New Zealand My Story

This story belongs to Jasper, little brother Conrad

and Mummy Claire.

It's a tiny tale about Mummy Claire's life and the things she used to do.

-Shall we climb up?

-Yeah.

-Come on this one, Conrad.

Whoa!

Right hand across... Good climbing, Jas.

Right, that's one.

-And so quickly.

-And so quickly!

And now it is time for Mummy Claire to share her memories

and take Jasper and Conrad on a journey of discovery.

Hey! And stop.

This is called a globe, and it's got all the

countries in the world on it.

-Where do you live?

-Scotland.

-In Scotland.

Help me find Scotland, please. That's right, it is at the top.

Yes, that's Scotland. There's where we live.

-Where was Mummy and Daddy born?

-New Zealand.

-New Zealand.

Let's find New Zealand together, Conrad. Slow down, slow down.

Get your pointing finger ready.

Oh, there's New Zealand, there!

-Yes!

-It's a very tiny country.

It is.

New Zealand is at the other side of the world from the United Kingdom.

It has two main islands. Mummy Claire is from the North Island.

Mummy was born far, far away in a country called New Zealand.

New Zealand's really, really beautiful.

Everyone's really friendly and the forests are gorgeous,

with bright green leaves and tall, tall trees.

The beaches are just lovely,

so much fun swimming in the sea, in the Pacific Ocean.

And then Mummy Claire talks some more about her

memories of growing up in New Zealand.

When I was your age, Jas, I loved to be outside.

I loved to go to the beach and jump over the waves and find shells.

I remember going fishing with my dad,

and we would have little rods

and wait for ages for a fish to nibble or bite.

Mummy Claire lived on a farm.

Our farm was a wee farm, and it had a lot of blueberries on it,

and some sheep, and Mummy would get the lambs and help rear them.

I had a pet lamb, most seasons, that I would feed milk to

in the night and during the day.

Mummy would help my daddy, who is your poppa, to mow the lawns

and it would take us ages.

Mummy Claire also helped to pick blueberries on the farm.

Those boxes are full of hundreds of juicy blueberries.

Yum-yum!

And today, Mummy Claire is going to show Jasper and Conrad

how to pick blueberries in their garden.

These blueberries remind me of when I was little.

-I grew up on a blueberry farm.

-Ooh!

My mummy and daddy had a big field full of blueberries

and I used to help them pick them.

-Shall we pick some of these berries?

-BOTH: Yes!

Find the blue ones and use your thumb and finger to pick them,

and we'll put them in our bowls.

There's some great ones here to pick. Lovely and blue.

Good choice.

Good picking, can you get another one?

Look, here's a lovely blue one! Well done!

Great picking, using your thumb and your finger.

Mummy used to fill up my bucket full of blueberries,

then put it into a big box in the chiller to keep them nice and cool.

Yeah, let's do that, let's put them in the freezer.

Let's put them in the freezer, Mummy.

And we would have frozen blueberries, then, wouldn't we?

There's some lovely ones there.

We used to sing and listen to the radio,

when we were picking the berries on our farm.

Ooh, can you get those ones? That's a good one. Well done.

Oh, your bowls are looking very full.

Those look delicious.

It must have been lovely, growing up on a blueberry farm in New Zealand.

Hello!

This is Jasper and Conrad's auntie,

who is Mummy Claire's friend from New Zealand.

Auntie is a Maori.

Maoris are New Zealand's native people.

They've lived on the islands for a very, very long time.

This is a very old photograph of a Maori.

The patterns marked on a Maori's face tell a story about

who they are and what tribe they belong to.

A tribe is a group of people who live alongside one another.

A bit like a big family.

Look, Auntie is in traditional Maori dress

and is going to give a special Maori greeting in the Maori language.

SHE SINGS IN MAORI

THEY SING IN MAORI

THEY ALL SING IN MAORI

MUMMY CLAIRE SPEAKS IN MAORI

Touching noses like this is very special to Maori people.

They call it "hongi", which means "to share breath".

Isn't that lovely?

Good boy!

Maori people also have a special place they can go

to be together as a tribe,

and celebrate things like birthdays and weddings.

Wow. Look at those woodcarvings.

TRADITIONAL MAORI MUSIC PLAYS

Jasper, Conrad, I want to show you our Vara Nui, our meeting house.

My husband built this one for me.

But this is similar to the Vara Nui in New Zealand.

Look, we have a statue at the top,

and we have carvings, as well.

What do the carvings mean?

The carvings tell us all about our ancestors

and what "Iwi", or tribe, we came from.

And every village has their Iwi or tribe.

Some Maori meeting houses, like this one, are very old.

The woodcarvings that decorate them were first made

a very, very long time ago.

If the tribe wanted to remember how someone looked,

they would make a carving of them.

Because in those days, there were no cameras or photographs

to remind people of their loved ones.

Some Maori people still make carvings like this today.

And there is another really famous Maori tradition

that people still do today.

It's called the haka.

Members of a tribe dance and chant together like this.

A haka can be performed for different reasons,

but a long time ago, Maori warriors danced

and chanted their haka to frighten their opponents.

THEY CHANT THE HAKA

Nowadays, the haka is performed most famously

by the New Zealand rugby team.

Here they are, trying to frighten the Scotland team before a match!

THEY CHANT THE HAKA

CROWD CHEERS

SINGING

Song and dance is also used by Maoris

to tell stories about the past.

These women are dancing using swinging balls, called "poi".

It looks really tricky, doesn't it?

THEY SING

Auntie is going to show Jasper and Conrad how to make poi.

-Jasper, what are these called?

-Poi?

Conrad? What do we do with poi?

-Dance.

-Yes.

-Shall we make poi?

-Yes.

-Jasper, shall we make some poi?

-Yes!

Five, six, seven...

-Are you making three poi?

-Yes.

-So how many of you are there?

-Two.

-There's one Jasper and one...?

-Conrad! One and one is...?

-Two.

-Two, that's right.

'The cotton wool makes the poi nice and soft for the boys to play with.'

-We are nearly there, aren't we?

-Yeah.

We're going to put this rubber band around it, see?

That's it, Conrad! Tie it tight.

The wool is plaited together to make a strong rope.

What speedy fingers, Mummy Claire!

-We're almost there.

-Yeah.

-Do you think Mummy should stop soon, so we have a big tail?

-Yes.

Good boy.

Boys, these are the best poi ever.

ALL: Yay!

Maoris have been doing poi dancing for a very long time.

Look at this old film.

THEY SING IN MAORI

Oh, look! Mummy Claire and Auntie are doing a poi dance,

just like the ladies in the old film!

Poi dancing is mainly done by women,

but a really long time ago, men used to swing poi, too,

as exercise to make them strong.

In those days, poi were made from heavy rocks.

But Mummy Claire and Aunty's poi are made from soft cotton wool,

so they can't hurt themselves.

Jasper and Conrad are joining in.

Yes!

It's a good job those poi are soft, boys!

-Three, two...

-Come on, boys, back to your spot.

Oh, good boy, Jasper!

THEY SPEAK IN MAORI

That looks like lots of fun.

Thanks, Auntie!

Thank you, Mummy, for telling me stories about New Zealand.

You're welcome, Jasper. It's been really special.

Can you remember the special things that we did?

We picked blueberries together.

Just like you did when you were little.

We went to visit Auntie, she showed us a meeting house.

We made pois together.

And you and Auntie did a poi dance.

Then we all did a poi dance together.

-And what was your favourite thing, Jas?

-The poi.

-Making the poi?

-Yes. What was your favourite thing, Mum?

-I loved making the poi, too.

But most of all, I loved spending time with you both.

What a fabulous heap of fun!

That was Jasper, Conrad and Mummy Claire's

tiny tale about the things Mummy Claire used to do.

Now Mummy Claire has shared her story with Jasper and Conrad,

it's time for Jasper and Conrad to start their own stories.

Do you know someone who has a story to share?