The highlight of our day on Sunday, Mother's Day, was 5 hours at Te Puia in Rotorua. Te Puia, the New Zealand Maori Arts and Crafts Institute, was established in 1963 by an act of New Zealand parliament to preserve and safeguard Maori culture. Our guides, Carol and her cousin Rob, warmly and graciously taught us about their values and lifeways.
We saw apprentice craftspeople learning woodcarving and weaving, got welcomed into the community in the traditional way, saw haka and poi dances and heard wonderful singing and music. Patty learned some poi dance. Jan and Jim learned some haka dance.
We were fed a huge and delicious hangi dinner. The area is full of geothermal activity, and Te Puia has some pretty dramatic features. (And many of the local traditions revolve around the thermal springs.) After dinner, they drove us up to sit on warm stones, wrapped in blankets, and drinking hot chocolate -- just in time to see their biggest geyser erupt about 100 feet in the air. Under a starfilled sky. As their best singer sang a farewell song. Amazing, lovely hospitality.
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