Signposts - a blog about Te Ara the Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Great spotted kiwi

The kiwi has been named the Forest & Bird Bird of the Year. This was a great comeback after failing to make the top 10 last year, which I suspect was partly due to cultural cringe. Even this year the kiwi was lampooned as a ‘flightless national bore’ during voting. However, enough New Zealanders showed loyalty to our iconic national symbol to see it fly to the top of the list in 2009.

Though there may be a love-hate relationship with the kiwi it’s an important icon for New Zealanders who have named themselves, their currency, a Melbourne Cup-winning horse, a lottery and national league team after it. Well-known kiwi characters include Goodnight Kiwi, Fighting Kiwi (kiwi with taiaha on flag), Kapai Kiwi and Tahi the one-legged kiwi.

Just recently someone’s managed to find a kiwi in space, though it may be a bit like seeing ET in a nutrigrain – you see what you want to see.

Goodnight Kiwi

Golden Kiwi

Kiwi in space?

The kiwi has at times suffered a bit of an identity crisis. After seeing a kiwi skin in the 1800s a traveller claimed, ‘The emu is found in New Zealand, though we were never fortunate to meet with one.’

Americans (for whom kiwi means kiwifruit) must be confused by New Zealanders claiming to be a ‘fuzzy edible fruit with green meat’. Though not as confused as the child  who not so long ago approached a passerby outside Wellington zoo with a shoebox in tow. The child asked what he should do with the kiwi he had caught in his shoebox. The passerby asked to look at it. The lid was then removed to reveal a not-so-cuddly hedgehog.

Not kiwis

A kiwi?

Not a kiwi

The man in black (photo courtesy of NZPA)

With a good All Blacks‘ win on the weekend, it’s worth reviewing the positives. Their victory over Australia in Sydney last month saw them retain the Bledisloe Cup. Additionally, a bet on the game in Sydney with our prime minister, saw the Aussie PM wearing the ‘All Black’ tie following Australia’s loss. Sportingly, he dressed in a dark suit that emphasised the silver fern on the tie.

The bet on the rugby illustrates the history between our countries. New Zealand was briefly governed from New South Wales, and the first two white women to settle in New Zealand were from Australia (both convicts).

We also have a history of humour. A somewhat apocryphal friend of mine, when was visiting Australia, was asked by a customs officer at Sydney airport if he had any criminal convictions.  ‘No!’ he replied. ‘Do you still need them to get in?’

Following the final tri-nations match against the Wallabies, I’ve put together a subjective list of the top 10 things we share with Australia.

Top 10 things we share with Australia

1. Australian Federation. New Zealand is included in the Australian constitution as one of its states. They asked us to become part of the Australian Federation, but our then premier, Richard Seddon, wouldn’t let God’s Own Country (as he called it) be swallowed up.

2. The Ditch (Tasman Sea). At various times they have crossed it in large numbers to settle here, and vice versa. Former prime minister Robert Muldoon quipped that New Zealanders moving to Australia raised the IQ of both countries. More recently this movement has prompted fears of a ‘brain drain’, though research by Treasury has suggested that it’s a ‘same drain‘.

3. Sheep. We have a lot of them, though we are getting less sheepish.  Australia’s unofficial anthem, ‘Waltzing Matilda’, is about a guy stealing a sheep.

4. Pavlova. Invented in New Zealand and claimed by Australia (or is it vice versa?)

5. Phar Lap. They have his skin and heart and we have his bones. (Outside Australasia that might be considered odd.)

6. The ‘underarm incident‘. (Reminds me of the ‘don’t mention the war‘ episode from Fawlty Towers)

7. The Bledisloe Cup. Gifted by former New Zealand governor general Lord Bledisloe.  He also gifted the Ahuwhenua trophy, and Waitangi treaty grounds to the nation.

8. The Southern Cross. Both countries have the Southern Cross on our respective national flags. Designed at around the same time, ours became official in 1902 while theirs became official in 1954. I can’t help thinking one of the flag designers was looking over the other’s shoulder when these flags were designed.

9. Possums. We got them from Australia and they ran rampant.  Ironically, indigenous Australians rediscovering the art of traditional possum fur cloaks have had to import our possum skins, as theirs are protected.

10. ANZAC Day. Past the joking and nose tweaking, our Aussie cousins share this day with us on 25 April.

Pit bull cross

Man bites dog

Journalists are taught that ‘Dog bites man’ is not newsworthy, but ‘Man bites dog’ is. Paea Taufa found this out when he was discovered cooking his pitbull terrier cross in an umu (oven) pit in Māngere.  Apparently, dogs are cooked and eaten in Tonga.  As it turns out, because the pit bull cross was killed humanely, what he did wasn’t illegal. So why the fuss? Ultimately, it’s a cultural issue surrounding eating pets.

Lambs at pet day

No eating pets

My grandmother used to get a pet lamb for her birthday when she was little. Every year her lamb would disappear not long before Christmas dinner. Naturally, she refused to eat Christmas roast the year she discovered it was her pet. Because we build emotional ties with pets, the thought of eating them upsets us. This aversion is even stronger to animals that are solely pets. While in New Zealand we may make pets out of animals we raise for food (chickens, lambs, calves, ducks), we will not eat animals that are domestic pets (cats or dogs). This is a cultural aversion, described in Te Ara’s Pets entry as the pet paradox. While we have a strong aversion to eating cats or dogs, in other parts of the world the cultural aversion to pork or beef is as strong, or stronger.

Kurī - Polynesian dog

Dog eating in New Zealand history

Cooking and eating dogs, was for a while, an important way to access protein in New Zealand. The four main meat animals today are the pig, sheep, cow and chicken. In Polynesia the four meat animals were the pig, dog, rat and chicken. Māori only managed to bring the dog (kurī) and rat (kiore) to Aotearoa New Zealand. As the sole edible land mammals, both were considered delicacies. The explorer James Cook, following Polynesian custom, ate dog, as did Joseph Banks. Cook said it was as tasty as English lamb. West Coast explorer Thomas Brunner was forced to eat his dog Rover and earned the name ‘Kai Kurī’ (dog eater) for his troubles. As various stock animals were introduced into New Zealand from the late 1700s, kurī gradually fell off the menu.

SpongeBob Tarau Porowhā

He aha te ōritetanga o SpongeBob, Trade Me me te tangata i wikitoria mō te kanikani me ngā whetū? Kei te tautoko tonu i te wiki o te reo Māori. Ko SpongeBob Tarau Porowhā kua whakamāoritia, ā, ka kitea i te wiki nei i runga i a Nickelodeon. Ko tā Trade Me, kua whakamāori i ngā kupu i raro i a Kevin te Kiwi. Arā, Ko Te Papa Hokohoko ā Ngā Kiwi. I te ata nei, te toa o kanikani me ngā whetū a Tāmati Coffey, kaipānui tohu o tāwhirimātea, ka pānui i ngā ingoa wāhi me ngā rā o te wiki i roto i te reo Māori i runga i te hōtaka Parakuihi.

Tamati Coffey (nō Te Taura Whiri i te Reo Māori te whakaahua)

Ko ēnei āhutanga he tohu kua paingia te reo Māori e te hapori. Ka tika hoki, nā te mea, ko te kaupapa o te wiki nei, ko te reo i te hapori.

Kei te Manatū Taonga kua tautoko anō i te reo. Kei Te Ara, kua whakamāoritia ngā urunga kaupapa Māori. Kei NZHistory.net ngā kupu kotahi rau o te reo Māori. Kei ngā tāngata taumata rau, arā te DNZB, kua whakamāoritia te katoa o ngā haurongo Māori. Mō ngā kaupapa o te Wiki o te reo Māori, tirohia NZLive.com.

Kei roto hoki te reo Pākehā tēnei Rātaki (This blog post is also available in English)

SpongeBob Tarau Porowhā – SpongeBob Square Pants

What do SpongeBob Square Pants, Trade Me and Tamati Coffey, winner of ‘Dancing with the stars’, all have in common? They’re all supporting Māori language week. SpongeBob cartoons in Māori will be showing on Nickelodeon all week. Trade Me has changed ‘Where Kiwis Buy and Sell’ under Kevin the Kiwi into the Māori phrase ‘Te Papa Hokohoko ā ngā Kiwi’. And on Breakfast this morning, I noticed that Tamati Coffey, winner of ‘Dancing with the stars’, had the days of the week and place names of New Zealand translated into Māori for the weather.

Tamati Coffey (photo courtesy of the Māori Language Commission)

These are all signs that Māori language week has entered into aspects of our popular culture. This is timely as the theme of Māori language week this year is Te reo i te hapori, Māori language in the community.

At the Ministry for Culture and Heritage we’ve been doing our bit for Māori language. Te Ara has translated Māori focused content into te reo. On NZHistory.net you can see features on Māori language week, 100 Maori words every New Zealander should know and history of the Māori language. The Dictionary of New Zealand Biography has translated into Māori all biographies of Māori personalities. For what to do during Māori language week check out NZLive.com.

This blog post is also available in Māori (Kei roto hoki i te reo Māori te Rātaki nei)