In the past, I've written about Maori sea navigation by the stars and the legend of Matariki. Although nothing prepared me for the utterly beautiful Maori star compass which has been carved and placed on a remote and wild beach in the Hawkes Bay, between Hastings and Napier. The Star Compass - Atea a Rangi…
Continue reading ➞ Atea a Rangi: Star Maps of the Maori and Pacific Peoples
Lammas, also known by its gaelic name Lughnasadh is a time for remembering gratitude, and how abundance has come into your life. It's a time for giving thanks to the universe for all that has come to fruition and all that is still to come. Lammas
Night was falling quickly and the clouds were a deep purple and blue. As dusk descended, a violent wind picked up over Auckland city bringing a huge tropical storm and a deluge as I walked home. Copyright © Content Catnip 2009 www.contentcatnip.com
Litha, also known as midsummer, is the longest day of the year in the southern hemisphere.And it's also a great date for planning and transition, a good day to ponder the year ahead. Litha
Red pandas are sweet looking, unobtrusive and stunning mammals that live in the mountainous forests in the Himalayas. With their lustrous and vibrant reddish brown fur and round sweet faces; they have the vague appearance of a fox rather than a Giant Panda. Here's more about a mysterious animal that my boyfriend and I fell…
In our front yard we have a burgeoning, blooming mini forest that encroaches on our house. Part of this wildness is a feijoa tree that drops a bounty of hundreds of oval-shaped bright green feijoa fruit onto the forest floor. I then need to scramble to grab all of these treasures before they are subsumed…
Maori tribes have long held beliefs and customs about the native birds of Aotearoa New Zealand. Birds or Nga Manu had a vital place in Maori tribal life as they provided food, beautiful feathers for adornment and their strengths and personalities were a rich source of metaphor and poetry. Their behaviour was use to predict…
There are 17 types of Maori kites. Traditionally made from strong timber framing like manuka wood they were woven with flax and the paper and bark of the mulberry plant until the plant went virtually extinct. Birdman kites have a powerful symbolism for Maori tribes. One such taonga was gifted to the British Museum in…
This post is for all of the New Zealand and global bird-lovers out there. New Zealand has some wonderful and incredibly intelligent birds that also tend to have rambuctious, mischievous and cheeky personalities. Check out this video of a kea being, well... a kea if you don't believe me... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxoCuRuHlt8 Here are some little known…
Continue reading ➞ The ultimate guide to collective nouns for New Zealand birds
A few years ago we went to Central Otago on a trip. It really was a magical time away, At that stage we both had highly stressful jobs and we were really needing to get away from everything. Probably one of the best places in the world to blow the cobwebs out of your world…
Continue reading ➞ Travel: Magnificent Milford Sound, New Zealand
Tā moko represents a person's mana (status or power) in society. This is best highlighted by the time when the chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi with their mokos in 1840. The Moko Kauae is a chin tattoo traditional reserved for Māori women with mana (high status and power). Traditionally, female healers (tohunga) had a close relationship…
Continue reading ➞ Mana Wahine: The Female Moko in Māori Culture
In Maori culture, people come to know you through where you are from, not what you have achieved in life. The first question a pakeha asks when they meet you is 'what do you do?', the first question a Maori asks is 'Where are you from?'. A pepeha is a form of introduction that establishes…
Continue reading ➞ What is a pepeha in Maori culture? How can I write one?
While visiting family on the east coast of New Zealand we came upon a little baby seal or what the Scottish would call a selkie (a water spirit) lurking precariously close to the road. She was laying in a clump of harakeke flax and staring up at us with wide, black shiny eyes. I was…
Continue reading ➞ Travel: Baby seal on Mahia Beach, New Zealand
Whereas in Australia bollards are being erected everywhere to protect against trucks driving through people on the street, in little old New Zealand, the bollard means something completely different and is used to great decorative affect in the town of Napier in New Zealand. These Art Deco bollards are dotted around all of the streets…
Continue reading ➞ Travel: Delightful Art Deco Bollards in Napier
Dolphins are mystical beings full of intelligence, compassion and consciousness. For the Maori people they are known as taniwha. They are considered tapu (sacred) and possessing a powerful mauri (lifeforce). What are Taniwha? Taniwha (pron. tan-ee-far) are mysterious creatures that dwell in the sea, rivers, lakes or in caves. They have a reptilian, fish-like or…
Overlooking the majestic and pure beauty of Lake Wakatipu in Queenstown, the peace and serenity of the place lends itself well to comtemplating life plans, love, the meaning of it all. The dramatic cathedral of the big sky and jutting snow-capped mountains is ever-changing and there's a reverent silence here like inside of a medieval…
Continue reading ➞ Travel: A winter afternoon of contemplation in Queenstown
One summer evening in Napier, New Zealand I walked along its beautiful foreshore and captured this moment where people huddled on the jetty and the light seemed just right. When all of the comets align, Napier appears to the mind's eye and to the camera lens as timeless and nostalgic. It reminds me of the…
There are approximately 53 volcanoes in Auckland, which have over thousands of years produced an array of interesting lagoons, tuft rings and lava flows in Auckland city. The biggest, most active and most visible volcano – Rangitoto sits on an island of the same name in Auckland harbour. This has erupted repeatedly over the past…
Continue reading ➞ Every Picture Tells a Story: Extinct volcanos in Auckland
If you are a woman of child-bearing age then read on. If you're not fitting into that category then perhaps you may want to skip this one. Unless you're a grown man who doesn't get funny when reading about periods and would like to buy your wife, partner or daughter a gift then read on.…
Continue reading ➞ Product Review: Organic Cotton Oi Cup™ Medium
This painting by Bronwyn Waipuka illustrates a story by Wairarapa kaumātua (elder) Mita Carter. Rehutai and Tangimoana were beautiful twin sisters who lived on the banks of the Ruamāhanga River. They both fell in love with Rautoroa, a handsome warrior, but he could not decide which to marry. Rehutai asked Tangimoana to fetch some water from a…
