A group of teenagers from Taiwan’s Tsou tribe is set to visit New Zealand Feb. 14-21 as part of Hawaiki Project, an initiative launched in 2018 to boost cultural exchange between the two countries’ indigenous groups.
The 12 participants will engage in a variety of activities including learning ceremonial Maori war dance and traditional fishing methods. In return, the travelers from Taiwan will share ritual music and dance featured in their tribe’s war and harvest festivals.
According to Icyang Parod, minister of the Cabinet-level Council of Indigenous Peoples, a number of linguistic and archaeological studies indicate Austronesian-speaking peoples originated in Taiwan. As New Zealand is the southernmost place on such groups’ migration paths, the Maori share a cultural and linguistic heritage with the indigenous people of Taiwan, he added.
Hawaiki Project was established with the aim of delivering authentic experiences highlighting cultural connections along Austronesian migration routes. In partnership with the CIP, the project previously arranged for a group of Maori youngsters to visit the Amis tribe in eastern Taiwan’s Hualien County in 2018 and for Amis youths to make a reciprocal visit to New Zealand in 2019. (TYT-E)
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