Te wiki o te reo Māori

Water New Zealand is proud to tautoko (support) Te wiki o te reo Māori (Māori language week) 10-16 Mahuru (September), 2018. This year’s theme is Kia Kaha (being strong) and focuses on how we can all make the Māori language strong in everything we do. What better way for our water industry to embrace this theme than to understand the importance of water and understand the words we can use to describe water from a Māori perspective?

Download this poster to pin up in your office or by your desk.

There are key water types with a description of what they mean and includes the importance of Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother) in providing us with precious waiora – life-sustaining water.

He wero - a challenge for you (have some fun with this)

  • Add some te reo Māori into your everyday work...
  • Greet each other with “Kia ora” (Hi/hello)…
  • Have a conversation about what you think when you hear the kupu (word) “wai” (water).
  • Try to use the Māori terms on the poster in place of English ones.

And we can all help with the kia kaha theme by strengthening our understanding of ‘wai’ in Aotearoa.

Water and its mauri (lifeforce) is a taonga, a treasured resource which we should preserve and protect to look after us and the many generations to follow.

"Ko au ko te awa, ko te awa ko au
I am the river, the river is me"

WNZ Maori Language Week Poster.pdf

pdf
164 KB
17 Sep 2018

WNZ Maori Language Poster without dates.pdf

pdf
155 KB
17 Sep 2018