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Celebrate Māori Language Week with the colours of Aotearoa

15 Sep 2022

It is Māori Language Week this week – the perfect time to embrace te reo and learn more about the language. Māori Language Week has been celebrated since 1975, with schools, libraries and governments departments across the country participating in the week. Take a tour of Resene colours from around Aotearoa New Zealand to learn more about te reo and get some colour inspiration for your next renovation project. 

Māori Language Week – Te Wiki o te Reo Māori  runs from September 12 until September 18th and if you’ve wanted to incorporate more te reo in your life, now is the perfect time to start. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Māori Language Petition, te Petihana Reo Māori which was presented to Parliament on 14 September 1972 with more than 30,000 signatures calling for a revival of te reo Māori as a living language in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Resene has for many years supported many Māori community projects, including the Marae DIY series. This led to the creation of the Traditional Māori Colour Palette with Māori ethnographer Wiremu Puke. The seven colours seen on traditional marae include Resene Uhi, a blackened brown and  Resene Kakaramea, a rust coloured with red ochre.

Introduce some colours from the Resene Traditional Māori Colour Palette into your next project and to introduce Māori colour names into your vocabulary.

Te Rangaihi Reo Māori | Māori Language Movement (reoMāori.co.nz)

Resene Poppy on the top wall is a vibrant true red while Resene Dynamite on the shelf and lower wall is blue based red. Vases in Resene Double Pravda and Resene Moccasin, box in Resene Natural wood stain and bowl in Resene Elderflower. Project by Gem Adams.

Whero/red in Māori culture is associated with high rank. Cloaks featuring feathers of the kākā denoted high status.

Background in Resene Cut Glass, vase in Resene Malibu, bowl in Resene Raindance and A4 drawdown paint swatches in (from right to left) Resene Anakiwa, Resene Cut Glass, Resene French Pass, Resene Onahau, Resene Malibu and Resene Aquarius.

Kikorangi is blue in te reo, specifically sky blue. Kahurangi means dark blue. In some iwi , kikorangi is the colour of Ranginui sky father’s skin in the morning and in the evening he put on his dark blue Kahurangi cloak to form the night sky.

 

Kākāriki/Green is the colour of the forest and is also the name given to the small parrot with green feathers. Pounamu/greenstone is highly prized in Māori culture and is considered taonga. Wall in Resene Jurassic, timber floor in Resene Colorwood Whitewash, side table in Resene Half Sea Fog and vases in Resene Inside Back, Resene Urbane, Resene Alpaca, Resene Half Rakaia and Resene Double Rakaia. Textured DIY artwork created with Resene EzyFill and painted in Resene Alpaca. Armchair from Nood.

 

Whites work with everything and off-whites such as Resene Snow Drift are the perfect match for dark, moody blues. Background in Resene Half Raven with A4 drawdown paint swatches in (from right to left) Resene Cumin, Resene Coast, Resene Indian Ink, Resene White Pointer and Resene Cloud, jug vase in Resene Cumin, dish in Resene Coast and bid vase in Resene Half Raven. Lamp from Paper Plane, linen from Foxtrot Home. Project by Laura Lynn Johnston. Image by Melanie Jenkins.

In the Māori flag, Mā/White represents Te Ao Marama, the realm of Being and Light. It is the Physical World. White also symbolises purity, harmony, enlightenment, and balance.

Learn more about Māori Language Week at www.reomaori.co.nz

Published: 15 Sep 2022