We saw a performance of authentic Maori native dancing and storytelling in a museum in Auckland. The Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand, differed from the Australian aborigines in their attitudes toward and their acceptance of the foreign invaders who came to conquer their people. The Maori were fierce, warlike, proud and unaccepting of the degradation of their culture and usurpation of their land. The sticking out of the tongue in their war dances is designed to signify that Maori warriors are a force with which to reckon.
Today as a result of their strength in the face of a greater force, the Maori are equal to the whites and the culture is pervasive throughout the names of sites, cities, villages, streets and roads of New Zealand.
MedFlies 
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