For hundreds of years before the Pākehā arrived, Māori lived in all parts of our country. Life was hard, but the land, bush, rivers, lakes, and oceans provided food and resources for the people.
Home, kāinga
The kāinga was where the fires burned. The land, whenua, was protected. Rivers, forests, and hills were all important places. They provided shelter and food and were given special names. The names were a way of recording history. They would remind people about ancestors or events from many years ago. The land was not owned by a single person. It had to be shared among the many relatives. People had to respect the land and respect each other.
Whānau (extended families) would often combine and build a kāinga. Suitable land for cultivations and food gathering would usually be nearby. However, children and their whānau did not live in one kāinga all year round. Whānau would move around to harvest birds, catch fish, or gather seafood. Kāinga would almost always have a whare puni – a meeting house used to welcome people or hold a hui.
Mākereti Papakura, a Māori woman born in Rotorua in 1872, wrote a book, The Old-time Maori, about how Māori lived before the arrival of the Pākehā. She described what it was like to live in a kāinga:
No outsider would come and settle in a kainga; he would only come as a guest. Each family group had its own piece of ground which would be fenced off, and within this they would have their houses, two, three, or more. These houses would be used for sleeping … A family group would have a wharau or kauta built close by, to use for cooking in the bad weather. Many things would be stored in the wharau, such as dry wood stacked in a corner, and various necessary things such as baskets for carrying potatoes and floormats would hang up on the wall. In fine weather, all the cooking was done outside, and all meals eaten in the open. Near the wharau would stand a whata, a wide slab across two posts on which food was stored, and beside this would be two poles standing up from the ground to a height of 15 or 20 feet, on which fish was hung for drying, or strings of pipi or other shell-fish ready for winter use. … Near to the outer part of the kainga in the direction of the wharau there was a small rua (pit) in which kumara was kept for everyday use, the rua kai, or food pits, being some distance away from the kainga.
Laws, rules, and behaviour
Māori had a system of laws and rules in the same way that we have a system of laws and rules today. Everybody knew what those laws and rules were and that they would probably be punished if they misbehaved. Special people called tohunga knew a lot about the rules. They spent many years training and were very clever people.
Tamariki (children) were treasured by all the whānau. Grandparents helped care for them. It was important for tamariki to learn the value of cooperation at an early age. Makereti said that they had to share in the work and do things such as fetch water. They also had to learn about hunting, gathering food, making their clothes, and recognising plants and animals. This was as valuable as school work is today.
At night, the tamariki would hear stories from their mātua (parents) and tūpuna (grandparents). This taught them about the history of their whānau and hapū. There were no books and no writing. Instead, songs and stories were important. Carving was also a vital way of passing on history. Many carvings would be given special names, and many of them contained significant messages. They were passed on from one generation to another.
Trading
Māori were business people. They had a very good system of trading. Hapū would trade with each other. Often pigeons and other birds would be traded for seafood. Feather cloaks were traded for weapons. In some cases, waka (canoes) were traded. When kūmara and other goods were traded, they would be transported by waka. One of the most famous things that was traded was pounamu, the beautiful greenstone from the South Island. It was wanted by all the hapū because it was good for making weapons, ornaments, and jewellery. It was carried over the mountains and taken on waka to kāinga hundreds of miles away from the South Island.
