Ngā tākaro: traditional Māori games and kī-o-rahi

Long before rugby or netball arrived in Aotearoa, Māori children and adults played a huge variety of games. They were fun, but many also trained skills needed for life: fast reactions, strength, balance, teamwork and memory.

Games with a purpose

In Māori tradition, games belong to te whare tapere, the house of entertainment, which also includes performing arts like haka and waiata. Games were played at gatherings when there was plenty of kai.

Suppression and revival

From the 1820s some missionaries tried to stop traditional games, and many were played less as people took up European sports. Since the later 1900s there has been a strong revival, and some traditional games are now played in schools and competitions around the country.

Kī-o-rahi

Kī-o-rahi is a fast team game played with a small ball called a kī on a round field. There are markers called pou around the edge and a central target called the tupu. Players score by touching the pou and by hitting the tupu. Te Ara describes a similar game being played in circular clearings long ago, and today it has become popular in schools.

The rules and the story behind kī-o-rahi vary in different parts of the country. That's why it's best learned from someone in your community who knows the game and its tikanga.

Playing with respect

When you play a game from another culture, find out where it comes from, learn it from people who know it, follow their tikanga, and don't change its meaning. That way the game stays a taonga, a treasure, for the people it belongs to.