Culture Page

Food is a Major insight to a nations culture and in New Zealand there are many tastes unique to the country. Seafood such as fish, oysters, mussels, scallops, and crayfish can be foind in most restaurants. Lamb Roast with mint sauce, gravy and roast vegetables is also a worth trying. Another delicacy is Muttonbird, a Maori favorite. Muttonbird is an oily, salt, sooty shearwater (Titi in Maori), preferably smoked. In addition, Hangi, a New Zealand specialty, is a traditional Maori feast of Mean and vegetables steamed in an earth oven.

New Zealanders are great sport participants and fans. Rugby Union football is traditionally the favorite national sport. Rugby League football, soccer, hockey, cricket, softball, netball (a form of basketball), water sports, and track and field are also popular. Women participate actively in all these sports except professional rugby. New Zealanders take part in a variety of international sporting events, such as rugby, soccer, cricket, tennis, and sailing competitions throughout the year. new Zealanders are known for their very active lifesyle and also engage in many outdoor activities such as hiking, skiing, fishing, and boating.

New Zealand’s first professional theater for the dramatic arts, an community theater, opened in Wellington in 1964. The city continues to be the country’s strongest performing-arts center, although Auckland also has a lively theater. Drama was long considered an underdeveloped genre of New Zealand writing. Playmarket, a professional writer’s agency founded in the early 1970s, encouraged the writing, production, and performance of New Zealand plays. Classical Dance, such as ballett is also an internationl art form. Maori cultural performances include traditional dances such as kapa haka, performed by large singing and dancing ensembles. Also, many feature films have been shown since the 1970's, one of the most recent being Lord of the Rings. There is also a traditional dance performed by the Maori people of New Zealand called the Maori Dance.

The Maori people are believed to have migrated to New Zealand from Polynesia about ad 1200. Countless Maori songs celebrate the exploits of Polynesian ancestors who weathered treacherous storms to reach the island country, while others trace the exploits of various gods and mortal heroes. It sounds much like indian chanting. The karakia, for instance, is chanted to the god of the forests, Tanemahuta, asking him to give up one of his “children” for the use of humans.