We ended April with a change of pace by earning the Guide Maoritanga Badge from Girlguiding New Zealand!
As everyone arrived, each Patrol was given a sheet with words and pronunciations in Maori, and challenged to learn greetings, numbers and the cardinal points of the compass.
We had our usual opening ceremony and then played an active game, using the points of the compass in Maori. This was just a variation on the simple game where players start in the middle of the room and the four walls are used as north, south, east and west. By using the Maori words, we added a twist that meant everyone had to think as they played!
Our next activity was to learn a bit about Maori culture. As part of this, we learned about Matariki, a star cluster that appears in the night sky in mid-June. According to the Maori lunar calendar, the reappearance of Matariki brings the old lunar year to a close and marks the beginning of the new year. The new year was traditionally marked by lighting ritual fires, making offerings and celebrations to the dead, honouring ancestors, and celebrating life.
We then learned about a Powhiri, a welcoming ceremony traditional held in the Marae (meeting house). This ceremony was traditionally performed as a process to find out whether the visitors were friends or enemies. Once they were determined to be friends, the ceremony becomes a formal welcoming. We watched a YouTube video of a Powhiri performed at the Tamaki Maori Village, Rotorua, New Zealand.
Staying with the theme of welcoming ceremonies, we used an activity sheet found online and had each girl write a Mihi, which is a formal greeting where people introduce themselves and tell a bit about where they come from. A traditional Mihi would be performed at the Marae, and include both your connections to other people and to the land and water.
After presenting our Mihis, we learned aboutKapa Haka, a performance that includes songs, poi, dance and facial expressions. We watched a video of a performance by Tuku Iho Living Legacy.
Next we learned aboutTi Ti Torea, the Maori Stick Game. The game was useful exercise for boys and young men, developing flexibility int he wrist, arm and shoulder in preparation for weaponry skills, but was also practiced by girls and young women as a form of physical activity to enhance coordination and agility. We watched a performance from the Polynesian Cultural Center before trying our hands at the game.
Ti Ti Torea is played with two or four players. Each person has a pair of wood sticks (Te Rakau). Players kneel on the floor across from each other, holding their sticks upright, ends touching the floor to begin. In unison, they perform a series of movements with their sticks, tapping the sticks together or against their partner's, progressing to throwing a stick to their partner while catching one being thrown to them. The aim is to keep going for as long as possible without any players dropping their sticks.
Our final activity of the evening was to create Koru Designs. A koru is a type of fern with the same basic shape as a fat comma. Designs can be as basic or as complex as the creator wishes. Traditional colours are red, black and white.
We finished off the evening with clean-up, reminders for next week, and closed with Taps. Links:
Taking advantage of a Friday PA Day for all schools in our area, we planned a Day Camp for Guides! We wound up with our 3 3rd Year Guides who had slept over, a 2nd Year Guide, 2 1st Year Guides, and our Ranger Helper. Everyone arrived bright and early at 7.30am to cook breakfast. We headed outside with buddy burners to cook bacon, while the tater tots went in the oven and pancakes were cooked on the stove. We also sliced up fruit and had left over juices from the sleepover. This fulfilled a common request to do more cooking, as opportunities are sometimes limited at camp due to the number of girls.
For the rest of the morning, we took part in the Students Rebuild 2019 Ocean Challenge. We attempted to watch the videos, but only parts of each were able to be played on my tablet, so we discussed the information that was contained in each video and shared how we felt about the oceans. Then it was time to get right into the heart of the challenge - creating sea creatures from paper products! We have a supply box of random crafting items so were able to provide white and coloured paper, newsprint, paper plates, tubes, streamers and masking tape, along with markers, scissors and glue. This was a highly successful project and we created and submitted a total of 27 pieces of artwork, raising $84 for ocean protection and recovery initiatives! Check out our ocean creatures on our team page - https://www.studentsrebuild.org/teams/8Y8Z7VTFHXL5.
Lunchtime meant it was time for more cooking! We made taco salad using Doritoes, including ground chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, salsa and sour cream. After eating and cleaning up, we moved onto our afternoon activities. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating, so we were unable to go outside and had to have fun indoors. We started by making popcorn over tealights. We set up each pair with two tealights on a metal or foil tray, two tart pans, clothespins, popcorn, oil and matches. The first task was to put about a tablespoon of oil in one of the tart pans along with the popcorn kernels, then make a container by inverting the other tart pan on top of the first and using the clothes pins to clip the two tins together. They then had to light the tealights. This took a while for some groups, but we also managed to help some Guides get over their fears. The tart pan popper was then held over the tealights, about 1-2" above the flames by holding onto the clothes pins. Patience is required as this does take a few minutes, but once the kernels started popping, everyone got very excited and into counting how many 'pops' they had! We are told the popcorn was very tasty as well!
Our next activity was board games, including King of Tokyo and Dungeons & Dragons.
Once we'd finished gaming, the weather had cleared up a bit, so we headed outside for a scavenger hunt and active games. With the return of the rain, we went back inside and worked on an Advocacy Activity. The group was asked to work together and imagine they were planning an event in support of Saving the Oceans. They had to create a playlist for the event, come up with a slogan and chant for their campaign, and make a poster to share facts and information.
We ended the day by cleaning up and putting away furniture before heading home to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Links:
We ended April with a change of pace by earning the Guide Maoritanga Badge from Girlguiding New Zealand!
