Māori Village Etiquette — What to Expect, and What Not to Do

You will be asked to choose a chief. Your group is treated as a visiting party (manuhiri) and needs someone to represent it. Volunteering is fine; being volunteered by your family is more common. The role involves standing at the front, accepting a token on the group’s behalf, and not much else.

The wero is a challenge, not a threat. A warrior approaches, often with a taiaha, performing an aggressive display and laying down a token — traditionally a small carved dart or a leaf. Your chief picks it up while maintaining eye contact. Picking it up signals you come in peace. It is the single most theatrical moment of the evening and it is meant to be intimidating; that is the point of it.

Do not laugh or talk during the challenge. This is the most common piece of guidance operators give and the one visitors most often ignore. The warrior is performing something serious.

Then the karanga and the speeches. A woman calls the visitors on; speeches and waiata follow from both sides. Your host will tell your group when to move and when to sit. You are not expected to speak.

The hongi may follow. The pressing of noses and foreheads — one press, or two, depending on the iwi — while shaking hands. If it is offered, take it. If you would rather not, a handshake is not an insult.

At Whakarewarewa, you are in a residence

The living village tour is a different proposition from the evening venues, because twenty-one families live inside it and the tour goes down their streets while they are living in them.

• Stay on the marked paths. Some fenced ground is tapu (sacred) — the burial ground in particular. Some of it is fenced because the crust is thin and the water underneath is boiling. Neither kind of fence is decorative.
• Ask before photographing people or homes. Photographing the geothermal features, the marae exterior and the general village is expected and welcome. Photographing a resident, or into a house, is not — the same courtesy you would extend on any residential street.
• Do not touch or lean on carvings. Carved figures represent ancestors. Treat them as you would a memorial, not as a photo prop.
• Do not sit on tables, and do not put food or bags on them. In Māori custom, surfaces that food touches and surfaces that people sit on are kept separate. Sitting on a table is a genuine breach and it is easily done without thinking.
• Take your hat off inside the meeting house, and follow your guide’s lead on shoes.

Practical things nobody tells you

Comfortable closed shoes, at all of them. The village paths are uneven and warm underfoot; Te Puia’s valley walk is exposed; the Buried Village’s waterfall trail is steep. Sandals are a bad idea on a geothermal field.

Whakarewarewa runs rain or shine. It is outdoors throughout and the operator does not cancel for weather. Bring a rain layer rather than expecting a refund.

The sulphur smell is real and you stop noticing it. Usually within about twenty minutes. It does linger in fabric — worth knowing if you are wearing something you are attached to.

Te Pā Tū takes no cash on site. Bring a card if you plan to buy anything during the evening.

Photography during performances varies. Most operators allow it; some ask you to stop for particular items. Your host will say. Flash is unwelcome everywhere, and specifically prohibited on Mitai’s glow-worm walk, where it ruins the display for everyone.

Arrive fifteen minutes early. Every one of these operators asks you to exchange your voucher at admissions before the tour departs, and the evening venues need that margin to seat you before the pōwhiri starts.

A note on the word “authentic”

It comes up constantly in reviews, usually as a complaint that something felt staged. It is worth separating two things. A performance at any of these venues is exactly that — a performance, prepared and rehearsed, in the same way a concert is. What differs is who is performing and where the money goes: at Whakarewarewa the performers and guides are the community whose village you are standing in, at Mitai they are the whānau whose land it is, and at Te Puia the carvers are students of the national school.

The evening venues are purpose-built, and that is not a criticism — a pōwhiri staged for two hundred visitors a night could not happen in a residential village without wrecking it. Knowing which kind of place you have booked is what stops the disappointment. The full comparison is here.

Frequently asked questions

What is a pōwhiri?

A formal Māori welcome ceremony that brings visitors onto a marae or into a village. It typically involves a challenge (wero), a call (karanga), speeches and waiata from both sides, and often a hongi. Every Rotorua evening experience opens with one.

What do I do during the wero?

Stay quiet and still. If you are your group’s chosen chief, accept the token the warrior lays down and keep eye contact as you pick it up. Do not laugh, talk or film in the warrior’s face.

Do I have to do the hongi?

No. It is offered, not required, and declining politely in favour of a handshake is not an insult. If you do take it, one press of nose and forehead is standard, sometimes two.

Can I take photos at a Māori village?

Generally yes for landscapes, geothermal features and performances, unless your host says otherwise. At Whakarewarewa, ask before photographing residents or their homes — people live there. No flash anywhere, and none at all on Mitai’s glow-worm walk.

What should I wear?

Comfortable closed walking shoes and a warm layer for the evening experiences, most of which are partly outdoors. Nothing formal is expected. Remove your hat inside a meeting house.

Ready to book? See the Mitai Māori Village evening →

Related reading:

• Which Rotorua Māori village is right for you
• Whakarewarewa vs Te Puia
• With kids, and with accessibility needs