Māori

This, however, did not prevent the many Bionicle users from continuing to use the disputed words, resulting in the popular Bionicle website BZPower coming under a denial-of-service attack for four days by an attacker using the name Kotiate [1]. (He or she cannot choose to sit for the entire examination once again in September, as the September exams may only be taken by those who have not been able to take the June exams : illness or other serious reasons). Initially LEGO refused to withdraw the game, saying the names it used were drawn from many cultures, but later agreed that it had taken the names from Māori and agreed to change certain names or spellings to help set the toy line apart from the Māori legends. If the student does poorly in the orals and receives below an 8, he or she may choose to repeat the final year of lycée (terminale). The dispute was settled amicably. If the student does well enough in these orals to raise the overall, weighed grade to a 10, then he or she receives his or her baccalauréat. The product line used many words that were an appropriation of Māori language, imagery and folklore. If a student averages an 8, he or she is permitted to sit for the épreuve de rattrapage (also called the second groupe), a supplemental oral exam given in two subjects of the student's choice.

In 2001 a dispute arose between Danish toymaker LEGO and several Māori tribal groups fronted by lawyer Maui Solomon, and also several members of an online discussion forum Aotearoa Cafe, over the popular LEGO toy line Bionicle. For example, a grade of 13 over 20 is comparable to 82%. Despite significant social and economic advances during the 20th century, Māori still perform negatively in most health and education statistics, labour participation as well as being over-represented in criminal and corrections statistics. Here is a useful formula¹ to convert a French grade (x) to an equivalent percentage grade (y):. Māori politicians have seven designated Māori seats in the New Zealand parliament (and may stand in the General seats), and consideration and consultation with Māori are routine requirements for many New Zealand councils and government organisations. This shows that more than 60% of all passing students finished with a grade between 10 and 12 over 20. Māori language has the equivalent status to English in government and law. In the 2004-2005 school year, according to official statistics, 38.6% of successful examinees were awarded honours.

Māori Television, a government-funded TV station committed to broadcasting primarily in te reo, began broadcasting on March 28, 2004. It is also very rare to see scores lower than 3 (which is much less than required for a supplemental examination anyway). Māori culture and language is taught in most New Zealand schools, and pre-school kohanga reo or language nests, teach tamariki or young children exclusively in Māori. Therefore it is practically impossible to get a perfect score of 20 out of 20. Generous state funding is assisting with the revival attempt. The same applies when marking the baccalauréat. In many areas of New Zealand, Māori language ceased to be used as a living community language (by significant numbers of people) in the post-war years. French educators seldom use the entire grading scale.

As a result of the compensation paid, Māori now have significant interests in the fishing and forestry industries. Honours are crucial for students wishing to enter the classes préparatoires, before going to a grande école. A special court, the Waitangi Tribunal, was established to investigate and make recommendations on such issues. For the baccalauréat three levels of honours are given:. Sympathetic governments and political activism have led to compensation for certain historic instances of unjust confiscation of land and the violation of other property rights. The 2004-2005 success rate for the baccalauréat in mainland France was 79.7%. Others seek to develop a New Zealand identity that incorporates strands of Māori identity. The passing mark is 10 out of 20.

Some commentators express frustration with the "theme-parkisation" of Māori identity with tourist-driven performances and gift shop "art". The oral exam covers works studied throughout première. No Māori live a traditional pre-European contact lifestyle today. It also has an oral examination component, along with the written part. Despite a high degree of intermingling between the Māori and European populations, Māori were able to retain their cultural identity and in the 1960s and 1970s, Māoridom underwent a cultural revival. Students generally take the French language and literature exam at the end of première, due to the fact that this subject is not taught in terminale (where it is replaced with a philosophy course). The predicted decline did not occur, and population levels recovered. This is especially true in subjects such as philosophy and French literature.

With the loss of much of their land, Māori went into a period of decline, and by the late 19th century it was believed that the Māori population would cease to exist as a separate race and be assimilated into the European population. Since most answers — even for biology questions — are given in essay form, there is considerable room for subjectivity in grading by the examiner. Settlements such as Parihaka in Taranaki are remembered as sites of violent conflict that took place there during that period. Unlike the British GCSEs or the American SAT, the French baccalauréat is not a standardized test. Although these resulted in relatively few deaths, large tracts of tribal land were confiscated by the colonial government. To avoid conflicts of interests, a teacher who has lectured to a student or group of students cannot grade their exam. In the 1860s, disputes over questionable land purchases and the attempts of Māori in the Waikato to establish a rival British-style system of royalty led to the New Zealand wars. The correcting staff is usually a member of the teaching staff in the same district or, at a larger scale, in the same académie.

The treaty made the Māori British subjects in return for a guarantee of property rights and tribal autonomy. In this fashion, anonymity is respected. This treaty was subsequently signed by many other Māori chiefs, though by no means all. The number is written on all exam material and the name is hidden by folding the upper part of the examination sheet(s). On arrival in February, Hobson negotiated the Treaty of Waitangi with the surrounding northern chiefs. Students usually have an identification number and an assigned seat. Before he arrived, Queen Victoria annexed new Zealand by royal proclamation in January 1840. The procedure is the same for each subject, in each stream.

Ultimately this led to William Hobson being dispatched with instructions to take possession of New Zealand. Secrecy surrounding the material is very tight and the envelopes containing the exams are unsealed by a high-ranking school officer (usually a principal or vice-principal) in front of the examinees only a few minutes prior to the start of the examination. With increasing European missionary activity and settlement in the 1830s as well as perceived European lawlessness, the British Crown, as a predominant world power, came under pressure to intervene. When taken in mainland France, the baccalauréat material is the same for all students in a given stream. Estimates vary between ten and fifty percent. (except in Math where they occasionaly appear but often require justification). European diseases also killed a large but unknown number of Māori during this period. Although multiple-choice exams (questionnaire à choix multiples) do exist in the French educational system, they do not appear for the baccalauréat.

During this period the acquisition of muskets by those tribes in close contact with European visitors destabilised the existing balance of power between Māori tribes, and there was a period of bloody inter-tribal warfare, known as the Musket Wars, during which several tribes were effectively exterminated and others were driven from their traditional territory. All foreign language exams include a short translation section as well. Frederick Edward Maning, an early settler, wrote two colourful contemporaneous accounts of life at that time which have become classics of New Zealand literature: Old New Zealand and History of the War in the North of New Zealand against the Chief Heke. Governor George Grey learned the language and recorded much of the mythology. Math and science exams are problem sets but some science questions also require an essay-type answer. When Pomare led a war party against Titore in 1838, among his warriors were 132 Pakeha mercenaries. The number of pages filled-out varies from exam to exam but is usually substantial considering all answers have to be written down, explained and justified. These Europeans were known as Pakeha Māori. The student is given a substantial block of time (depending on the exam, from two to four hours) to complete a multiple-page, well-argued paper.

Pakeha were valued for their ability to describe European skills and culture and their ability to obtain European items in trade, particularly weaponry. Most examinations are given in essay-form. By 1830 it was estimated that there were as many as 2,000 Pakeha living among the Māori, status varying from slaves through to high ranking advisors, from prisoners to those who abandoned European culture and identified themselves as Māori. This is a very stressful period for students and preparation starts early in the school year, sometimes even a few years beforehand. There was also a continuous trickle of escaped convicts from Australia and deserters from visiting ships. For lycée students, this is the end of the last year, terminale. From as early as the 1780s Māori had encounters with European sealers and whalers; some even crewed on their ships. The majority of the baccalauréat examination takes place in a week in June.

Inter-tribal warfare was a way of life, with the conquered being enslaved or in some cases eaten. This bias is inherent to the French educational system but is more and more contested, especially by teachers from the other two general streams of study. These early reports described the Māori as a fierce and proud warrior race. A majority of French students choose to take the bac S as it is said to open more doors, for a greater range of post-graduation opportunities. The early European explorers, including Abel Tasman and James Cook, reported encounters with Māori. The baccalauréat permits students to choose to sit for exams in over forty world languages or French minority languages (such as Basque, Breton, Corsican, and Occitan). European colonisation of New Zealand occurred relatively recently, causing the late New Zealand historian Michael King to state in his book, The Penguin History Of New Zealand, that Māori were "the last major human community on earth untouched and unaffected by the wider world.". Students who sit for the baccalauréat général choose one of three streams in the penultimate lycée year (première):.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the practice of tattooing for both men and women, as a sign of cultural identity and a reflection of the general revival of the language and culture; members of kapa haka (concert parties) often apply temporary markings to their faces to give an approximation of a tattooed appearance. The exam is no different than the one administered to secondary-school students. Simmons also mentions that the use of the painful traditional tattooing implements began to be abandoned in favour of grouped metal needles starting from about 1910 (ibid). Students who did not take the bac upon completion of secondary school and would like to attend university, or feel that the bac would help them accomplish professional aspirations may exercise this option. Women were not as extensively tattooed: with some exceptions, only their lips and chin were decorated. Though most students take the bac at the end of secondary school, it is also possible to enter as a candidat libre (literally, "free candidate") without affiliation to a school. It was an extremely long and painful process, and often leaves from the karaka tree were placed over the swollen incisions to hasten the healing process. Furthermore, it is also possible to enter a university without the bac by taking a special exam, the diploma for entrance to higher education.

Next, the chisel was dipped into a sooty pigment such as burnt kauri gum which was then smeared into the skin. For entrance to regular universities, however, there are no real restrictions as to the type of baccalauréat that was achieved (with a few exceptions of course). The first stage of the tattoo started with the carving of deep grooves into the skin (see Simmons 1997:19). Each of these categories encompasses several somewhat specialized curricula. The instrument used to tattoo in former times (up to 1925) was a bone chisel with an extremely sharp edge. There are three main types of baccalauréat degrees:. Apart from signalling status and rank, another reason for the practice in traditional times was to make a person more attractive to the opposite sex. The word bac is also used to refer to one of the end-of-year exams that students must pass in order to get their baccalauréat diploma: le bac de philo, for example, is the philosophy exam (which all students must take, regardless of their field of study).

According to Simmons, in both men and women, the patterns used were highly significant of a person's rank, skills, knowledge, personal life history, tribal affilations and genealogy; in contrast Buck (1974:298) thought that because tā moko experts travelled widely to carry out their art the designs would have related more to the tribal affiliations of the tattooist rather than those of the tattooed. The students in lycée could choose not to sit for the baccalauréat at the end of the lycée, as it is in law more an exam for entrance into university than a lycée completion exam. The receiving of tattoos constituted an important milestone on a person's journey to maturity and was accompanied by many rites and rituals. Howewer, it's legally an academic degree, wich means the examination must be headed by a university professor. It is thought that in traditional society many or most high-ranking persons were tattooed, and those who went without tattoos were seen as persons of lower social status; although Simmons (1997), cited below, contains references throughout to servants who were tattooed with patterns that signalled that they were the slave of a high ranking chief. Much like British A-Levels or American high school diplomas, the baccalauréat allows French students to go on to tertiary education or to obtain a professional qualification that will enable them to get a job in a particular field upon completion of high school. As a cultural practice tattooing (tā moko) was brought by the Māori from their Eastern Polynesian homeland, and the implements and methods employed were similar to those used in other parts of Polynesia (see Buck 1974:296, cited in References below). .

These trends have contributed towards a worldwide interest in traditional Māori culture and arts. The baccalauréat (IPA: /bækælore'ɑ/), often known in France familiarly as the bac, is a academic degree which French students sit for at the end of the lycée (secondary school). Several actors who have recently appeared in high-profile movies filmed in New Zealand have come back wearing such jewellery, including Viggo Mortensen of The Lord of the Rings fame, took to wearing a hei matau around his neck. A mark of 16 will earn a mention of très bien (highest honours). These collectives have begun creating and exporting jewellery (such as bone carved hei matau pendants and greenstone jewellery) and other artistic items (such as wood carvings and textiles). A mark of 14 will earn a mention bien (high honours);. Several artistic collectives have been established by Māori tribal groups. A mark of 12 will earn a student a mention assez bien (honours);.

For many Māori the wearing of such items relates to cultural identity; however, they are also popular with young New Zealanders of all races. the baccalauréat technologique (technological baccalaureate). Other taonga (treasured possessions) used as items of personal adornment include bone carvings in the form of neck ornaments, earrings or necklaces. the baccalauréat professionnel (professional baccalaureate);. After laborious and lengthy polishing, the completed pendant is suspended by a plaited cord and secured by a loop and toggle. the baccalauréat général (general baccalaureate);. Creating a hei-tiki with traditional methods is a long, arduous process during which the stone is smoothed by abrasive rubbing; finally, using sticks and water, it is slowly shaped and the holes bored out.

The tilted head of the pitau variety of hei-tiki derives from the properties of the stone - its hardness and great value make it important to minimise the amount of the stone that has to be removed. From the size and style of traditional examples of hei-tiki it is likely that the stone was first cut in the form of a small adze. Named varieties include translucent green kahurangi, whitish inanga, semi-transparent kawakawa, and tangiwai or bowenite. Pounamu is esteemed highly by Māori for its beauty, toughness and great hardness; it is used not only for ornaments such as hei-tiki and ear pendants, but also for carving tools, adzes, and weapons.

New Zealand greenstone consists of either nephrite (a type of jade, in Māori: pounamu) or bowenite (Māori: tangiwai). The most valuable hei-tiki are carved from greenstone or pounamu. Another less romantic theory holds that it served merely for personal adornment. One theory of the origin of the hei-tiki suggests a connection with Tiki, the god who created human life, in which case the hei-tiki is a symbol of fertility.

The hei-tiki, a small ornamental pendant usually made of pounamu and worn around the neck, is often incorrectly referred to as a tiki, a term that actually refers to large human figures carved in wood, and, also, the small wooden carvings used to mark sacred places. The New Zealand national rugby team, the All Blacks, perform a haka before international matches not only as a reflection of the importance of the game that is about to be played but also to motivate themselves and their supporters to greater efforts; indirectly then, as in days of old on the Māori battlefield, they are paying a compliment to the perceived skills of their opponents. In today's environment however, haka are often performed as a mark of respect for distinguished visitors, or to express a sense of the importance of an occasion. The aim of the warriors was to kill all the members of the enemy war party, so that no survivors would remain to undertake revenge.

Often, warriors went naked into battle, apart from a plaited flax belt around the waist. If the haka was not performed in total unison, this was regarded as an bad omen for the battle. It involved fierce facial expressions and grimaces, poking out of the tongue, eye bulging, grunts and cries, and the waving of weapons. Its purpose was to invoke the god of war and to warn enemies of the fate awaiting them.

In former times, the peruperu was performed before a battle. There are various types of war haka - one performed without weapons, usually to express public or private feelings, is known as the "haka taparahi"; another, the peruperu, is performed with weapons. There are haka of song and joy, and warlike haka. A number of different types of haka are performed depending on the occasion.

The haka is just one of many kinds of group dance or performance. Today, tapu is still observed in matters relating to sickness, death, and burial. In pre-contact society, tapu was one of the strongest forces in Māori life; however in the early 1800s, Māori enthusiastically embraced Christianity and its concepts and adapted them to their culture. Burial grounds and places of death were always tapu, and these areas were often surrounded by a protective fence.

Not only were the houses of people of high rank perceived to be tapu, but also their possessions including their clothing. A chief's house was tapu, and even the chief could not eat food in the interior of his house. In earlier times food cooked for a person of high rank was tapu, and could not be eaten by an inferior. A violation of tapu could have dire consequences, including the death of the offender through sickness or at the hands of someone affected by the offence.

Death was the penalty. This was considered "pollution" and persons of a lower rank could not touch the belongings of a highborn person. In earlier times, tribal members of a higher rank would not touch objects which belonged to members of a lower rank. A person, object or a place could be made sacred by tapu for a certain time.

A person, an object or a place, which is tapu, may not be touched by human contact, in some cases, not even approached. There are two kinds of tapu, the private (relating to individuals) and the public tapu (relating to communities). Tapu can be interpreted as "sacred", as "spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition"; it involves rules and prohibitions. According to some, the supreme god of the Māori is Io; however this idea is controversial.

Tane is the god of the forest and the origin of all birds, and Rongo is the god of peaceful activities and agriculture. In accordance with the Polynesian tradition, Tangaroa is god of the ocean and the origin of all fish. Certain people and objects contain mana - spiritual power or essence. Māori religion is closely related to nature and to the ancestors, and all things are conceived of as possessing a life force or mauri, since all living things are connected by a common descent through whakapapa or genealogy.

Oratory, the making of speeches, is especially important in the rituals of encounter, and it is regarded as important for a speaker to include allusions to traditional narrative and to a complex system of proverbial sayings, called whakataukī. The history of individual tribal groups is kept by means of narratives, songs and chants, hence the importance of music, story and poetry. Finally, soil is heaped over the hāngi to keep the heat in. The hāngi is then covered with leaves or mats woven out of flax (or wet sacks) and left to cook.

The food is placed on top of the stones, the meat first, with the vegetables, such as kumara and potatoes, on top of it. When the stones are hot the hāngi is prepared for cooking by leaving the hot stones and some of the coals at the bottom of the hole. A fire is prepared in the hole and stones are placed on the top of it. The hāngi consists of a shallow hole dug in the ground.

Although marae have modern cooking facilities, the hāngi, a traditional way of cooking food in Polynesia, is still used to provide meals for large groups because the food it produces is considered flavourful. When Māori refer to themselves as tāngata whenua this is not done solely to emphasise their indigenous status, as is often assumed, because the connotation in Māori of the phrase is one not of separation but rather of welcome and inclusion. Should other groups of manuhiri arrive, the manuhiri who arrived previously - regardless of their race - are considered tāngata whenua for the purposes of formally welcoming the new group. Should a group of people come to stay on a marae, they are considered manuhiri (guests) while the owners of the marae are known as tāngata whenua.

This is when the phrase tāngata whenua (people of the land) comes into play. Locals and visitors have to respect certain rules, especially during the rituals of encounter. The older people have the authority on the marae, and they impart to the young people traditions and cultural practices including legends, songs or the arts of weaving or carving. On the marae official functions take place including formal welcomes, celebrations, weddings, christenings, tribal reunions, and tangihanga (funerals).

The marae symbolises group unity and generally consists of an open grassed area in front of a large carved meeting house, along with a dining hall and other facilities necessary to provide a comfortable stay for visiting groups. The marae is a communal ceremonial centre where meetings and ceremonies take place in accordance with traditional protocols. The people also wore highly decorative personal ornaments, and people of rank were often extensively tattooed. Art was and is a prominent part of the culture as seen in the carving of houses, canoes, weapons, and other items.

Main tasks were separated for men and women, but there were also a lot of group activities involving food gathering & food cultivation, and warfare. Seasonal activities included gardening, fishing and the hunting of birds. The harakeke (flax plant) served as a replacement for coconut fronds and hibiscus fibre in the manufacture of mats, baskets, rope, fishing nets and clothing. Great ingenuity was required to grow the tropical plants they had brought with them from Polynesia, including taro, kumara, gourds, and yams; this was especially difficult in the chillier southern parts of the country.

After arriving in New Zealand, Māori had to rapidly adapt their material culture and agricultural practices to suit the climate of their new land, cold and harsh in comparison to tropical island Polynesia. The East Polynesian ancestors of the Māori were hunters, fishermen and gardeners. There is no credible evidence of human settlement in New Zealand prior to the Māori voyagers; on the other hand, compelling evidence from archaeology, linguistics and physical anthropology indicates that the first settlers were East Polynesians who became the Māori. Migration accounts vary among Māori tribes or iwi, whose members can identify with the different waka in their genealogies or whakapapa.

In fact nowhere in the authentic voyaging traditions is there an account of several canoes all arriving together at one place and time. The spurious fleet scenario was then accepted by some Māori including Te Rangi Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck), and won general acceptance until it was debunked in the 1960s by the research of David Simmons and others. More recent research has revealed that this concept originated with European researchers including Percy Smith who attempted to cobble together various unrelated Māori legends. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, the idea arose that Māori had voyaged to New Zealand in the so-called 'Great Fleet of 1350AD' which claims that seven canoes arrived simultaneously.

Māori oral history describes their arrival from Hawaiki (a mythical homeland in tropical Polynesia) by large ocean–going canoes (waka). Archaeological and linguistic evidence (see Sutton 1994 cited in References section below) suggests there were probably several waves of migration from Eastern Polynesia to New Zealand between 800 and 1300. Māori origins therefore cannot be separated from those of their Polynesian ancestors (for more information see Polynesian culture). Polynesian voyagers are believed to have migrated to what is now New Zealand from eastern Polynesia in the latter part of the 1st millennium.

New Zealand was one of the last areas of the planet to be reached by humans. . It is also the name of the people and language of the Cook Islands, referred to as Cook Islands Māori. "Māori" has cognates in some other Polynesian languages such as Hawaiian in which the word maoli means native, indigenous, real or actual.

The word māori means "normal" or "ordinary" in the Māori language and denotes mortal beings as distinct from the gods. Māori is the name of the indigenous people of New Zealand, and their language.