Maori culture in everyday life

Every other week, Miss M's school has an open assembly where they sing and present awards to students for good behaviour, learning and sport accomplishments and other noteworthy deeds. The assembly is always started off with singing the New Zealand national anthem. It is first sung in Maori and then in English (and by a few, in NZ sign language). These are the 3 official languages of New Zealand (Aotearoa). Here is the first verse to the anthem:

Māori Version

E Ihowā Atua,
O ngā iwi mātou rā
Āta whakarangona;
Me aroha noa
Kia hua ko te pai;
Kia tau tō atawhai;
Manaakitia mai
Aotearoa

English Version

God of Nations at Thy feet,
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.
Guard Pacific's triple star
From the shafts of strife and war,
Make her praises heard afar,
God defend New Zealand.

This isn't the best video so skip it if you like. You can see one of the teachers and some of the children doing the sign language version of the anthem which is cool:

Miss M got a "Principal's Award" today for "excellent story writing" and so she was presented with a special sparkly pencil:


Miss M doesn't watch a whole lot of TV but some days after school we will let her turn it on to watch cartoons. Lately, though, I find her clicking through the channels to find the Maori channel (yep! There is one!) and she will sit and watch kids programs or a cultural program in Maori and she is just utterly fascinated.

She continues to learn some Maori at school and I hear her singing songs in Maori at home. How cool is that?