Tipene, the main protagonist of Minecraft in te reo Māori. File photo / Supplied
Tipene, the main protagonist of Minecraft in te reo Māori. File photo / Supplied
COMMENT
It is a beautiful irony that a language some said would divide us, is bringing so many of us together. At last count more than 20,000 people were preparing to march with us in celebration of the Māori language in parades taking place in seven cities across Aotearoa.
Māorilanguage is being celebrated everywhere from our classrooms to our workplaces, on the trains we ride to work, and the computer games our children play, to the newspapers we read: what began as a protest movement is turning into a unique celebration of our national identity.
Attitudes have changed so much in a generation, and we suspect we have more champions than critics: particularly amongst our younger generation.
Te reo Māori became an official language in its own country, only after years of protest and a claim laid with the Waitangi Tribunal by language champion, Dr Huirangi Waikerepuru. The tribunal found that te reo is a taonga the Government was obliged to protect under the Treaty of Waitangi.
Language advocate and Taranaki iwi kaumatua Huirangi Waikerepuru (centre) leads a hikoi through Whanganui in 2004. File photo / Tracey Grant
We have gone from protest march to parade in a generation - and we can thank everyday people for making te reo something that more and more of us identify as part of our national heritage and identity.
This week, representatives from Microsoft were at Te Taura Whiri i Te Reo Māori showing us an incredible Māori Minecraft world: Ngā Motu. Players can build and paddle a waka ama, construct a wharenui, chase flocks of moa about or hunt tuna (eel). This kind of project, in collaboration with Māori designers, is a game-changer that changes the way our youngsters think about their identity and the future.
What our children see on the screens they watch teaches them how their world works and what their place is in that world: this week our tamariki will see themselves reflected in Minecraft and they look ataahua. As we look ahead to the future: children who can speak many languages, including their own, should be our shared goal.
The Māori language and culture brings us together, in celebration and also in mourning. In the aftermath of the Christchurch massacre tragedy on March 15, the BBC reported with surprise at how haka were being performed across the country to honour the dead. Months later when a young Muslim New Zealander stood to speak at the UNHCR in Geneva, he began his speech in te reo Māori. He said he did so to honour the dead and to honour the living, the future. More people from all walks of life are increasingly holding on to te reo and tikanga Māori as part of their identity as New Zealanders.
Our ancestors' goals as they explored and settled the greatest ocean on earth were bold and audacious: and so are ours. And like them, we are unapologetic.
We want to see te reo everywhere, every way, for everyone, every day: Kia māhorahora te reo.
Rawinia Higgins. Photo / Supplied
The Māori Language Commission's Maihi Karauna strategy aims to see 1 million New Zealanders speaking Māori by 2040, 85 per cent valuing te reo as a key element of national identity and 150,000 Māori New Zealanders aged 15 and over speaking te reo as much as English.
Attitudes have changed so much in a generation, and we suspect we have more champions than critics: particularly amongst our younger generation. New Zealand is the turangawaewae of te reo Māori.
This is its only home and we are the only people on earth who will treasure, celebrate and keep it alive.
#KiaKahaTeReoMaori
• Professor Rawinia Higgins is the Māori Language Commissioner.
