Powhiri Ceremony

Read the whole thing first then video is by Mandy on the bottom top is Brooke - it might be easier if you click on the little youtube thing so u can see it on youtube. I loads quicker plus it's bigger :)

These pictures are from Mandy so thank you Mandy! So are some of the words :D Mandy you are the best student teacher ever!! :D

 On Valentines Day, February 14th 2012, all the girls and my family were officially welcomed into the New Zealand primary schools and the country of New Zealand. There was a huge welcoming ceremony for all 20 girls and me and my family at Ranui primary school the one that I now go to. The welcome ceremony is called a Powhiri, pronounced po-f-iri because the "wh" makes an "f" sound in Maori. The powhiri is a main part of the Maori culture and is a ceremony of welcome that has, dances, speeches, singing, and hongi. 

Here's what we did during the powhiri:

To start is the Karanga. 

For the Karanga we were not allowed to enter the school grounds until we removed our shoes because it is tradition. So we just had to wait outside the school ground until someone came and got us. And we all had to wear church clothes. Once we entered onto the grounds and took off  our shoes we waited until two young girls started giving us our call of welcome. Which was one of my most favorite parts. (I have a few other favorite parts of the Powhiri.) :D

It was cool to go with out shoes, I love taking them off

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As they gave us their call (singing\ chanting in Maori with their hands held up and walking backwards), we began to walk forward slowly into the main room. It was so cool, one of my favorite parts of the powhiri. ( I have a few favorite parts :) )

The lady here was the one who came and got us when we 

were 

waiting outside. 

She is a deputy principal at one of the schools the BYU students teach at.  She started chanting back and walking slowly twords them we followed.


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Once we entered into the hall where everyone was there to welcome us, we were overpowered by all the school kids singing to us in Maori. I mean really, there voices were so powerful look at the videos and you'll see. There voices were so amazing so loud and powerful! Then the students began to sing the New Zealand national anthem in Maori and then English. It was another one of my favorite, experiences. This is how Mandy described it: "To hear these young kids sing their hearts out for their country, culture, and school brought such a touching spirit. It literally gave me chills and I was on the verge of tears. I don't think I will ever forget the feeling that I felt as we were presented into the room and sung to by the sweet NZ children. All the songs they sang to us were just so special."  I felt just the same like Mandy did.

First walking into the hall.

They sang a song called E Te Ariki it's one of my favorite songs in Maori. At school right now we are learning it. In the video it'll show the song

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Next is the Whaikorero.

This is where each party gives a speech in Maori. It is tradition that the male representing the females always gives the speech. So my dad gave the speech to represent us. He did it in the form of a Ko Au Tenei. He did it in Maori. The format goes like this:

Ko_______________ taku ingoa (my name is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku maunga (my mountain is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku Whenua (my land is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku Moana (my ocean/water is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku awa (my river is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku marae (my home is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku iwi (my people/family/tribe/ethnicity is. . .)
Ko_______________ taku waka (my ship/mote of transport is. . .)
Ko_____me_______  taku Matua (. . .are my parents)
Ko_______________ taku ingoa (my name is. . .)


I think my dad did a great job! :D

kia ora koutou katoa (greetings to you all)

My dad speaking

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After my dad gave his speech we followed the next part of the powhiri, the Waiata.

Waiata means "song" in Maori and so we all got to sing a Maori song that the girls had learned and practiced back in class. Then me and Atticus learned it. The song we sang was called Te Ahora.

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After our song the Koha took place.
This is where the female representing the group gives a gift of thanks. We gave the school a present - some new books for the school. I think they really liked it. :D


And the last part of the ceremony includes the Hongi.

This is where us visitors are PHYSICALLY welcome. The hongi is were you shake hands while pressing foreheads together, touching noses, and inhaling each others air. It signifies the joining together of our different groups.

This is what the hongi looks like

Here's us actually doing the hongi. 

There was heaps & heaps of food!!

To close the powhiri ceremony there is a meal that is presented and shared together. This is called the Hakari. It was a lot of food awesome food! I was so hungry that morning like really really hungry so after the hakari I was happy and full!! :D ( Another one of my favorite parts) :)

Valentines Day lollies (candies)

Hey look it's my mom's name! :D I'm in Mandy's class :D

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And that's the powhiri ceremony!

Our group - it's so big!! 

Well I hope you all enjoyed this post!! Please comment ;)

Queenstown New Zealand.............. :D

There was this little beach well it was really a very huge lake - so big that it actually has a tide!!

So this movie was done by one of the students. I like it cause it shows you like the city and what the hostel was like check it out :D

Sunsets

Ferg Burger!!

great hamburger place Furg Burger!!!!! This place was to die for!!!! SO GOOD! :D

Queenstown was so pretty! It was like Park City meets Seattle and Pairs.

With all these great shops and a So not only did it have shops and a beach but was all foresty to! Like it had a lift like Sundance and it had trails so you hike and there was just so much fun things to do!!!!

Our lovely hostel :D :P

In the south Island we stayed in Queenstown....... the best place ever!! We stayed in a youth hostel which was cool but loud, full of 20 year olds & really noisy people ;D.  Like Queenstown was so amazing and fun, it's hard to explain but if anyone ever gets the chance to go there you will absolutely love it. Absolutely.

Guess What Guys!............

I'm going to real school!!!! Yay!! Now me and my brother are in Kahu 5 at Ranui Primary School!! We are going cause it's one of the schools were 4 of the BYU girls teach. And one of the teachers found out that my mom had kids and she said we were welcome to come to school. Our teachers name is Mrs. Tararo. She's really cool and she's LDS. We are in Mandy's class ( Mandy - BYU girl) so it's cool to have someone you know there. Kahu is like our "house" like in Harry Potter how they have houses. They say year 3 instead of 3rd grade. And they combined the grades so me and Atti's class is 5 & 6 combined. Primary is Elementary.

Today was our first day!! I had a really good time so did Atticus. They have a SWIMING POOL at the school!! Yeah a swimming pool!!! So each day we bring our " togs" ( bathing suits) and have the swimming lessons! There are like rows starters, medium ect. In school they say lots of things in Maori. Like when she wants us to do something she'll sometimes say it in Maori. Like for roll instead of saying " Suzy" " Here" ya know. My teacher says Hello in whatever language or culture your from or speak. So some kids are Kia Ora Suzy then they say Kia Ora back. Or instead of Kia Ora in Maori she'll also say it in Tongan and Samoan. For us she says Aloha Tiare. Aloha Atticus. Everyone at school says my name the real way in Hawaiian. We learned a dance and song in Maori. And there's this class you go to and we learn songs and dances in Maori. It's called Capa Haka. We also do the Haka. :D

Me and Atticus have all ready made lots of friends there and it's fun cause we don't get board as easily :) At home school we'd get board really fast. Morning Tea is really cool to. In the morning at tea time we get out our snack and eat it. The teachers will have tea, milk, coffee or milo. Milo hot chocolate.

Carrots ad Quesadillas! :D

Carrots and Quesadillas for lunch! While listing to U2, Coldplay and Michael Jackson :D

Camping at the Coramandle

Here are some pics from when we went camping. The Coramandle is where they filmed Narnia # 2 Prince Caspian.We left Auckland on Friday and came back on Sunday. So beautiful!!! All of the girls cam but three, so there were:

BYU girls (17)

Cutri family (4)

Joseph family (5)

Joseph's cousins (3)

So all together there was 29 people. It was so fun!!! We went and dove down in the ocean for some powa ( Maori for abalone) and kena ( Maori for sea urchin) We tried sea urchin tongue!! It tasted like chewy salt water that was slimey. We went to the beach and that was supper fun. Each night for dinner we had hot dogs and Tim tam slams!!!!! ( tim tams and hot chocolate!!) YUM!!! :) We had a wonderful time!

Piha Beach

Today we went to Piha Beach. It was SO sunny! We spent most of the day at the beach. It was really fun. We saw a sea lion!!!! He was just laying on the beach taking a nap. It first looked like it was dead until it started to open it's eyes and sit up to look around then went back to sleeping. It was soooooo cool! I've never seen one! It was a great day! Oh and it was a black sand beach. We swam in a Tasman Sea!

We're in New Zealand!

We got to New Zealand all right. The flight was 14 hours!! We watched a lot of movies on the plane. Air New Zealand was really cool. I got the window seat. Once everyone was sleeping I opened my window and looked out and I could see all the stars! It was really pretty. When we arrived it was raining. The weather has been really rainy but then it will clear up. People here say " heaps" a lot. Also "sweet as" which is like awesome or yeah. Like if someone said " we should do this again" I could say sweet as. They also say "bro" and " mate" a lot to. It's really pretty here. And supper green to. I really like our Ward here. For mutual they don't call it mutual they call it Youth. So far
I really like New Zealand. That's the view from our kitchen