Powhiri

Powhiri means welcoming ceremony.

Powhiri, Powhiri, Powhiri, isn’t that a beautiful word, well it is to me. You know other cultures having welcoming ceremonies too but in a different way and also in a different language. I could compare it to so many things, you do all sorts of things like singing, dancing you do speeches and finish off with a hug, kiss or hongi.

The appearance of the Powhiri is unspeakable, you can not tell details because it doesn’t have anything to describe in it, the only thing that I can tell details on is the people who do the speeches or the hongi and much more.

The Powhiri sounds like a cry in the beginning because they call out certain words, I could hear her say Haere Mai, but I couldn’t clearly hear what the rest was. I was told it was only performed by a lady so I knew it was a lady shouting out the cry. I could hear speeches going off and on, and it was taking about two or more minutes, I could also hear songs playing after every speech that was on.

I felt in the inside well to be honest I felt scared because I always thought that Maori’s were scary and stuff like that, but when we went they were generous & thoughtful. I also felt inside creeped because people kept on popping out of weird places, like the windows on the doors, they went pop, pop, pop!! I also felt a little bit hungry cause I didn’t really eat that much so I was starving like a pig that just got out of a fight for a whole day.