kapa haka – Kiwi Travel Writer talks food, travel, and tips

The world’s largest celebration of Māori traditional performing arts is in the capital.

Held every two years, Te Matatini is a whānau-friendly, alcohol-free and smoke-free event and I’m one of the thousands to watch kapa haka’s finest 46 teams (out of 163 contenders this time) competing for the ultimate prize: as well as pride, the title of te toa whakaihuwaka.

I just heard a kaumatua say, on RNZ National, that matatini is for all, ‘from two to toothless’ 🙂

Here is a glimpse of the prizes they want to win;

And some action from the powhiri at Waitangi Park on Wednesday … more to follow on Instagram and other social media tomorrow – from inside the Westpac Stadium here in Wellington.

It’s only a week away and I’ll be at Te Matatini: the 2 yearly, highly competitive, the Olympics of kapa haka festival – la creme de la creme from Aotearoa New Zealand’s many iwi.

As soon as one competition is over, the training starts for the next. These men and women need to be haka-fit. As someone who was involved in low-key Māori performing arts, I know just some of the hours required to be ready for the stage. I admire them all 🙂

Matatini moves around the country and will not be back in Wellington for at least 20 years as the other years have already been assigned to places around Nga Motu.

These photos – of mine – are not part of any Matatini festival but come back soon and I will have blogged about the events. Buy your tickets here