Haka, Waka and the Stars

Haka, Waka and the Stars: Maori Culture and Polynesian Navigation in New Zealand

Step into Aotearoa’s living world of haka, canoes and star paths – and discover how Māori have always read both land and ocean like a book.

This richly detailed cultural guide takes you far beyond the tourist image of New Zealand. It follows the journey of Māori people from ancestral Polynesian voyagers crossing the Pacific in great waka hourua, to today’s powerful haka on world stages and the modern revival of te reo Māori, navigation and Indigenous identity.

Inside this book you will:

• Explore village life, food production and the collective upbringing of children in traditional Māori society
• Learn the basics of te reo Māori greetings, key cultural concepts and the role of oral histories and whakapapa
• Unpack the deep meanings, symbolism and many forms of the haka – from war dances to welcomes, funerals, protests and sports
• Discover the world of waka: types of canoes, sacred building processes, life on board and long-distance voyages guided only by stars, swells, winds, birds and clouds
• See how Māori identity is rooted in whenua (land), marae, sacred sites and concepts such as tangata whenua, kaitiakitanga and rāhui
• Understand colonisation, the Treaty of Waitangi, land loss and war – and how Māori communities survived, resisted and rebuilt
• Follow the Māori renaissance and modern revitalisation of language, culture, navigation and Indigenous rights

This book is ideal for cultural travellers, history lovers, teachers, students and anyone curious about Polynesian navigation and Indigenous New Zealand.

Whether you are planning a trip to Aotearoa, researching haka and Māori culture, or simply want to understand the stories behind the All Blacks’ haka, the carvings on a meeting house or a voyaging canoe on the harbour, Haka, Waka and the Stars offers a warm, insightful introduction.

Travel through time, across oceans and onto the marae – and see New Zealand through Māori eyes.