Native+people+in+the+English+speaking+world

Life as a maori
This is a story about me and my life as a Maori. My name is Ira and I am 23 years old. I have long brown curly hair, and I have hazel brown eyes. I live in a small house with my husband and our two kids, Haki and Arini on 3 and 5 years. Me and my husband got married 7 years ago, because when you are 16 years old, you have to marry the person the leader of our tribe picks out for you. We were very lucky, though, because me and my husband were already in love with each other when we got married. We had a very big wedding, because my husbands family is very rich, and big weddings are signs of good prosperity. Before we can arrange a wedding in our tribe, the future bridegroom have to be able to overcome a little test that shows if he is man enough to take care of and protect a family. This test is a of mental and physical straight and fortunately, my husband managed it. The man my mother really had been picket out to marry failed in the test, and it is because of his failure I am alive today.

As said, my name is Ira, and it means “watchful”. In our tribe, we really believe that the names we get when we are born makes us who we are when we grow up. I am a really good example of this. I have always heard that I am a little bit to overprotective and when it comes to my younger sisters, and kids, but actually there is nothing I can do with it.

The family means almost everything to us in our tribe. I grew up with my parents, grandparents, my three sisters and two uncles in one house. The family is range All the men in our family is working as hunters. They are hunting for animals which can be used for food or clothes. To make clothes out of animal fur is the women’s job. The women’s also have to cook, clean and wash clothes. We use not only clothes of fur, but also tree bark and big leaves. We color the tree bark and the leaves with a paint color made out of other plants. We normal uses color like blue and green, because this makes it easier to hunt the animals.

I also have two best friends. They’re called Arataki and Hunu. I have known them for ever, but we didn’t start to hang out with each other before we were like 10 years old. I trust these girls 110%, and it’s good to know that they are supporting me, no matter what. Arataki and Hunu are working with the same things that I do, so I have always someone to talk to, even at work.

Do you see this tattoo at my cheek? Everybody in the tribe gets a tattoo when they are 3 months old. The tattoos doesn’t really have any meaning, they’re just suppose to be pretty. Well, the women’s tattoo is supposed to be pretty. The men’s tattoos are supposed to be scary, in the old days they were at least. The woman gets tattoos on their lower lip and chin. The men’s gets tattoos all over the body included the face. The tattoo is made by a powder that comes from a black stone, mixed with water. They don’t last forever, because the tattoos gets insert in to the skin with a sharp wooden “needle”, and then the tattoos have to be redone once a year. It is a really painful procedure, but it is very important.

We believe in the nature and mother earth. Our forefathers believed in spirits form the elements, and they also believed in black magic. A story that still goes from generation to generation is that for a long time ago, there were a witch that was going to make a formula that made her immortal, when something went terribly wrong, and she died right away. Her spirit is still haunting the place, so now, no children is allowed to go past her old house when it’s dark outside, in case the witch catches the child.

We Maoris calls our food for kai. Lots of our ingredients we use in our food are from the forest. Ingredients like “pikupiku” and “kawakawa”, can you only find here at New Zealand.

Here at New Zealand, it’s all kinds of climate. Snow and coldness at the mountains, and tropical heat by the ocean and in the forest. We live in the forest, because it is easier to find food, and we don’t have to think that much about shelter since the cold doesn’t take us. The worst thing about living in the forest is all the bugs and other creepy-crawlers. Sometimes they are absolutely everywhere.

Now I have told you a little bit about me and us Maoris. About how we live, about my family and friends, and about some general traditions we have. I really hope that you learned something new about our tribe, and I wish you and your closest a happy life. Remember not to go past the old witch’s house, on your way home.

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