Kaitiaki
Kaitiaki is a New Zealand term used for the Māori concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land. A kaitiaki is a guardian, and the process and practices of protecting and looking after the environment are referred to as kaitiakitanga and include rāhui and tapu.
The term kaitiaki is also increasingly used in New Zealand for broader roles of trusteeship or guardianship – especially in public sector organisations, as these examples demonstrate:
- A proposed “Governance-Kaitiaki group” to oversee electronic authentication by government.
- New Zealand’s Chief Ombudsman is “Nga Kaitiaki Mana Tangata” in Māori (i.e. “The guardian of the people”).
- The role of kaitiaki in the management of the Koha software project.
During the 19th century, New Zealand English gained many loanwords from the Māori language, mainly the names of birds, plants, fishes and places, but the flow stopped abruptly around the beginning of the 20th century.From the last quarter of the 20th century the flow resumed, this time of cultural concepts.
Large numbers of native plants and animals retain their Māori names in New Zealand English. These include birds: kākāpō, kea, kererū, kiwi, kōkako, moa, pūkeko, takahē; tūī and weka; plants: kahikatea, kānuka, kauri, kūmara, mānuka, mataī, matakoura, toetoe, tōtara and tutu; and fish: tarakihi and hapuku among many others. The use of Māori words is increasing, particularly in the North Island.
New Zealand has three official languages — Māori, English and New Zealand Sign Language. Māori gained this status with the passing of the Māori Language Act in 1987. Most government departments and agencies have bilingual names, for example, the Department of Internal Affairs Te Tari Taiwhenua, and places such as local government offices and public libraries display bilingual signs and use bilingual stationery. New Zealand Post recognises Māori place-names in postal addresses. Dealings with government agencies may be conducted in Māori, but in practice this almost always requires interpreters, restricting its everyday use to the limited geographical areas of high Māori fluency, and to more formal occasions, such as during public consultation.
An interpreter is on hand at sessions of Parliament, in case a Member wishes to speak in Māori. In 2009, Opposition parties held a filibuster against a local government Bill, and those who could recorded their voice votes in Māori, all faithfully interpreted.
A 1994 ruling by the Privy Council in the United Kingdom held the New Zealand Government responsible under the Treaty of Waitangi (1840) for the preservation of the language. Accordingly since March 2004, the state has funded Māori Television, broadcast partly in Māori. On 28 March 2008 Māori Television launched its second channel, Te Reo, broadcast entirely in the Māori language, with no advertising or subtitles. In 2008 Land Information New Zealand published the first list of official place names with macrons, which indicate long vowels. Previous place name lists were derived from systems that could not handle macrons.
The arrival of Europeans to New Zealand starting from the 17th century brought significant change to the Māori way of life. Māori people gradually adopted many aspects of Western society and culture. Māori society was also destabilised from the late 18th century by epidemics of disease and the introduction of muskets and other weapons. After 1840 they lost an increasing amount of their land, and went into a cultural and numerical decline. However their population began to increase again from the late 19th century. A marked Māori cultural revival gathered pace in the 1960s and is continuing.
In 2009, there were an estimated 650,000 Māori in New Zealand, making up roughly 15% of the national population. They are the second-largest ethnic group in New Zealand, after European New Zealanders (“Pākehā”). The Māori language is spoken by about a quarter of all Maori, and 4% of the total population. Māori are active in all spheres of New Zealand culture and society, with distinct representation in areas such as media, politics and sport.
As with many indigenous peoples in the world, the Māori face significant economic and social obstacles, with lower life expectancies and incomes compared with other New Zealand ethnic groups, in addition to higher levels of crime and health problems. Socioeconomic initiatives have been implemented aimed at closing the gap between Māori and other New Zealanders. Political redress for historical grievances is also ongoing.
Flora and fauna
The accepted English common names of a number of species of animal and plant endemic to New Zealand are simply their Māori names or a close equivalent:
kauri
large conifer in the Araucariaceae
kea
a parrot, one of the world’s few alpine parrots
kiwi
the bird, a New Zealander, or (not in New Zealand) kiwi fruit
mako
a shark, considered a magificent fighting game fish
moa
extinct giant flightless bird
tuatara
rare lizard-like reptile, not closely related to any other living species.
With more people than ever wanting to visit or move to New Zealand the risk of unwanted pest and disease introduction increases. Pests and diseases can cross our border in personal and household effects, so to prevent this there are strict rules about what people are allowed to send or bring to New Zealand.
Strict biosecurity laws mean there are some items you cannot bring to New Zealand, and some other items will require inspection on arrival. If belongings are arriving in an air freight container, it should meet the requirements in the Import Health Standards for Air Containers. If they are arriving in a sea container then the container must meet the requirements of the Import Health Standard for Sea Containers.
Not packing some items, or packing goods for inspection together, will help to save costs and time.
Vehicles and other machinery such as jet skis, lawn mowers or chainsaws are also subject to biosecurity requirements. Before shipping, vehicles should be cleaned thoroughly inside and out, including underneath and around the wheels and wheel arches. If steam cleaning ensure the whole car including the engine is cleaned. All vehicles are inspected on arrival. If these are contaminated they will be directed for treatment and re-inspection (charges apply).
Amber from the Early Stone Age was deposited in a few graves, in bogs and left behind on a few settlement sites. The number of graves and deposits known from the Mesolithic period is relatively small and those containing amber are very scarce and have been found in Denmark and Scania only. Large polished pendants of golden or deep reddish brown amber with incised geometric ornaments, and figurines of boar, bear, elk and duck were fashioned by Mesolithic foragers in South Scandinavia.
Already in the late Mesolithic period man began to fashion the type of amber object which to the present day has remained the most common-the bead. The ideal bead is circular and centrally pierced in order for a string of some sort to pass through. Beads may have very different shapes, though, tubular, discoid, globular, barrel-shaped etc., and be of different size. Sometimes, from graves and deposits, but they are rare. It is interesting to note that amber objects from the Neolithic found in the southern part of Norway show connections to Jutland, while amber finds from the middle part of the country seem to have come from the east Baltic area probably via Sweden.