Te Matatini is also a competition, but in kapa haka. This year, Te Matatini was held in Ngāmotu, which is in the south of Te-Ika-a-Māui, the North Island of Aotearoa. (Did you all know that New Zealand has two islands? They are a lot bigger than the islands in Hawaiʻi, though! Can anyone guess what Te-Ika-a-Māui means? Here’s a hint: te reo Māori, the Māori language, is very similar to ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi, and “iʻa” in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi means fish!) Te Matatini is similar in some ways to the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hawaiʻi, but instead of hula, different groups perform kapa haka! Have any of you heard of haka before? You might have heard of it as a Māori war dance, but that is not all haka is. There are many different varieties for different occasions! In kapa haka, there are several components, including waiata (songs), haka, and poi (and no, not the same poi as in Hawaiʻi! Poi here are balls on strings that people dance with). Watching different groups perform in different styles was truly amazing! I wasn’t able to go in person because I had school, so I don’t have any pictures, but you can watch many of the performances online like I did if you search for Te Matatini. There is even a Spotify album!
You might be wondering, why was there a Sāmoan fire-knife dancing competition in Aotearoa? Just like in Hawaiʻi, there are lots of people from other Pacific islands who live here in Aotearoa, and that includes people from Sāmoa. Can you imagine moving away from home to an entirely new place? I bet you would feel more comfortable if you could find other people who had similar traditions to you.
