Mai Tai....

The second night we were in Roturua we went to a Marae. This is a traditional Maori celebration of sorts that they put on for visitors. You go and are able to hear about that particular Maori tribes history and they demonstrate Maori traditions for you. This tribe's name was Mitai. We saw the men come down the river in a war canoe called a Waka Tua. They sang traditional songs and were doing almost like military gun drills with their oars. It was very neat. We then got to go sit and watch various traditional dances being done by both the women and the men. The men did the Haaka, which is the Maori war dance that was done to give strength and intimidate their opponents in battle. It is a very impressive dance that I've seen done before but nothing compares to watching it in New Zealand by Maori's. It was incredible. The also talked about their face tatoo's which they had plenty of. I didn't know this but each tribe has different face tatoos that represent different things. The Mitai tribes tatoos were all birds.
So after that we got to go and eat!!! Finally. Just to preface this we got to the Marae, at about 5:45 and we were all starving. And we get there thinking oh we get to eat first. But no. They do the whole show before you are allowed to eat so we didn't get food till about 9:00 that night. I happen to think it's just so that they can make you super hungry because then they give you tons of food and just stuff you with it. The food was delicious. Another part of a Marae is to eat a traditional Maori meal which is cooked on hot coals and called a Hangi. They cook lamb, chicken, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. There were also lot's of yummy salad and desserts for us to eat. It was delicious. Traditional War Canoe - Waka Tua

It may look like a lot of food but don't judge until
you've thought you were going to eat at 6 but were
starved until 9. You'd eat a lot too.