Every evening a group of New Zealand’s Native tribesmen and woman called the Maori come together to perform. It seemed like a great way to better understand the culture, so we went there Saturday night. It began with a traditional Maori welcome, with Nick from Australia representing our tribe’s chief. He picked up the fern of friendship, as was expected, and pressed noses with their chief. He slowly walked back and joined us. The group of about 30 tourists walked into the ancient red house. Inside was a stage and 9 men and woman dressed up in traditional Maori clothing.  The women had red dresses with red, black, and white beadwork at the top and black and white long sticks hanging down at the bottom. Whenever they moved the sticks would go clunk. The men had mostly loin cloths on, with a Maori poncho over their chests. They all had tattoos of traditional Maori designs in green ink. They welcomed us with a speech and began. The first song was a slow calm melody with dancing and smiles. It reminded me of jazz, while the next song reminded me of country. After that the ladies said that every woman who wanted to learn how to use a poi should come up on the stage. I instantly went up, and so did Mom. They handed us a black strip of yarn with a white ball at the end. When everyone who wanted to be there was on stage she taught us the movements. First around and catch, then high, then low, the hand on hip and behind you. We tried it to slow music and it was really fun. Then we tried it to fast music and although it was difficult, I liked it a lot. A man with a big spear came up next. The man next to him named Guy explained how training for war started at a very young age, and all the children’s game were designed so they learned the necessary skills. Then he showed a wooden dagger with burs on the end to tear out the persons’ insides.  Then they called up the men to do the traditional war song. Carter and Colin went up willingly but we had to force Dad. Everyone slapped their knees and elbows, then they patted their stomachs and yelled. They opened their eyes really wide, stuck one hand across their chest and another in the air, then they stuck their tongues out and yelled even louder. We all laughed! Then there was a stick dance. The cast started singing and got into groups of four. They tossed wooden sticks around and across their little circles. Every two tosses or so they would bang their sticks on the ground. I admired their hand-eye coordination. “How can they never miss?” I thought in amazement. Afterwards we had a delicious Maori dinner and ended with a trip to a few local geysers. The steam went up a good ten meters before evaporating. We could only imagine how much pressure that took. The geysers went off every hour and luckily we caught them at their 9 o’clock show. We took the little trolley home and watched as the natural phenomenon faded into the distance. A few days later one of the women and her daughter came to the hotel to teach us weaving. She brought lots of Maori treasures that she or her family had made. She let us try on the costume and touch all of the treasures she brought. She had gourds, skirts, feathers, baskets, pots, shells and reeds. She told us to cut two pieces of strings and lots of feathers, then, to place the strings in a cross position and pull. She said to slowly add feathers then tie them in tight. I made a necklace, as did Carter. Colin made a bracelet and Matthew put his feather string around his leg.  “Wow!” we thought. The Maori culture is a fun one!