Te Whare Wananga o Te Maro - Our Marae

Te whare wananga o Te Maro

In the our marae, the long pole in the middle is called Tahuhu and in english backbone.

The poles coming off the side are the Heke or in english ribs. Its like the human body.

On the outside of the whare there is a statue of three iwi's
The top one is from takitimu waka.
Middle one -  Ngati pukenga.

Bottom one is from matatua.

They are each holding a long Taura or in english a rope the rope is made out of every houses colour.

On the very top iwi the carvers used nails for hair.

The marae always face northwards or near northwards this is because the ancestors get to  face to the sun.

Before you enter that block for the classrooms there is a board/painting.

The head represents ancestors

eel, crab, mako shark, tuatara

The names are actually for the names of 4 classes in Matai.

Valentines Day

St Valentines was a Roman priest who was secretly organising weddings for soldiers. He was jailed then sentenced to death by the King on February 14th AD 270. We exchange cards, candy, gifts or flowers, with our special valentines. A special valentine is someone that you love.







American spend up to 3.6 billion dollars on Valentines gift each year. 50 million roses are sold each year on Valentines Day. 73% of people who buy flowers for Valentines day are men and 27% are women.15% of the US women send themselves flowers on Valentines day. Eros is the greek god of love and his roman form is Cupid.

Waitangi Day

I think it is because they are protesting to tell people to honour the treaty of Waitangi

The treaty of waitangi was singed in the year 1840 on the 6th of February

Waitangi has been a public holiday since 1974

Hona Heke was the first person to sign the treaty of Waitangi

About 40 Maori chiefs signed the treaty of Waitangi

The treaty was signed in the Bay of Islands which is up the far north of New Zealand 

White people would swap guns, blankets etc for land and thats why they signed the treaty of Waitangi to say that you have to pay the Maori people back.