flat smooth blade (rau) about 3 in. wide.         Mau rakau Stick fighting       Kete whakairo A patterned kete or kit. The term Whakairo is used in relation to the decoration of carving, weaving, tattoing and painting.         Raranga kete The action of weaving of kete and mats.   Recent Cultural Productions: THE WHALERIDER The film "The Whalerider" is adapted from a story written by a well-known New Zealand Maori writer, Witi Ihimaera.