title: Sinestro

text: Later, he witnesses the prophecy of the Guardians' plans for a "Third Army" and once again retrieves Hal from Earth. However, he is captured by the Indigo Tribe and is forcibly bound to an Indigo ring. Hal convinces the Tribe that he can help Sinestro atone for his past deeds without being bound to an Indigo Ring.


title: Sinestro

text: The two then retrieve the Book of the Black to glean information about the future, but it inadvertently takes them to the evil Black Hand. Elsewhere, the Guardians discuss how they willed Hal's ring to claim Sinestro to undermine all the other Corps, especially his own. Black Hand engages Sinestro and Hal in combat, whereupon the Guardians arrive and command Black Hand to kill both Green Lanterns. As their life is drained away, Hal and Sinestro fuse their rings together and send off the resulting ring to get help. Soon after, Hal and Sinestro are banished to the Dead Zone.


title: Sinestro

text: They wander the Dead Zone searching for a way to escape and encounter the deceased Tomar-Re. He asks Sinestro and Hal to stop Volthoom, the First Lantern. When Simon Baz enters the Dead Zone during a fight with Black Hand, a way out is provided by Green Lantern B'dg. Sinestro reclaims the green ring and exits the Dead Zone with Simon.


title: Sinestro

text: Sinestro then teleports to his home planet of Korugar to rally support against the First Lantern. Volthoom attacks and consumes the hopes and fears of the Korugarians. With his newfound power levels, Volthoom destroys the entire planet, leaving Sinestro in the rubble.


title: Sinestro

text: When Kyle Rayner and Carol Ferris arrive at Korugar's remains, Sinestro attacks, but immediately notices that Kyle is now a White Lantern. Sinestro demands that Kyle resurrects Korugar, but Kyle is unable to do so. Sinestro takes the white ring to become a White Lantern himself, but it rejects him as an unsuitable host, much to his horror. He then claims the yellow power battery instead and leaves to exact revenge, as he became a member of the Sinestro Corps again while Simon Baz fails to resurrect Korugar as well after he was rejected as an unsuitable host while wielding the white ring.


title: Sinestro

text: He arrives on the planet Oa and strikes Volthoom, but their battle is interrupted by the Indigo Tribe. The Tribe opens a portal to the Dead Zone, allowing Hal to escape as a Black Lantern. Volthoom engages Hal and reality begins to unravel. Sinestro turns to the Yellow Central Power Battery and releases Parallax, becoming its new host to attack Volthoom with heightened power levels. Volthoom is ultimately defeated when Hal Jordan summons Nekron.


title: Sinestro

text: Afterwards, Sinestro reactivates his Sinestro Corps and heads off to kill the Guardians for all the harm that they have caused. Hal attempts to talk Sinestro out of this course of action to save him from himself. However, it was too late as Sinestro reveals that he had already killed the Guardians before Hal intercepted him. Sinestro vanishes and leaves Arkillo in charge of the Sinestro Corps. Reappearing elsewhere, Sinestro secretly brings Ganthet and Sayd together, stating that he knows what it is like to lose everything, but exiles them both from Oa.


title: Sinestro

text: During the "Forever Evil" storyline after Batman uses a yellow ring, Sinestro appears to confront Power Ring. Sinestro follows Power Ring through the sewers, eventually severing his right arm and allowing his ring to go search for a new host. Relieved to be free, Power Ring dies, thanking Sinestro. After that, Sinestro joins Batman, Catwoman and the rest of Lex Luthor's team into taking down the Crime Syndicate. When it comes to the final battle against the Crime Syndicate, Sinestro and Black Adam move the moon where the sun ends up weakening Ultraman. In the aftermath of the battle against the Crime Syndicate, it was stated that the villains who helped to stop the Crime Syndicate would have their criminal records wiped. Sinestro and Black Adam did not care about that; they begin laughing since they know the rules do not apply to them and went their separate ways, along with the other villains.


title: Sinestro

text: Sinestro then travels to a monastery on a planet. In it, he finds runes that could help him 'purge' the entity from his system. After doing so, he simply meditates there, awaiting death. Then Lyssa Drak appears before him and tries to convince him to come back. He refuses, even when she says Arkillo is making a mockery of the Corps, creating thousands of rings for anyone who will swear loyalty to him. Then she reveals his people are still alive. When he asks how she knows this, she reveals she has carved every word from the Book of Parallax on her body. When Sinestro realizes that the remaining Korugarians are suffering because of his inaction, he feels fear again and his ring reactivates.


title: Sinestro

text: After rescuing a group of pods containing some Korugarians from the servants of the Pale Vicars, Sinestro and Lyssa Drak head to the refuge of the Sinestro Corps. Arkillo currently leads the Yellow Lanterns as the Arkillo Corps and has Soranik Natu as his captive. He and his Lanterns attack Sinestro who manages to defeat them. He forces Arkillo to yield and kills a Yellow Lantern who tries to attack him from behind as he said that Sinestro must die, melting his ring to stop it from finding a replacement. With his leadership retained, Sinestro sends Arkillo to the infirmary and Soranik argues with him, believing he had her captured. Refuting this, Sinestro shows her the Korugarians he saved and asks her to help them. Sinestro creates an elite team to personally serve him, consisting of Romat-Ru, Lyssa Drak, Rigen Kale, Dez Trivius and the most vocal Sinestro Corpsmen and has them aid himself in taking Necroplis as the new planet for the Korugarians and the moon for the Sinestro Corps. Returning to his base of operations to prepare for the move to Necropolis, Sinestro and Soranik meet with the recently awakened Korugarians who voice their distrust of Sinestro despite his intentions. Sinestro brings a Green Lantern Power Battery for Soranik to recharge and she joins his team in rescuing a group of Korugarians that are being sold into slavery on the planet Muz.


title: Sinestro

text: After rescuing them, they are attacked by the Paling. The Sinestro Corps defeats them and Sinestro executes them all. On their way back, Soranik reveals she left the rescued Korugarians with Hal Jordan, which angers Sinestro, who then attacks him. Sinestro's elite team joins the fight but Sinestro calls them off say that he and Hal can have a 'civilized' discussion at a safe location for the Korugarians. Hal berates Sinestro for allowing Parallax to control him and kill the Guardians, which Sinestro refuses. He proves to Hal that he is in control and summons Parallax to attack Hal, then calls it back, proving that he has mastered fear itself. Leaving Hal behind, Sinestro leaves with his team and the Korugarians, with Soranik leaving with him to look after her people.


title: Sinestro

text: In the aftermath of the war with the New Gods of New Genesis, Sinestro turns Warworld into the new base and headquarters of the Sinestro Corps, after the Green Lantern Corps are apparently dissolved.


title: Sinestro

text: Subsequently, in "DC Rebirth", Warworld transports to the ruins of the planet Oa, while Sinestro (with seemingly old age) plans to control the universe. When Sinestro senses the spectrum of green light, he enters the core with Parallax. He possesses the fear entity of Parallax again and returns to his youth. He sends out his enforcers of his Corps to control the new order of the universe with fear.


title: Sinestro

text: When Sinestro is stunned that his Corps have reports that Hal Jordan has returned and attacks the Corps, his daughter, Soranik Natu rebels against her father, saying that he should take responsibility for his failures and that he will never learn from the Green Lantern Corps. Later, Sinestro alliances with the priests of the Sacrament, who are an enemy of the Green Lantern Corps, who reconsider him to aiding enforcement controls of the Vega system. His Corps has captured Green Lantern Guy Gardner, instead of Hal. Sinestro is furious and demands to know where Hal is, but he learns that Soranik has secured Hal safely. Sinestro then uses the imprisoned people in Warworld's engine to increase the power of fear for his Corps, while he tries to interrogate Guy to where the Green Lantern Corps are.


title: Sinestro

text: Later, Sinestro feels he is in jeopardy now that the Green Lantern Corps have returned, including the fact that his daughter, Soranik, has rejected his Corps. He increases his Parallax powers to one thousand percent when Hal returns and invades Warworld. Sinestro orders his Corps to stop intervening in his personal fight against Hal and confronts his former pupil face to face. During the battle, Sinestro discovers too late that his powers have decreased due to Soranik rescuing the people that were used to power the Fear Engine. Hal then uses his energies as a living construct to incinerate the Fear Warlord and destroys Warworld, apparently sacrificing himself and killing Sinestro in the process.


title: Sinestro

text: Later, it is revealed that Sinestro survived from the attack, is critically injured and that he and Lyssa Drak were teleported to Qward.


title: Sinestro

text: The Green Lantern and Sinestro Corps now under Soranik Natu form an alliance against the encroaching Dark Multiverse. Sinestro initially plans to cooperate but is met at the Source Wall by Lex Luthor, who invites Sinestro to Earth to join his Legion of Doom. Attracted by the promise of the "Invisible Emotional Spectrum", a source of power Sinestro became aware of in his youth just before joining the Green Lanterns, Sinestro abandons the Corps and travels to Earth. Reverting to his original Silver Age costume, and wielding the power of the Ultraviolet Corps rather than his Qwardian power ring, he successfully brainwashes half the planet and begins to bring the black sun Umbrax, source of the Invisible Spectrum, into the universe. After the plan is foiled, he remains an ally of Luthor.


title: Sinestro

text: Sinestro wields a yellow power ring that is functionally similar to those of the Green Lanterns, granting him flight, the ability to survive in any environment and the ability to create constructs of any shape and size. The ring must be regularly recharged with the aid of a power battery shaped like a lantern. Unlike Hal Jordan and most Green Lanterns, Sinestro wears his ring on his left hand.


title: Sinestro

text: As a host whose body reined in and mastered the Emotional Embodiment of Fear, Thaal Sinestro now acts as the host as well as containment vessel for the emotional entity of his Corps; Parallax gives him unprecedented power both physical and metaphysical in nature. Like previous hosts before him, Sinestro has vast reality-altering abilities enabling him to twist and bend time, space, matter and/or energy to his liking; likewise all of his natural power stemming from his ring are amplified to incredible degrees enabling the creation of stronger constructs and greater plasma discharge. Physically, the Master of Fear gains a dynamism boost as well, putting him on par with some of DC's strongest characters such as Superman or most notably Black Adam, shown when both he and Adam moved Earth's moon out of the path of its sun together, or when he was under assault by equally powerful assailants such as Superwoman, Deathstorm and Alexander Luthor who had stolen multiple powers.


title: Sinestro

text: Sinestro is also highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and battle strategies, owing to his training as a former Green Lantern. He proves to be a physical match for Hal Jordan owing to these skills.


title: Sinestro

text: The visual design of Sinestro, according to artist Gil Kane was based upon British actor David Niven.


title: Sinestro

text: In the final issue of DC Comics' 2006-07 year-long weekly series, "52" #52, it was revealed that a "Multiverse" system of 52 parallel universes, with each Earth being a different take on established DC Comics characters as featured in the mainstream continuity (designated as "New Earth") had come into existence. The Multiverse acts as a storytelling device that allows writers to introduce alternate versions of fictional characters, hypothesize "what if?" scenarios, re-visit popular Elseworlds stories and allow these characters to interact with the mainstream continuity.


title: Sinestro

text: The 2007-08 weekly series "Countdown to Final Crisis" (or simply "Countdown") and its spin-offs would either directly show or insinuate the existence of alternate versions of Sinestro in the Multiverse. For example, "Countdown" #16 detailed that the Sinestro of Earth-51 has been murdered by the proactive Batman of his world in a crusade against its villains. "Countdown" spin-off series "Countdown Presents: Lord Havok and the Extremists" depicted a version of Sinestro in its third issue (2008) from an alternate world referred to as "Green Sinestro", depicted as a part of the villainous Monarch's army. This version has his original green power ring, but is no less vicious than his mainstream continuity counterpart and the official designation of his world is unrevealed.


title: Sinestro

text: An alternate Sinestro appears in "", fulfilling both his own role and that of the Joker, becoming unhinged after absorbing the mind of Joe Chill, as well as creating that world's Two-Face/Evil Star and Star Sapphire/Catwoman.


title: Sinestro

text: In "" - an AU where all heroes are shown aging in real-time, Sinestro attacks Earth to try and eliminate Hal Jordan - who here went into politics rather than heroism, rising to the position of President in the 1980s, but is defeated when Jordan dons Alan Scott's ring, having realised that the rings actually have no vulnerabilities except what the user believes they possess.


title: Sinestro

text: In the alternate timeline of the "Flashpoint" event, Sinestro is still a Green Lantern, and his mentor Abin Sur is still alive. The duo's friendship has become strained due to the death of Abin's sister Arin. After Abin is sent to Earth by the Guardians, Sinestro approaches the imprisoned Red Lantern Atrocitus on Ysmault, seeking information about the prophecy related with the "Flashpoint". Having learned that the "Flashpoint" is a moment when all of history will be changed, Sinestro travels to Earth to confront Abin Sur, determined to find the "Flash" who changed history and use his power to reset the universe to what he believes it should be. During the struggle, Abin Sur destroys his ring and imprisons him. Abin Sur then contacts the Guardians of the Universe to expel Sinestro from the Corps.


title: Sinestro

text: In the distant future, a Green Lantern named Toris serves as the bookkeeper on Oa. A rookie Green Lantern named Snow wishes to hear the tales of the greatest Green Lanterns in history. Toris opens the book of Oa and proceeds to tell him the legend of Hal Jordan. After his storytelling is done, Lantern Snow asks about the other Green Lanterns of Earth and their lives after, and Toris elaborates even further on their eventual destiny. When Lantern Snow asks about the fate of Sinestro, Toris claims that they will never know what happened to him since he burned the book's pages of Sinestro long ago, saying it was for the best. It is heavily implied that Toris is none other than Sinestro himself.


title: Sinestro

text: In the possible future of "" set five years, the Sinestro Corps are attacked on New Korugar by the Apex League. With the Corps being decimated by the league, Soranik (who has joined the Sinestro Corps) pleads with her father to release Parallax. Sinestro refuses as its release would destroy the planet. He decides to lead the league away, along with Lyssa Drak, to save the planet. This succeeds, but the Apex League captures Sinestro and imprisons him within the Tartaros Ultra-Max Penitentiary. Sinestro devises a way to escape and is aided by the former keeper of the Indigo Light, Natromo. Lyssa Drak appears before Sinestro, revealing she has found the weapon he desires. Natromo presents a trinket (created from parts Sinestro scavenged for him) to Sinestro, allowing him to use the light of fear again and stages a prison break with a group of inmates. Sinestro meets with the ghost of Lyssa Drak who fulfills her final obligation and disappears, leaving behind her skull which Sinestro takes. After landing on New Korugar, Sinestro kills the other inmates and observes the corpse filled, wasteland of his former planet. The Apex League confronts him, revealing that an angry and hungry Parallax freed itself from the planet's core, stripped the Sinestro Corps of their powers and devoured them. Sinestro blames the Apex League for this and smashes Lyssa Drak's skull on the ground. A Black Lantern Power Ring emerges from the skull's remains and transforms Sinestro into a Black Lantern. He then reanimates the Sinestro Corps as Black Lanterns and they attack the Apex League.


title: Sinestro

text: Sinestro first appears in the Year Two series of the prequel comic to "". He intercepts Green Lantern Kyle Rayner before he can reach Earth. Revealing his knowledge of all the changes that have taken place the previous year, Sinestro has his Corps kill Rayner before he approaches the Watchtower. He is nearly beaten by a more vicious Superman before he reveals that he has actually come to join Superman's cause, seeing that the Kryptonian has undergone a change in personality and tactics to "save" the world. Sinestro is briefly kept as a prisoner at the Hall of Justice as he explains his own downfall and expulsion from the Green Lantern Corps: in his eyes, he had been a well-meaning Lantern who only wanted to save and better his world, just for the Green Lanterns to deem him a tyrant and stop him. However, he was clearly a dictator who drove his wife Arin to suicide and lost his daughter as a result of his actions. Sinestro felt particularly betrayed when his former comrades—including his protege Hal Jordan—stopped him and removed his ring, expelling him from the Corps. Sensing that he and Sinestro have similar backgrounds (as Superman lost his wife and unborn child to crime), Superman allows him to join the Regime, though Hal Jordan is not happy about this when he returns to Earth after being subdued by the Green Lanterns. He is forced to work with Sinestro during the annual, where he and Sinestro face their tense relationship as they look for a device that could destroy a whole planet. They come closer after Sinestro destroys a device that could give Superman greater power, ensuring no one could have it. Sinestro continues to play a key role in creating forced order across the world, even staging an event where Despero looked like he was attacking and Sinestro was forced to kill him in self-defense. He subsequently kills John Stewart and manipulates Hal into believing that Guy Gardner was the one who killed him, thus making Hal mistakenly kill Guy. After Hal Jordan was stripped of his Power Ring by Ganthet for choosing Superman's Regime over the Green Lantern Corps, Sinestro gives Hal a Qwardian Power Ring, allowing Hal to become Yellow Lantern and save his love Carol Ferris.


title: Sinestro

text: After Superman's Regime was dismantled, Sinestro and Hal Jordan were sentenced to the planet Harring as punishment for their crimes. When Sinestro arrived after Hal, he is immediately beaten by Hal for all the years of deceit and manipulation. After which, Sinestro is placed into solitary confinement under Soranik, who questions him over her mother's demise. Though Sinestro reaffirms she was assassinated, Soranik sternly reminds him that the clues do not add up and that Arin Sur likely committed suicide. Sinestro then attempts to seize his daughter's power ring while her back is turned but ends up being smashed in Jordan's cell instead.


title: Sinestro

text: Before any further action is taken, Atrocitus's Red Lanterns arrive to capture Sinestro. Saving his daughter from one of their blasts, Sinestro attempts to grab one of the Red Power Rings to fight, only for Hal to wear it instead. Outnumbered, the Green Lanterns in the area withdraw, with Sinestro being taken to Oa. At Oa, Sinestro is questioned over Atrocitus's identity, and he informs the Lanterns that he had fought Atrocitus many times before and after he left the Green Lantern Corps.


title: Sinestro

text: Thanks to Starro, the Red Lanterns breach Oa's power battery, forcing the Guardians to give Hal a Power Ring to try and rescue Sayd and the other lanterns that were possessed by Starro. Sinestro, wishing to save his daughter, also asks for a Power ring, which Hal convinces the other Green Lanterns and the Guardians to do. Aiding the rescue of the other Lanterns, Sinestro refuses to harm his daughter when he confronts her. Impaled at the chest, Sinestro uses his last burst of strength to remove Soranik's spore, freeing her from Starro's control.


title: Sinestro

text: In his last words, Sinestro apologizes to Soranik for not being a better man for her mother and confirms that, while he never wished her any harm, Arin still killed herself. After which, his ring falls into Soranik's hand, recognizing her as his replacement for the sector. Sinestro is then mourned by Jordan and the other Green Lanterns.


title: Sinestro

text: In "JLA/Avengers" Sinestro is among the mind-controlled villains who attack the heroes as they assault Krona's stronghold. He is defeated by Photon.


title: Sinestro

text: In "", Sinestro is among those who respond to Hal Jordan's distress call and participates in the recovery of the Central Power Battery from the Manhunters.


title: Sinestro

text: In "Dark Multiverse: Blackest Night", Sinestro's ego refused to relinquish his control of the Life Entity even after he was 'killed' by the Black Lanterns, resulting in him existing in a twisted state of half-life where his left side is 'dead' and wearing a Black Lantern ring. This gives him the ability to temporarily restore the original identities of his Black Lantern foes, but this measure is temporary and only serves to give him time to get away. Eventually making contact with Lobo, Dove, and Mister Miracle, the last other living beings in this universe, Sinestro learns that it may be possible to stop the Black Lanterns by channelling the power of the Source Wall through Dove, but when Mister Miracle realises that this will remake the universe rather than undoing the Black Lanterns' assault, he kills Dove before being killed by Lobo. With no other options, Sinestro channels the Source's power through Lobo, but this creates a twisted form of life that seeks to destroy all traces of what came before while warring with itself. Sinestro is last shown trying to find a way to escape his twisted reality, but he is kept contained by higher powers who will not risk his infection spreading to other worlds in the multiverse.


title: Sinestro

text: In "DCeased: War of the Undead Gods", Sinestro and the Yellow Lanterns are in control of Warworld. When Darkseid, Supergirl and an army of New Gods all infected with the Anti-Life virus attack Korugar, Sinestro and the Corps arrive to protect his homeworld. They are stopped by Suranik and Kyle Rayner, who believe they are trying to attack the planet. Unliving Darkseid then arrives and decapitates Sinestro, who urges his daughter and Rayner to escape.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: The Dread Pirate Roberts is the identity assumed by several fictional characters in the novel "The Princess Bride" (1973) and its 1987 film adaptation. Various pirates (including Westley, the main protagonist) take on the role of Roberts and use his reputation to intimidate their opponents, before retiring and secretly passing on the name to someone else.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: A pirate of near-mythical reputation, the Dread Pirate Roberts is feared across the seven seas for his ruthlessness and sword fighting prowess, and is well known for taking no prisoners.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: It is revealed during the course of the story that Roberts is not one man; rather, it is a series of individuals who pass the Roberts name and reputation to a chosen successor once they are wealthy enough to retire. When the time comes, the current "Roberts" and his chosen successor sail into port and discharge the crew. They then hire a new crew, the ex-Roberts staying aboard as first mate and referring to his successor as "Captain Roberts". Once the crew grows accustomed to the new Roberts, the previous captain leaves to enjoy his retirement.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: Westley, the hero of "The Princess Bride", was on a voyage to seek his fortune when his ship was captured by the Dread Pirate (who never leaves captives alive) and Westley is reported dead. While the other passengers are weeping and offering bribery for their lives, Westley simply asks Roberts to please not kill him. The "please" arousing his interest, Roberts asks, "Why should I make an exception of Westley then explains his mission to get enough money to reunite with his true love, Buttercup. Westley's description of Buttercup's beauty moves Roberts to the point that he hires Westley as a personal attendant. While Roberts is impressed with Westley's work, he continues to keep Westley's future in doubt by saying each night, "Good night, Westley. Good work. Sleep well. I'll most likely kill you in the morning." After about three years, Roberts and Westley have grown close, and Roberts promotes Westley to his second-in-command. Shortly after that, Roberts reveals to Westley that the guise of the "Dread Pirate Roberts" is merely a pseudonym that he has inherited, and that his real name is Ryan. Roberts goes on to explain that the method works because Roberts' notorious reputation inspires overwhelming fear in sailors. Ships immediately capitulate and surrender their wealth rather than be captured, a fate they imagine to be certain death. A pirate operating under his own name is said to be incapable of such infamy: "No one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley."


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: The fear inspired by the title is used in Westley's plan of invading the castle right before Buttercup's wedding. In the invasion the giant Fezzik poses as Roberts to inspire fear in the castle guard. The fear is amplified by Fezzik's size and a few more tricks, and makes the entire guard run away so that the invaders can easily enter.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: In both the movie and the novel, Westley indicates that he plans to retire after reuniting with Buttercup. In the movie, he suggests that Inigo Montoya might succeed him. However, in the novel, no mention is made as to who is to succeed Westley as the Dread Pirate Roberts. In the first chapter of "Buttercup's Baby" (the supposed sequel to the novel), which is included in the 25th anniversary edition of the book, Goldman refers to 'Pierre', who is in charge of the pirate ship "Revenge" during Westley's absence and next in line to become the Dread Pirate Roberts. By the end of the chapter, Westley and his companions leave the ship again, presumably leaving Pierre once again in charge, but no mention is made of an official transfer of the title of Dread Pirate Roberts.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: In the film's continuity, neither Clooney nor Pierre are mentioned, and Westley does not state how many (if any) individuals held the title between the original Roberts and Cummerbund.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: Ross William Ulbricht, operator of the illicit goods marketplace Silk Road, used the alias "Dread Pirate Roberts". Just as in the story, another person claimed the name Dread Pirate Roberts, reopening the Silk Road website one month after the original site was seized by US law enforcement.


title: Dread Pirate Roberts

text: The name was also used by John Hiatt in his song, "Only the Song Survives", from the album "Crossing Muddy Waters":<br>


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: Khalid Abdalla (; ; born 26 October 1980) is an Egyptian-British actor and activist. He came to international prominence after starring in the 2006 Academy Award-nominated and BAFTA-winning film "United 93". Written and directed by Paul Greengrass, it chronicles events aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which was hijacked as part of the 11 September attacks. Abdalla played Ziad Jarrah, the pilot and leader of the four hijackers on board the flight. He starred as Amir in "The Kite Runner" and acted with Matt Damon in "Green Zone", his second film with director Paul Greengrass. Abdalla appears as himself in Jehane Noujaim's documentary on the 2011 Egyptian revolution, "The Square", which won the Audience Award at Sundance Festival in 2013.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: Abdalla is on the board of the National Student Drama Festival. In 2011, Abdalla became one of the founding members of the "Mosireen" ("We Insist") Collective in Cairo: a group of revolutionary filmmakers and activists dedicated to supporting citizen media across Egypt in the wake of Mubarak's fall. Three months after it began, Mosireen became the most watched non-profit YouTube channel in Egypt of all time, and in the whole world in January 2012.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: Abdalla was born in Glasgow, Scotland, to Egyptian parents, and was brought up in London. Abdalla's father and grandfather were well-known anti-regime activists in Egypt. His parents were both physicians who immigrated to the UK before he was born.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: Abdalla was educated at King's College School, an independent school for boys in Wimbledon in South West London and his classmates included actor Ben Barnes and comedian Tom Basden. He became interested in acting after becoming involved in his school's thriving drama scene. In 1998, he directed a production of "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me" by Frank McGuinness, which ended up having a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival and earned five stars in "The Scotsman" newspaper, making him the youngest director to receive this accolade.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: After spending a gap year travelling around the Middle East, Abdalla went on to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he read English. He was active in the student drama scene alongside the likes of contemporaries Rebecca Hall and Dan Stevens. He was a joint winner with Cressida Trew, his future wife, of the Judges' Award for Acting at the National Student Drama Festival for his performance in "Bedbound" by Enda Walsh.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In 2003, Abdalla played the title role in Christopher Marlowe's "Tamburlaine the Great" at the Rose Theatre. This was the inaugural production of Peter Hall's Canon's Mouth Theatre Company composed of "young actors intent on discovering a new voice for the great metaphorical dramas of the Renaissance".


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: Abdalla's first screen role was in a 2005 episode of "Spooks" entitled "Infiltration of a New Threat".


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In 2006, Abdalla made his Hollywood debut in "United 93", a film about the 11 September attacks, and garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of Ziad Jarrah. He was cast in the lead role of the film "The Kite Runner". In preparation for that role, he spent time in Kabul learning Dari Persian and kite-flying.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In 2008, Abdalla appeared as Guy Pringle in the BBC Radio 4 adaptation of "Fortunes of War". He starred as Freddy in "Green Zone" with Matt Damon and director Paul Greengrass.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In 2009–10, Abdalla produced and acted in the independent Egyptian film "In the Last Days of the City", directed by Tamer El Said.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In November 2010, Abdalla was awarded special recognition for achievements in cinema at the Cairo International Film Festival.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In 2011, he was narrator in documentary film "East to West", also known as "The River Flows Westward".


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In September 2021, it was announced that Abdalla would portray Princess Diana’s partner, Dodi Fayed, in the fifth season of "The Crown". It was released in November 2022.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In January–February 2011, Abdalla was among protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt in the major protests against the Hosni Mubarak regime. He also appeared on Wolf Blitzer on CNN on 9 February 2011 and Anderson Cooper to reflect his views on the protest. He continues to be active in Egypt.


title: Khalid Abdalla

text: In 2011 Abdalla became one of the founding members of the Mosireen Collective in Cairo: a group of revolutionary filmmakers and activists dedicated to supporting citizen media across Egypt in the wake of Mubarak's fall. Mosireen films the ongoing revolution, publishes videos that challenge state media narratives, provides trainings and equipment and screenings and holds an extensive library of footage. At three months old, Mosireen became the most watched non-profit YouTube channel in Egypt of all time, and in the whole world in January 2012.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori culture () is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of New Zealand culture and, due to a large diaspora and the incorporation of Māori motifs into popular culture, it is found throughout the world. Within Māoridom, and to a lesser extent throughout New Zealand as a whole, the word is often used as an approximate synonym for Māori culture, the Māori-language suffix being roughly equivalent to the qualitative noun-ending "-ness" in English. has also been translated as "[a] Māori way of life."


title: Māori culture

text: Traditional Māori arts play a large role in New Zealand art. They include (carving), (weaving), (group performance), (oratory), and (tattoo). The patterns and characters represented record the beliefs and genealogies () of Māori. Practitioners often follow the techniques of their ancestors, but in the 21st century Māoritanga also includes contemporary arts such as film, television, poetry and theatre.


title: Māori culture

text: The Māori language is known as , shortened to (literally, "the language"). At the beginning of the twentieth century, it seemed as if – as well as other aspects of Māori life – might disappear. In the 1980s, however, government-sponsored schools (Kura Kaupapa Māori) began to teach in , educating those with European as well as those with Māori ancestry.


title: Māori culture

text: Tikanga Māori is a set of cultural values, customs, and practices. This includes concepts such as what is sacred, caring for your community, rights to land by occupation, and other relationships between people and their environment. Tikanga differs from a western ethical or judicial systems because it is not administered by an central authority or an authoritative set of documents. It is a more fluid and dynamic set of practices and community accountability is "the most effective mechanism for enforcing tikanga."


title: Māori culture

text: Māori cultural history intertwines inextricably with the culture of Polynesia as a whole. The New Zealand archipelago forms the southwestern corner of the Polynesian Triangle, a major part of the Pacific Ocean with three island groups at its corners: the Hawaiian Islands, Rapa Nui (Easter Island), and New Zealand (Aotearoa in Māori). The many island cultures within the Polynesian Triangle share similar languages derived from a proto-Malayo-Polynesian language used in southeastern Asia 5,000 years ago. Polynesians also share cultural traditions such as religion, social organisation, myths, and material culture. Anthropologists believe that all Polynesians descend from a South Pacific proto-culture developed by an Austronesian (Malayo-Polynesian) people who had migrated from southeastern Asia. (Other main Polynesian cultures include those of: Rapa Nui (now known as Easter Island), Hawaii, the Marquesas, Samoa, Tahiti, Tonga, and the Cook Islands.) Over the last five millennia, proto-Polynesians and their descendants performed a sequence of complicated and remarkable transoceanic treks in an unprecedented accomplishment of navigation and curiosity. The final segments of these feats crossed extreme and unmatched distances: to Hawaii, Rapa Nui, and Aotearoa.


title: Māori culture

text: Polynesian seafarers were ocean navigators and astronomers. Polynesians would travel long distances by sea. The strong female presence among early settlers in New Zealand suggests that Polynesian migration voyages were not accidental but deliberate. The most current reliable evidence strongly indicates that initial settlement of New Zealand occurred around 1280 CE from the Society Islands. In 1769 the experienced Society Island navigator Tupaia joined Captain Cook in the "Endeavour" on his voyage south. Despite a gap of many hundreds of years, Tupaia was able to understand the Māori language, which was very similar to the language he spoke. His presence and ability to translate avoided much of the friction that occurred between other European explorers and Māori in New Zealand. European sailors, including Cook, found Polynesian sailors lost at sea, suggesting that by the mid-18th century knowledge of long-distance navigation was not ubiquitous.


title: Māori culture

text: Researchers often label the time from about 1280 to about 1450 the Archaic period or "Moa-hunter period" – after the moa, the large flightless bird that formed a large part of the diet of the early Polynesian settlers. During this period Māori adapted to their new environment, but culturally they changed little from their tropical Pacific ancestors. The immigrants brought many edible plants from their home islands in the central Pacific, and of these "kūmara" (sweet potato) would become the most important. The far South of Aotearoa, however, had too cold a climate for growing any of these crops. Large quantities of tī tubers were eaten that were slow-cooked in large or (earth ovens) to get rid of the poison and to produce a slightly sweet pulp. Shellfish, fish, sharks and seals were also common foods. Native dogs () and rats were brought from the Pacific Islands. The introduction of rats undoubtedly had more impact on New Zealand wildlife than any other organism apart from humans. The dogs aided in hunting but also served as food.


title: Māori culture

text: The new environment offered challenges to the Polynesian settlers. The colder climate meant that tropical staple crops needed careful cultivation to survive, and some failed to grow locally. Kūmara was an important crop that arrived with the Polynesian settlers. Much of the activity to produce kūmara became ritualised – it was even associated with Rongomātāne (Rongo), a high-ranking (god). (Kūmara featured in some (proverbs): "" (the kūmara does not speak of its own sweetness) encouraged people to be modest.)


title: Māori culture

text: Seasonal activities included gardening, fishing and the hunting of birds. Main tasks were segregated for men and women, but there were also a lot of group activities involving food gathering and food cultivation.


title: Māori culture

text: These early colonists explored New Zealand to find suitable stones for tool-making. The main stone-source areas included Mayor Island, Taupo and Kerikeri for obsidian (volcanic glass); prospectors soon found (greenstone or jade) and (argillite) resources in the South Island in the areas of present-day Reefton and Nelson. Basalt was later also found which is prospected to have a use in construction. Stone served in all aspects of Polynesian life: from chopping wood to cutting and slicing food, as anchors for (canoes) and for fishing nets, for retaining the heat in a , as drills using chert, and for stone clubs. These practices, well preserved at the Wairau Bar archeological site, were typical of East Polynesian culture at the same time.


title: Māori culture

text: Two Polynesian artefacts link early settlers to Polynesia. One, a turret shell only found in the South Pacific islands, most notably in the Society Islands, has been reworked into a small chisel found at Wairau Bar and dated to about 1300. The other is a 6 cm-long Polynesian pearl fishing-lure found at Tairua in 1962. This lure has been reliably dated to the early- to mid-14th century. It was found at a typical small coastal moa-hunters' site which has been interpreted as an itinerant hunting camp (). The discovery of Mayor Island obsidian on the Kermadec Islands, halfway between New Zealand and Tonga, strongly suggests that return journeys were made.


title: Māori culture

text: The new land also provided new opportunities: Māori learned to use local resources like pounamu, native timber, and the abundant birdlife, producing practical tools or food, as well as beautiful ornaments and items of clothing. This adaptation to the opportunities and challenges of the new environment led to the development of the Classic Māori culture.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori artifacts began to change around the 15th century from an East Polynesian style to one more recognisably "classic" Māori, a style which persisted well into the contact period in the 18th and 19th centuries. At the same time, Māori groups became less nomadic, more settled in defined territories, and more dependent on gardening as a food source. Reliance on stored food such as kūmara tubers meant that stores needed to be protected from marauding neighbours. The widespread construction of large fortifications called on prominent hills and spurs dates from this time, as evidence of the development of a more martial, tribal culture. Not all aspects of this culture occurred universally, particularly in the South Island where kūmara could not be easily grown.


title: Māori culture

text: Very few Europeans arrived in New Zealand in the 18th and early 19th centuries, thus the core values of Māori culture altered little at first. Henry Williams estimated a scant 1100 Europeans in the North Island in 1839, with 200 of them missionaries, and a total of about 500–600 Europeans in the Bay of Islands. The northern Māori population at the time has been estimated at 30,000 to 40,000, down from about 100,000 fifty years before. This drop in population was mostly due to the introduction of European diseases (measles and influenza) and to the Musket Wars of 1807–1837.


title: Māori culture

text: Samuel Marsden of New South Wales established Aotearoa's first Christian mission in 1814 in the Bay of Islands. Because the missionaries depended on Māori for many basic necessities, they traded muskets and iron tools for food. By the time this practice was discouraged by Henry Williams and finally prohibited by the governor, it had already significantly altered intertribal conflict, which quickly led to the Musket Wars of the 1820s and a dramatic increase in conflict casualties. Alcohol was not present in Māori culture before European contact and its introduction had a negative effect on individual and collective health. Many Māori supported Henry Williams who opposed "the activities of grog-sellers, gun-runners and other irreligious Europeans in the Bay of Islands". The mission at "Paihia, directly opposite the notoriously lawless settlement of Kororāreka (later Russell), [was set up] to contrast Christianity with the decadent forms of European life".


title: Māori culture

text: Missionaries report being appalled at the violent behaviour of Māori - the warfare, slavery, cannibalism, sexual abuse of women, killing of female children and revenge killings. However, by 1840, many of these customs were all but abandoned or not publicly practised.


title: Māori culture

text: In the coastal South Island, the Māori population was very small. Whalers, often based in New South Wales, set up shore stations along the southern and eastern coasts and formed Māori–European working communities. In the early 1800s chiefs commonly provided Māori wives - often their daughters - to whalers. By the 1820s European men had married about 200 Māori women in the coastal area between present-day Christchurch and Invercargill, about half of all the marriageable-aged women in the South Island – in fact, Māori men started to find it hard to compete for wives.


title: Māori culture

text: After 1800 whaling ships from America, France, Norway, Spain, and the East India Company visited regularly; this set the conditions for a period of trade which benefited all. Contact with Europeans enabled Māori to access the material culture of Great Britain, then the most advanced industrial country in the world. Desirable steel objects and blankets were at first traded for fish. Māori generally showed much curiosity about European culture after initial misunderstandings and apprehension - Māori showed great ability to accept changes and to integrate these into their normal way of life The French expedition of Marion du Fresne, which visited Aotearoa in 1772, gave northern Māori potatoes, wheat, onions, goats, pigs, chickens and other food to raise. Potatoes and pigs rapidly became a key part of Māori agriculture in the north, but the new food was almost exclusively reserved for trading purposes, with Māori themselves still eating fish and fern roots, supplemented by kūmara. Later, as Māori grew large areas of potatoes (Hongi Hika had a 40-acre potato field), whalers would call into the Bay of Islands, in particular, to trade for fresh supplies.


title: Māori culture

text: A significant change involved the immediacy of reciprocation in trade. In traditional Māori tikanga, when an item was given there was no expectation of immediate response, as gifted items were mainly food, which was governed by seasonal supply. When dealing with Europeans, Māori learnt that immediate payment was expected. Gift-giving was a different matter in Māori culture. Gifts were given to recognise (power or authority).


title: Māori culture

text: The Māori economy changed rapidly in the course of the 19th century. After the 1840 signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, Auckland (founded in September 1840) became the commercial centre of New Zealand and Māori quickly adapted their communal social system to take advantage of increased trade in a period of economic expansion. They invested their collective profits in ploughs, mills, carts, and ships to transport their goods. In this period as before, Māori remained the primary producers of agricultural goods. The first Māori water-powered mill was built in 1846


title: Māori culture

text: Burial practices changed to incorporate aspects of Christianity. Bodies were usually buried in the ground by the mid-1840s, although sometimes coffins decorated with Māori motifs were used, suspended in trees or on poles as drawn by J. Polack. These were highly .


title: Māori culture

text: Slaves ( or ) were members of rival tribes who had been taken prisoner during warfare and were made to work on non- activities. The term was also used to denote something abhorrent and signifies the complete loss of of slaves. There is little direct information on Māori slaves before the Musket Wars. Oral tradition records that slavery was practised, but early European explorers speculated that it must be rare or even absent. During the unusual period of the Musket Wars, however, the number of slaves taken as prisoners increased immensely and became an important part of some tribes' social structure.


title: Māori culture

text: Generally, only female slaves were kept as they were considered to be less of a threat and more useful as potato-farmers and as partners. In 1834 the Ngāpuhi iwi, perhaps partly due to the influence of missionaries such as Henry Williams, freed slaves they had captured in earlier wars, The only place in New Zealand where slavery was common after 1835 was the Chatham Islands (part of the Colony of New Zealand from 1842). During the Musket Wars, North Taranaki tribes Ngati Tama and Ngati Mutanga invaded the Chathams, massacred the indigenous Moriori and enslaved the remaining population until about 1863.


title: Māori culture

text: Early Māori dried () and displayed the heads of fallen enemies and practised cannibalism. One possible motivation for mokomokai practices is that they provided a reminder of the deceased, or a trophy made from the heads of slain enemies. Another possibility was that it was a ritualistic way of capturing the enemies' - heads of chiefs, in particular, were very . Heads might be returned in an effort to settle a tribal disagreement, but traditionally they were never traded. Later, in their desire to obtain European muskets and powder in the 1820s, northern Māori produced a profusion of tattooed severed heads - sometimes manufactured using the bodies of slaves or prisoners - for sale to traders.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori culture had undergone more significant alteration by the 1850s. With their ethnocentric assumption that Christian European culture was superior, missionaries can be seen as the "cutting edge of colonialism" because their mission was literally to transform Māori culture. But with the proclamation of New Zealand as a British colony in 1841 and the establishment of the New Zealand Parliament in 1852, an important political shift occurred which set up the conditions for much conflict between Māori and the new European immigrants (Pākehā). The attitudes of cultural superiority were also baked into the politics of the colony. Māori had no representation in the early years (1854-1868) of the New Zealand Parliament, even though they significantly outnumbered the European population at the beginning of this period. Because a European standard of individual land-ownership was a requirement for electors, Māori were not able to vote for members of Parliament where laws were passed that directly affected them and the early development of the nation. Ranginui Walker states that this "institutionalisation of racism at the inception of democracy in New Zealand was the root cause of the conflict between Māori and Pākehā in the North Island and the colonial spoliation which followed". The power imbalance created by the minority-ruled New Zealand Parliament had a profound effect on Māori culture because the very definitions of the new society were created without the input of this indigenous population. Assimilation of Māori was a manifest goal of settler governments. Māori customs, rules and values, known as "tikanga," were not recognized because they didn't easily map onto European conceptions of law and were much more flexible depending on context. This complex Māori ideology was largely ignored or actively smothered by the incoming culture with the assumption that European values and traditions were superior. The effect of these overriding assumptions and misunderstandings greatly altered Māori culture as a new set of laws determined the acceptable norms of the new multi-cultural nation. The "judiciary simply denied that tikanga existed, the legislative suppressed aspects of tikanga, and together they altered the social structures of Māori in which tikanga existed, the overall effect being the social, economic, spiritual and political degradation of Māori society. To this day Māori society has still not recovered from this suppression of tikanga."


title: Māori culture

text: The Pākehā population doubled in the 1850s, surpassing the Māori population, so the cultural changes that had already begun now accelerated under the majority-rule government and the idea that Māori assimilation was more justified as European settlers poured into the country.


title: Māori culture

text: Land-ownership issues became some of the most transformative influences of the 19th century. In Māori culture collective ownership was the norm: Māori people hold a deep respect for, spiritual connection to, and responsibility for the land as "tangata whenua" (people of the land). As the government sought land for newly arriving immigrants, a series of laws like the Native Lands Acts 1862 and 1865 passed that radically changed the relationship Māori had with the land that they had existed on for over half a millennium. In 1870 Justice Minister Henry Sewell (in office 1870–1871) described the aims of the Native Land Court as "to bring the great bulk of the lands in the Northern Island [...] within the reach of colonisation" and "the detribalisation of the Māori – to destroy, if it were possible, the principle of communism upon which their social system is based and which stands as a barrier in the way of all attempts to amalgamate the Māori race into our social and political system." By the end of the 19th century these goals were largely met - to the detriment of Māori culture.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori continued to experience significant cultural change into the next century. In 1900 few Māori lived in European urban settlements. This changed very slowly. There were only 1,766 Māori in Auckland in 1935. In 1936 only 11.2% of Māori lived in urban areas. By 1945 this had risen to 19% and by 1971 to 68%. These changes reflect a significant alteration in the basis for income and employment – from working on rural land to working mainly in construction, freezing works or labouring. The dominant factors influencing this shift were the burgeoning Māori population and the inability of the land to support the increasing population.


title: Māori culture

text: During the 1930s and 1940s, MP Ngata had passed land legislation to help Māori make better use of their remaining tribal land. Māori were handicapped in using and developing the land for modern agriculture as much Māori land was steep, remote, erosion-prone with high rainfall. European farmers who owned their land freehold mechanised to gain higher productivity, using bank loans for the new equipment. Māori were unable to gain loans as their land was generally tribal land and could not be used for securing individual loans. Leasing land to European farmers gave Māori a steady income but this was spread among many people. Māori farming was often based on a different system of values and not driven by European goals of efficiency and high productivity.


title: Māori culture

text: Apart from jobs, another attraction to urban migration were the monetary, recreational and lifestyle attractions of the city. Many Māori felt that success lay in the city rather than the country. King describes this as a "fantasy contagion-the realty did not live up to the myth but this did not stop the fantasy or the migration".


title: Māori culture

text: Other changes were a rising birth rate. In 1955, the Māori birth rate was nearly double the European rate at 43.6 compared to 26 per 1000. At the same time, Māori had fewer qualifications. In 1956 6.5% of Māori held professional, managerial or clerical jobs compared to 26.7% non-Māori. As a result, only 3.36% of Māori earned 700 pounds or more per annum compared to 18.6% for non-Māori. Māori were significantly impacted by changing economic circumstances such as the drop in wool prices. This made Māori more vulnerable to economic and social deprivation. King says that the lower Māori educational attainment lead to lower income jobs, which led to lower income, poor housing, and poor health, which in turn led to higher rates of crime.


title: Māori culture

text: These ingredients were potential causes of racial tension. They were seen by the wider community as "Māori problems". By the 1970s and 1980s, enough urbanised Māori had reached positions of influence to bring about a gradual but radical change to the thinking of governments. Their advocacy was underscored by an increasing willingness to use vigorous protest to push Mana Māori. Young urban radicals beat up a group of university students taking a comical view of Māori dance. Protestors occupied Bastion Point which was claimed as Māori land and resisted police arrest. In Raglan local Māori protesters reclaimed ownership of land used as an airstrip and golf course.


title: Māori culture

text: From the early 1970s a new generation of radicals arose demanding more Māori influence. Amongst the demands were for increased . The expression, an abstraction of the word for aristocracy, had been coined by Henry Williams in the Treaty of Waitangi to convey the idea of "chieftainship". However, the term was often used by Māori to express the idea of political rights for all Māori, not just the class, or the idea of Māori sovereignty or Māori independence.


title: Māori culture

text: Educated urban Māori advocated the teaching of Māori language and the inclusion of a Māori point of view in all aspects of education. Māori began to express their ideas in new political movements with Māori voters switching from supporting the Labour party to alternatives such as the Māori lead New Zealand First party in 1992. The introduction of MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) elections in 1996 had the effect of giving minority groups of any shades, more influence. The 1996 election produced 14 Māori MPs with 3 in the cabinet. Māori MP Winston Peters, was the deputy Prime minister.


title: Māori culture

text: This position set high expectations for positive results from the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal which was set up to investigate Māori grievances against historical New Zealand governments in relation to the treaty. From the early 1990s a series of favourable outcomes from the treaty tribunal resulted in a large flow of capital in the form of land, primary resources and cash from the government to various Māori iwi (tribe or nation) and hapū (subtribe or clan). A key concept was the continued occupation of an area of land (Ahi kaa). The largest tribal deals approached $1 billion although many were far smaller. This gave and organisations a source of financial security they had not had previously. To 2013 the total paid by government exceeds $4 billion. These resulted in a more cohesive tribal organisation as all assets went to tribal or hapū organisations. In 2012 it was estimated that the total value of Māori-controlled assets was about $400 billion. , 70 settlements have reached the stage of being passed into legislation, with a further 45 settlements in various stages of negotiation.


title: Māori culture

text: Some of the fundamental cultural concepts of are present throughout Polynesia, but all have been altered by New Zealand's unique history and environment.


title: Māori culture

text: is a cultural concept of the Māori, meaning a sacred power or authority. Mana is sacred power bestowed by the gods on the ancestral lineage of chiefs, or . While the itself is a supernatural gift, the chief is free to waste or magnify it. Historian Judith Binney says that maintaining and increasing the of and and loyalty within the group is unquestionably at the heart of Māori cultural concepts. She says that Māori cultural history is confusing to the uninformed as it consists of narrative-myths that stretch far back in time. Also confusing is that chronological time is irrelevant or distorted to the Māori cultural story, so a person living in the present may narrate a story about their family or hapū that happened centuries ago; nonetheless, the narrator appears as a contemporary figure in the myth.


title: Māori culture

text: A key element of cultural leadership is to link the narrator to a well known historical figure with mana (prestige/authority power). This is why being able to recite the family history is so important. In Māori culture names of people and places are fluid. Individuals may change their name several times or have several different names that they use depending on the cultural situation. In the past, hapū changed names if they moved to another area where an alternative name was more positive. One of the main reasons for name fluidity was access to resources. As a hapū moved seasonally to utilise different resources its name changed to reflect an ancestor who had historical-cultural rights to that resource. Binney says that being connected to a powerful hapū with many well-known ancestors was important for protection and survival. As Māori communication was almost totally oral until well into the contact period, oral myth-narratives became more varied to match the needs of each hapū or whanau.


title: Māori culture

text: is the origin and path of descent of a person, object or geographic area. A person's establishes their mana and tribal connections. It can be recited as an introduction ().


title: Māori culture

text: is often associated with the word 'revenge'. However, in a broader sense, is meant as the preservation of balance and harmony within a civilisation. In the concept of , a fault must always be corrected and a kindness repaid. However, the means by which this is accomplished may vary greatly by case. In the context of a gift exchange, creates and preserves social connections and commitments. recovers balance in the event that social relations are interrupted.


title: Māori culture

text: , a form of , is a process of restorative justice typically between hapū and whānau groups, where acts of compensation for wrongdoing, usually physical items or resources, are given to the wronged party as a way to restore societal balance. differs from , as once the (ceremonial judicial process) has been completed and the compensation is made, no further acts or requirements are necessary, and the balance between the two parties has been restored.


title: Māori culture

text: Gift exchange was governed by three basic principles. First, giving had to have the appearance of being free and spontaneous, without stipulation of a return present. Second, a strict system of obligation was in force whereby the receiver was bound to not only reciprocate but to increase the value of the reciprocated gift. Third, the system demanded that further social obligation had now been established to continue the exchanges. Failure to respond meant loss of mana or influence. Where parties had travelled a long way to give a present it was expected that the return gift be immediate but often due to seasonal food supplies it was accepted that a return gift would be given at some later date when supplies allowed. While a gift conveyed an obligation to return the favour, so did an insult. The response might be a martial one. Historian Angela Ballara describes warfare as a "learned, culturally determined [response] to offences against the rules of Māori society."


title: Māori culture

text: (from "guardian") means guardianship or protection and in modern usage relates mostly to the protection of the natural environment.


title: Māori culture

text: is similar to . Together, they keep the harmony of things. sustains structure and social order. It can be seen as a legal or religious concept, that is centred on the idea of being "forbidden" and "sacred." When a person, place, or thing is considered to be , it is often distinguished as something in high value and importance, being set aside by the gods.


title: Māori culture

text: (or sometimes for women) are respected tribal elders of either gender in a Māori community who have been involved with their for a number of years. They are appointed by their people who believe the chosen elders have the capacity to teach and guide both current and future generations. It is against the rules of mana for anyone to self-proclaim their elder status, instead, the people acknowledge an elder's status. In the past, were believed to be "the reincarnation of a person who had acquired a supernatural or godly status after death, and who had become the protector of the family".


title: Māori culture

text: are gifts to the hosts, often of food or traditional items, though money is most commonly used today. Traditionally, the essence of is that it is voluntary and comes from the heart, so to specify the amount is contrary to its spirit. Increasingly, it is common for the to be a fixed sum per head that is communicated to the guests in private, so there is no embarrassment. Recipients rely on the donors' (empathy), (cherishing) and (spirit) to ensure that it is enough. Thanks for are accordingly warm.


title: Māori culture

text: , "Māori New Year", celebrates the first rising of the Pleiades in late May or early June. Traditionally the actual time for the celebration of varies, with some celebrating it immediately, others waiting until the rising of the next full moon. It is a day where they pay respect to the people they have lost but also gain over the last year that has passed. They celebrate the day and night with prayers, feasting, singing and music. After lapsing for many years it is now becoming more widely celebrated in a range of ways and over the period of a week or month anywhere from early June to late July.


title: Māori culture

text: or just is the Māori traditional art of carving in wood, stone or bone. Some surviving , or carvings, are over 500 years old. Wood carvings were used to decorate houses, fence-poles, containers, , tool handles, and other objects. Large-scale stone-face carvings were sometimes created. The most popular type of stone used in carving was (greenstone), a form of jade, but other kinds were also used, especially in the North Island, where was not widely available. Bone was used for delicate items such as fish-hooks and needles. Both stone and bone were used to create jewellery such as the . The introduction of metal tools by Europeans allowed more intricacy and delicacy, and caused stone and bone tools to become purely decorative.


title: Māori culture

text: The Māori Arts and Crafts Institute at Whakarewarewa in Rotorua is a stronghold of traditional carving skills. Hone Taiapa was head of this school for some time. Since the Māori Renaissance there has been a resurgence of interest in , alongside other traditional Māori practices, with a much greater integration with mainstream contemporary art. The Māori Art Market (funded by the state-sponsored Toi Māori Aotearoa) is a significant venue for the promotion and sale of .


title: Māori culture

text: Te Papa and Auckland Art Gallery have substantial holdings of , with Te Papa in particular having many digitised in their "Collections online" website.


title: Māori culture

text: is the traditional Māori art of tattooing the skin; a is an instance of the art. Prior to colonization, most high-ranking persons received as an important milestone between childhood and adulthood, and those who went without them were perceived to have lower social status. The art was a sacred activity accompanied by many rites and rituals. Men generally received on their faces, buttocks and thighs, women on their lips and chins. The facial form gives details of the wearer's lineage, status, and origin.


title: Māori culture

text: Historically, combined tattooing with scarification, in that the skin was carved with (chisels), not punctured. This left the skin with grooves rather than a smooth surface. were made from albatross bone and hafted to a handle. Pigments were made from the for the body colour, and (burnt timbers) for the blacker face colour. The soot from burnt kauri gum was also mixed with fat to make pigment. In the late 19th century were gradually replaced with needles, and became smooth tattoos instead of textured scars.


title: Māori culture

text: Since 1990 there has been a resurgence in the practice of for both men and women, as a sign of cultural identity and a reflection of the general revival of Māori language and culture. Most applied today is done using a tattoo machine, but there has also been a revival of the use of .


title: Māori culture

text: Charcoal drawings can be found on limestone rock shelters in the centre of the South Island, with over 500 sites stretching from Kaikoura to North Otago. The drawings are estimated to be between 500 and 800 years old, and portray animals, humans and legendary creatures, possibly stylised reptiles. Some of the birds pictured are extinct, including moa and Haast's eagles. They were drawn by early Māori, but by the time Europeans arrived, local inhabitants did not know the origins of the drawings.


title: Māori culture

text: Although the oldest forms of Māori art are Archaic rock paintings, painting was not a major art form in the Classical period. It was mainly used to produce decorative panels in (meeting houses), in stylised forms known as . Europeans introduced Māori to their more figurative style of art, and in the 19th century less stylised depictions of people and plants began to appear on walls in place of traditional carvings and woven panels. The introduction of European paints also allowed traditional painting to flourish, as brighter and more distinct colours could be produced.


title: Māori culture

text: With the resurgence of Māori culture in the public sphere from the 1970s onwards came a new emphasis on painting, alongside the more traditional Māori visual art forms, as a means of asserting Māori identity and beliefs. Contemporary and recent Māori painters include Ralph Hotere (1931–2013), Shane Cotton (born 1964), Marilynn Webb (1937–2021), and Mary Wirepa (1904–1971).


title: Māori culture

text: The is a spiral shape resembling a new unfurling silver fern frond. It is an integral symbol used in , , and painting, where it symbolises new life, growth, strength and peace. Its shape "conveys the idea of perpetual movement," while the inner coil "suggests returning to the point of origin".


title: Māori culture

text: The is the integral motif of the symbolic and seemingly abstract designs traditionally used to decorate . There are numerous semi-formal designs, representing different features of the natural world.


title: Māori culture

text: The logo of Air New Zealand incorporates a "koru" design—based on the Ngaru (Ngāti Kahungunu) pattern—as a symbol of the flora of New Zealand. The logo was introduced in 1973 to coincide with the arrival of the airline's first McDonnell Douglas DC-10 wide-body jet.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori prior to European colonization wore woven garments for protection from the weather and to denote social status. There were two main types of garments: a knee-length kilt or grass skirt worn around the waist and secured by a belt, and a rectangular cape or cloak worn over the shoulders. (cloaks) in particular were symbols of high rank.


title: Māori culture

text: Textiles were made from a number of plants, including (New Zealand flax), , , , , and . The paper mulberry was introduced from the tropical Pacific by Māori, who knew it as , but it failed to flourish in New Zealand's cooler climate, and (bark cloth) was rare. (cloaks woven from strips of dog-skin rather than plant fibres) were rare and highly prized.


title: Māori culture

text: Raw flax leaves were split and woven into mats, ropes and nets, but the basis of most clothing was (prepared flax fibre). This was stripped from the leaves using a mussel shell, softened by soaking and pounding with (stone pestles), and spun by rolling the thread against the leg. Colours for dyeing were sourced from indigenous materials.


title: Māori culture

text: The (weaving) process for clothing was performed not with a loom and shuttle but with the warp threads being twined downward by hand from a strong thread held taut between two or four upright (weaving sticks). A variety of techniques were used for fine clothing. The technique known as is a Māori innovation, producing intricate geometric designs in many colours for belts and cloak borders.


title: Māori culture

text: Little of the human body had to be concealed for modesty's sake. In informal settings, men went naked except for a belt with a piece of string attached holding their foreskin shut over their glans penis. Women covered their pubic area with small aprons or bunches of fragrant plant material when in the presence of men – although these parts could be exposed in (a gesture of contempt). Pre-pubescent children wore no clothes at all. There was no shame or modesty attached to women's breasts, and therefore no garments devoted to concealing them; the ( bodices) now worn in performances became standard costume only in the 1950s. The European colonists regarded nudity as obscene, and cited it as a sign of Māori racial inferiority (calling them "naked savages").


title: Māori culture

text: Compared with European clothing, traditional garments took a long time to make and did not offer much protection or warmth. From the early sealing days, Māori working in sealing camps in the South Island adopted European clothing, which soon became widely available from itinerant peddlers. Blankets were in high demand and were often worn as kilts, cloaks, or shawls. Since the end of the 19th century, traditional clothing is only used on ceremonial occasions.


title: Māori culture

text: ( groups) often come together to practice and perform cultural items such as or songs, especially action songs, and for entertainment. dances may also form part of the repertoire. Traditional instruments sometime accompany the group, though the guitar is also commonly used. Many New Zealand schools now have a as part of the Māori studies curriculum. Today, national competitions are held where groups are judged to find the best performers; these draw large crowds. The common expression "" is, strictly speaking, a tautology.


title: Māori culture

text: The – an action chant, often described as a "war dance", but more a chant with hand gestures and foot stomping, originally performed by warriors before a battle, proclaiming their strength and prowess by way of abusing the opposition. Now, this procedure is regularly performed by New Zealand representatives of rugby and rugby league teams before a game begins. There are many different ; though, one, "" by Te Rauparaha, is much more widely known than any other.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori take part fully in New Zealand's sporting culture with both the national Rugby league and Rugby Union teams have featured many Māori players, and other sports also feature many Māori players. There are also national Māori rugby union, rugby league and cricket teams, which play in international competitions, separate from the main national ones.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori were quick to learn the power of the printed word. The first Māori newspaper appeared in 1842. A number of different newspapers such as ' and ' were written in the Māori language to convey information to a widespread Māori audience, often of a political or ideological nature. Although print runs were often small it was common for a newspaper to be passed around a whole . Although the government printed newspapers in Māori such as "", the movement was anxious to convey their own message to Māori. Whereas the government and missionaries often used their newspapers as an educational tool – to inform Māori of British laws and customs – the countered this with arguments for self-determination. Māori newspapers eagerly reported on events from overseas that showed groups such as the Irish challenging British sovereignty to obtain home rule.


title: Māori culture

text: The novels of Witi Ihimaera and the short stories of Patricia Grace provide an insider's view of the culture. "The Bone People" a novel by Keri Hulme, won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1985. Jacqueline Sturm was the first Māori woman to complete an undergraduate university degree, at Victoria University College, followed by an MA in Philosophy. Sidney Moko Mead wrote ": Living by Māori Values", which provides a thorough introduction about the Māori way of doing things, both in the past and present.


title: Māori culture

text: Well-known Māori actors and actresses include Temuera Morrison, Cliff Curtis, Lawrence Makoare, Manu Bennett, and Keisha Castle-Hughes. They appear in films such as "Whale Rider", "", "The Matrix", "River Queen", "The Lord of the Rings", "Rapa Nui", and others, and famous television series like "", "", "The Lost World" and "". In most cases their roles in Hollywood productions have them portraying ethnic groups other than Māori.


title: Māori culture

text: In the 2010s Māori actor-director Taika Waititi rose to global fame with the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "" (in which he played an alien named Korg), which many critics noted carried a sophisticated commentary on colonization under the comedy. Waititi went on to win an Academy Award, which he dedicated "to the indigenous kids of the world", for the screenplay of his anti-hate satire "Jojo Rabbit", in which he played Adolf Hitler as imagined by a ten-year-old Hitler Youth member. His previous films include "Boy" and "Hunt for the Wilderpeople", both of which feature young Māori protagonists.


title: Māori culture

text: Māori Television is a New Zealand TV station broadcasting programmes that tries to make a significant contribution to the revitalisation of and . Funded by the New Zealand Government, the station started broadcasting on 28 March 2004 from a base in Newmarket.


title: Māori culture

text: Te Reo is the station's second channel, launched 28 March 2008. Te Reo is presented in 100% Māori language with no advertising or subtitles. It features special tribal programming with a particular focus on new programming for the fluent audience.


title: Māori culture

text: The most appropriate venue for any Māori cultural event is a , which is an enclosed area of land where a meeting house or (literally "big house") stands. A is the centre for much of Māori community life. Generally the Māori language is used in ceremonies and speeches, although translations and explanations are provided when the primary participants are not Māori speakers. Increasingly, New Zealand schools and universities have their own to facilitate the teaching of Māori language and culture.


title: Māori culture

text: The is a communal ceremonial centre where meetings and ceremonies take place in accordance with traditional protocols. The symbolises group unity and generally consists of an open cleared area in front of a large carved meeting house, along with a dining hall and other facilities necessary to provide a comfortable stay for visiting groups. On the official functions take place including formal welcomes, celebrations, weddings, christenings, reunions, and (funerals). The older people have the authority on the , and they impart, primarily through oral tradition, traditions and cultural practices to the young people. These include genealogy, spirituality, oratory, and politics, and arts such as music composition, performance, weaving, or carving.


title: Māori culture

text: The or meeting, usually on a marae. It begins with a (a welcoming ceremony). If a visitor is noteworthy, he or she may be welcomed with an aggressive challenge by a warrior armed with a (traditional fighting staff), who then offers a token of peace, such as a fern frond, to the visitor. Acceptance of the token in the face of such aggression is a demonstration of the courage and of the visitor. The is highly structured, with speeches from both hosts and guests following a traditional format, their sequence dictated by the (protocol) of that place, and followed by , songs. are held for business, for festivities or for rites of passage such as baptism, marriage and death. It is appreciated if foreign guests can say a few words in Māori and sing a song they are familiar with as a group.


title: Māori culture

text: The details of the protocols, called "" or "", vary by but in all cases locals and visitors have to respect certain rules especially during the rituals of encounter. When a group of people come to stay on a , they are considered (guests) while the hosts of the are known as ("people of the land").


title: Māori culture

text: Although have modern cooking facilities, the traditional is still used to provide meals for large groups because the food it produces is considered flavourful. The consists of a shallow hole dug in the ground, in which a fire is prepared and stones are placed on the top. When the stones are hot, prepared food is placed on top of them, meat first and then vegetables such as kūmara, potatoes and pumpkin. The is then covered with leaves or mats woven out of , or wet sacks, and soil is then heaped over the to seal in the heat to cook the food.


title: Māori culture

text: Like in pre-European times, continue to be the location of many ceremonial events, including birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries. The most important event located at are . are the means by which the dead are farewelled and the surviving family members supported in Māori society. As indicated by Ka'ai and Higgins, "the importance of the and its central place in custom is reflected in the fact that it takes precedence over any other gathering on the ".


title: Māori culture

text: The is a Māori funeral. It almost always takes place on the home of the deceased. The rituals followed are essentially Christian. The begins with a to welcome guests. It is normal for Māori to travel very long distances to attend the of a loved one. Often black clothes are worn, following Victorian practices. Guests will speak formally about the deceased on the often referring to tribal history and using humour. Pathos is commonly used to create a feeling of comfort and unity. Speeches are supported by (songs). The of the deceased sit by the coffin on the porch but do not speak or reply. The family may often hold or display photos of the deceased or important ancestors. A may go on for several days, especially for a person of great . Rainfall during a is seen as a divine sign of sorrow.


title: Māori culture

text: The history of individual tribal groups is kept by means of narratives, songs and chants, hence the importance of music, story and poetry. Oratory, the making of speeches, is especially important in the rituals of encounter, and it is regarded as important for a speaker to include allusions to traditional narrative and to a complex system of proverbial sayings, called . Oral traditions include songs, calls, chants, and formalised speech patterns that recall the history of the people.


title: Māori culture

text: The standard building in a classic Māori settlement was a simple sleeping (house/hut) about 2 metres x 3 metres with a low roof, an earth floor, no window and a single low doorway. Heating was provided by a small open fire in winter. There was no chimney.


title: Māori culture

text: Material used in construction varied between areas, but raupo reeds, flax and totara bark shingles for the roof were common. Similar small , but with interior drains, were used to store kūmara on sloping racks.


title: Māori culture

text: In the classic period a higher proportion of were located inside than was the case after contact with Europeans. A chief's was similar but larger – often with full headroom in the centre, a small window and a partly enclosed front porch. In times of conflict the chief lived in a on the or summit of a hill . In colder areas, such as in the North Island central plateau, it was common for to be partly sunk into the ground for better insulation.


title: Māori culture

text: Food was not cooked in the sleeping but in the open or under a (lean-to). Saplings with branches and foliage removed were used to store and dry items such as fishing nets or cloaks. Valuable items were stored in pole-mounted storage shelters called . Other constructions were large racks for drying split fish.


title: Māori culture

text: During the construction of important buildings, slaves were sometimes used as a sacrifice. This practice was done in order to express the buildings' significance and to secure the gods' protection. For smaller buildings, small animals were sacrificed to distinguish it from other buildings and to exhibit its uniqueness.


title: Māori culture

text: The traditional Māori continued to be used in rural areas in particular well into the post-contact period. They were usually very small with a dirt floor and full of vermin, especially fleas. In winter a central fire was lit that filled the with smoke which slowly filtered through the roof. Even as late as 1849 George Cooper, the assistant private secretary to George Grey, described a village in the relatively affluent lower Eastern Waihou River area as "a wretched place, containing about a dozen miserable raupo huts all tumbling to pieces". 11. In the 19th century settlements were -based, and 5 buildings became standardised: the sleeping , or communal cookhouse/shelter, or wood store, or storehouse, and increasingly from the 1870s or community meeting house. Significant finance and was invested in increasingly elaborate meeting houses which became a source of or pride and prestige.


title: Māori culture

text: A meeting house was likely to have outside carvings and increasingly as European tools were used, intricate interior carving and woven panels depicting tribal history. Rotorua became a centre of carving excellence under the encouragement of the Māori MPs in the Young Māori party. Itinerant specialist carvers travelled widely, employing their skills in many locations. Meetinghouses became places for tribal celebrations or political meetings, especially after the 1860s Land Wars. They were a place to display largesse and enhance with elaborate feasts and entertainment. By the 20th century were common and averaged 18–24m long by 8m wide. There were no Māori buildings of this size in pre-European days. As Māori became familiar with European building construction and design they incorporated features such as chimneys and fireplaces and made use of bigger doorways and windows as well as sawn timber but even by the turn of the 19th century toilet facilities were often primitive, despite the urgings of the Māori MPs Pomare and Ngata who worked hard to improve the standard of Māori dwellings over their many years in office.


title: Māori culture

text: Traditional Māori religion, has deviated little from its tropical Eastern Polynesian roots on the island of Hawaiki Nui. Accordingly, all things were thought of as possessing a life force or . The god Tangaroa was the personification of the ocean and the ancestor or origin of all fish; Tāne was the personification of the forest and the origin of all birds; and Rongo was the personification of peaceful activities and agriculture and the ancestor of cultivated plants. (According to some, the supreme personification of the Māori was Io; however this idea is controversial.)


title: Māori culture

text: Christianity plays an important role in Māori religion today. In the early 19th century, many Māori embraced Christianity and its concepts. Large numbers of converts joined the Church of England and the Roman Catholic Church, both of which are still highly influential in Māori society.


title: Māori culture

text: Classic Māori viewed disease as a punishment for breaking tribal , but recognised that some families were prone to a certain disease. The standard practice of was to isolate the victim in a small shelter. The most common serious disease was tuberculosis (), which was present in the colonising Polynesians. Classic Māori did not recognise the symptoms as being from one disease. was considered the work of demons and caused by (witchcraft). was the name of the devil that caused tubercular bone disease. Tuberculosis of the neck glands was called or . This was very common. Tubercular ulcers were called . The early European explorer and painter Earle noted in 1827 that these diseases were common even in isolated inland districts such as Taupo. His Māori advisers said the diseases were very old.


title: Māori culture

text: Earle recognised that used a range of plants to treat minor skin ailments. Much later European doctors advocated investigation of the medicinal properties of plants commonly used in Māori medicine.


title: Māori culture

text: CMS missionaries insisted Māori abandon cannibalism and child infanticide before they could be baptised. They tried to discourage polygamy. Some early missionaries had sympathy for abandoned wives but Henry Williams was adamant that polygamy disqualified Māori from baptism. CMS missionaries also outlawed the use of further , taking part in lewd dances and practising customary funeral rites. Catholic missionaries who arrived 20 years after the Church of England CMS missionaries were less concerned with stopping these customary practices before Christian conversion. They reasoned that they could influence Māori more effectively after baptism and were subsequently successful in attracting many converts in the western Hokianga district, away from the dominant CMS influence.


title: Māori culture

text: Missionaries did not arrive in the Waikato until about 1834–5. CMS Mission Stations were established at Manakau, Maraetai, Waikato Heads, Kaitotehe opposite Tuapiri, Te Awamutu, Kopua and Kawhia. Missionaries helped explain the Treaty of Waitangi to Tainui in 1840.


title: Māori culture

text: In the 1830s Te Atua Wera started the Papahurihia Faith in opposition to the missionaries. It mixed Christian, Judaic and Māori customary influences. They held services on Saturday and called themselves or Jews. Te Atua Wera reverted to the more customary role of a figure by the late 1830s. Te Atua Wera taught that heaven was a place where there was happiness, no cold or hunger with an abundance of flour, sugar, muskets, ships, murder and voluptuousness.


title: Māori culture

text: Early European reports suggest that Māori children were indulged and led a carefree and playful life. A French explorer in 1772 commented that "[the women] seemed to be good mothers and showed affection for their offspring. I have often seen them play with the children, caress them, chew the fern-root, pick at the stringy parts, and then take it out of their mouth to put it into that of their nurslings. The men were also very fond of and kind to their children." French missionary Jean-Simon Bernard wrote, disapprovingly, in 1844: "The children here are completely free; the parents never do anything to them. They never beat them and do not allow anyone else to beat them." The killing of children could be the (cause) of war. In 1815 the north Taranaki Ngāti Tama killed two Ngāti Maniapoto boys during a visit to friends at Motuawa near the Mokau heads. This led to a Ngāti Maniapoto reprisal raid when warriors pretended to be peaceful visitors and launched a surprise attack on Ngāti Tama.


title: Māori culture

text: The concept of (adopting or fostering children) has been, and still is, important within Māori . It is the practice of raising nieces, nephews, cousins and other wider-family members as if they were members of the immediate family. are adopted children who are raised with a , most often as another member of that , like a brother or sister.


title: Māori culture

text: Historian Paul Moon writes of reports by missionaries of families forcing some of their young girls into the sex trade with the object of obtaining valuable and scarce English goods in the 1820s. He describes how, when a new ship arrived, the fathers came to take girls as young as 10 out of school. Moon records reports of widespread infanticide in Māori settlements—particularly the killing of baby girls, of slaves captured in battle or of half-caste children. Other historians such as Vincent O'Malley demonstrate that reports of this type are contradictory and often unreliable. Sam Ritchie points out that Moon fails to contextualize his interpretation of missionary writing and accepts it at face value without adequately considering other sources or the reasons behind such reports. Census figures in the 19th century showed a marked male/female imbalance throughout the North Island amongst Māori children. The 1857–8 Māori census recorded 32,329 males and only 23,928 females.


title: Māori culture

text: In modern times, child abuse among Māori has received a great deal of media attention. From 1978 to 1987 the Māori child-homicide rate was 1.15 times the non-Māori rate. However, between 1991 and 2000, the Māori rate rose to more than 3.5 times the non-Māori rate and from 2001 to 2005 the Māori child-homicide rate reached around 2.4 times that of non-Māori. As part of a response to these statistics, national Māori child-advocacy organisation Te Kāhui Mana Ririki formed in 2008. Te Kahui Mana Ririki has commissioned research into traditional Māori parenting in order to tackle child abuse in the Māori community.


title: Māori culture

text: According to oral information Māori were familiar with the concept of schooling in tradition times as taught by . Bishop Selwyn took adult Māori to Sydney where they experienced limited schooling to learn English. When missionaries back in arrived in the Bay of Islands they realised that if they were going to introduce Christianity and change what they considered to be barbaric practices like cannibalism, slavery, lewd dancing and having multiple wives, they would need to establish schools. Both the missionaries and their wives constructed schools and provided slates and bibles as reading material. The first school was established by T. Kendal in 1816. Recently original slates and written material from that period in the Bay of Islands has been located, photographed and published. Some adults attended school but most pupils were the sons or daughter of chiefs or other persons of status.


title: Māori culture

text: By 1853 Mr and Mrs Ashwell had been running a mission school at Taupiri in the Waikato for 50 Māori girls for 3 years. The girls learnt arithmetic and reading. In the early 1860s Governor Grey had provided money to support a trade school near Te Awamutu in the Waikato. The aim was to produce Māori workers who were literate but could also work with, and repair, agricultural machinery as used on farms and in the new flour mills. In 1863 Rewi Maniapoto attacked and burnt down the school, stealing the printing press. He aimed to kill leading Europeans in the area but they had been warned by friendly Māori and left before the attack. Because of the negative influence of Maniapoto and other anti-government factions, the school had previously had poor attendance, with as few as 10 boys attending regularly. All teaching by missionaries was in Māori and this continued in the native schools until 1900 when at the insistence of the Young Māori Party Māori MPs, schools started teaching in English. Influential Māori MPs Ngata and Pōmare insisted that Māori be taught modern ways and sponsored the Suppression of Tohungaism Act in parliament. Pōmare, in particular, worked hard to banish ancient Māori concepts and practices that caused harm in the Māori community.


title: Māori culture

text: Eating shellfish such as mussels and oysters was very common. During summer sea fish such as kahawai were caught using bone or hooks, 2-piece lures or large flax nets. In creeks and lakes, eels were caught in large numbers when migrating along known waterways using , a long cone-shaped net. Birds such as ducks were targeted during the moulting season and young birds such as Petrels and Gannets were taken from nests and cooked in their own fat to preserve them. Such preserved birds were favourite gifts to fulfil social gift obligations. Māori closely observed the natural world to take advantage of seasonal opportunities. Native pigeons ate miro berries which made them thirsty. Māori carved wooden bowls equipped with multiple neck snares and placed these in miro trees to catch these large birds.


title: Māori culture

text: Evidence from many recent Eastern Golden Bay excavations, especially at Tata Beach, shows that in middens local shellfish and fish bones were most prominent, followed by dog () bones and rat bones. Less common were bones from small birds and sea mammals. The Tata Beach site and other nearby sites such as Takapou were in use from 1450 up to 1660 AD, well into the Classic period. The coastal sites showed that Māori had created man-made soils in the sand dunes ranging from small to very large (over 100m). The natural soil A horizons had been modified by placing dark, humus-rich soil near the surface. This practice was widespread in Māori communities where kūmara was grown, although in many cases free-draining sand, gravels and pumice were mixed with humus-rich loam. Kūmara are slow-growing in the temperate NZ climate and need free-draining subsoils. In the Eastern Golden Bay north-facing slopes were favoured.


title: Māori culture

text: The warmer climate of the north and northern and central coastal regions allowed better growth of subtropical plants such as kūmara, yam and gourds. In Auckland, and on Mayor Island, volcanic land was cleared of rocks which were used for low shelter walls. In some areas piles of volcanic rock which kept warm at night, were used to train the vines of gourds.


title: Māori culture

text: Many special techniques had been devised to grow and especially to store kūmara so it did not rot. Careful storage and use of was essential to prevent unauthorised use. Seed kūmara in particular were highly . The main problem for kūmara growers were native caterpillars. Early European explorers reported that Māori often ringed a garden with burning vegetation in an attempt to control caterpillars. Māori continued to use traditional fern roots——as a normal part of their diet into the mid-19th century.


title: Māori culture

text: The introduction of European foods changed many aspects of Māori agriculture. Under tradition, Māori agriculture land was abandoned after a few crops because of reduced production. This was the common pattern apart from a few very fertile alluvial river valleys. Fertiliser was not used although Māori had devised various techniques to enhance production such as the addition of pumice or similar materials to improve drainage on heavy soils. Māori allowed gardens to revert to shrubs and plantations were shifted to another area. The introduction of foreign weeds which thrived was a significant issue from the 1820s but offset by the widespread growth of the introduced potato, the traditional varieties of which are still grown and known as or Māori potatoes.


title: Māori culture

text: European farms and the methods they used became a cultural and economic magnet for Māori in the North, in Auckland and later in the Te Awamutu area of the Waikato. Under the tuition of missionaries, Māori learnt to mass-produce food, especially potatoes, far in excess of their own needs for trading into the late 1850s. In 1858 European numbers equalled Māori numbers and increasingly European farmers were able to supply towns such as Auckland. At the same time the strong market demand for supplying food to the gold rush markets in Australia and California ended.