Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Is this how we want the world to see Ngai Tahu?

I've been meaning to post about this for a while.

Do you think that this sounds like Ngai Tahu?

"We invite you to learn about our culture, our history, and our people in New Zealand today. New Zealand is a land of many contrasts both geographically and culturally. We want to share with you our language, our traditions and history and our love for this land - Aotearoa (New Zealand) - The Land Of The Long White Cloud. In particular - Te Waipounamu (The Greenstone Isle), the South Island."

I think it is time to upgrade some of the language and content from the front page of the TRONT website. This statement above is the VERY FIRST thing that visitors to the website see and read. It seems to be very PC and bogus to my mind.

Compare it to this statement from our Kaiwhakahaere talking about water and Ngai Tahu's relationship to it:

"If you can picture a water way or location in Te Waipounamu, perhaps a favourite site or place like Queenstown or Wanaka, a fishing spot, or a special place over looking water and you will likely be referring to a place that was a traditional or seasonal camp site."
"Our ancestors had a thing for location, an eye for places that were sheltered, had access to food resources and connected to water and waterways, and invariably places that conjured up feelings of beauty and awe."
"Water was a central feature, a medium that our people lived with and off rather than seeking to manipulate it to do things that were not natural, it was a resource that the people had no need to control or harness."
To Ngai Tahu water is not only a source of food and physical sustenance, but a source of mana and spiritual sustenance, intricately linked to our well-being, and the hunter gatherer society."


That sounds a bit more like us - doesn't it?

2 comments:

euminedes said...

nice Marty - you are a natural

Marty Mars said...

Thanks BB

I wish you were still posting.

Kia kaha cuz