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Maori renaissance reflected in New Zealand millennium AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) - War dances by tattooed men in grass skirts. Ritual marking of the dawn with a call through a conch shell. Homage to a legendary ancestor on a sacred mountain.
History has been harsh to the indigenous Maori and Moriori of New Zealand, but their resurgent cultures will be center stage when the country becomes the first major nation to enter the new millennium.
``It's highly likely that they were there at the beginning of the current millennium,'' said attorney Maui Solomon, an activist for indigenous rights. ``It's significant and appropriate that Moriori and Maori are playing a prominent role.''
That role will cast an international spotlight on the Maori, the original Polynesian people of New Zealand, and the Moriori, a related but nearly extinct group from the country's remote Chatham Islands.
The celebrations also will symbolize a recent renaissance in their cultures, which suffered heavily when European traders arrived in the late 1700s - bringing disease and firearms - and settlers started taking over their lands in the early 1800s.
``This will be a celebration of New Zealand as a nation,'' said Wendy Pannett, spokeswoman for the country's Millennium Office. ``A very important part of our history is Maori culture.''
The celebrations in New Zealand will be extensive.
The nation lies just west of the international date line. While the island nations of Kiribati and Tonga will be the first counties to enter the new millennium, New Zealand will be home to the first inhabited land and first city - Gisborne - to see the dawn of Jan. 1.
At the center of the party will be the Maori, who will perform traditional ``haka'' war dances and re-enact creation legends around the nation, including on the sacred Mount Hikurangi near Gisborne. Opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa, who is Maori, will give an hourlong dawn concert featuring traditional songs.
Descendants of the nearly extinct Moriori will join Maori in lighting a beacon of hope among other activities to greet the new millennium. The first rays of dawn on Pitt Island, the part of New Zealand closest to the date line, will be met with ancient Moriori chants.
``The rest of the nation would have been foolish not to accept that contribution,'' said Amohaere Houkamau, chief executive of Ngati Porou, the second-largest Maori tribe. ``You can't get Maori culture anywhere else in the world.''
New Zealand's indigenous peoples have not always fared so well.
Disease and land wars with European settlers - and fighting among Maori warriors fueled by European firearms - decimated the indigenous population on mainland New Zealand in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The Moriori faced near extinction when tribes of Maori went to the Chathams, massacred hundreds and enslaved the survivors.
The legacy of that decline is still very much in evidence today.
The more than half a million Maori in New Zealand - about 15 percent of the population - suffer from higher unemployment, mortality and crime rates, and have lower life expectancies and literacy skills than non-Maori. People claiming Moriori blood number only in the thousands.
But things have been turning around for New Zealand's indigenous.
While Maori have slowly been recovering their culture since the early 20th century, momentum picked up in the 1960s with a greater awareness worldwide about indigenous people.
Legal fights pushing for compensation for lands taken from Maori in years past - in violation of the landmark 1840 Treaty of Waitangi - have played a major role in bolstering their profile. Maori language instruction has been available in public schools in the last two decades.
Moriori have also benefited. For example, a new traditional Moriori meeting house on the Chatham Islands should be completed next year - the first time a new one has been built on the islands in 200 years.
``It's the success that Maori and Moriori have had in the political and legal arenas that have played a major part in this renaissance,'' said Solomon, who has been involved in legal battles over land and fishing rights.
Solomon and others expect the trend to grow in the coming decades, as Maori take greater control over their development and other New Zealanders who now see the indigenous movement as a nuisance become more accepting.
Kathryn Akuhata-Brown, a Maori involved in the New Year preparations, said the millennium will give New Zealand's indigenous an unprecedented opportunity to show the world their culture - and their staying power.
``We survived the last millennium,'' she said. ``And we will survive the next.''
Copyright 1999 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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