The Maori.

The most interesting part of New Zealand culture to me was the relationship between the government and the native population, the Maori. The Maori only came to New Zealand relatively recently (800 years ago or so) so the language across the islands has remained very similar across both islands historically. Additionally, trade relations and treaties between the Crown and the Maori have been taken very seriously, and relations continue to improve as New Zealand has given back some of the land taken by settlers and made big strides to respect and honor native culture.

As a result, it is relatively common to see commercials with Maori who have facial tattoos, and there are Maori souvenirs and artifacts all over both islands. Museum and informational signs were often in both Maori and English, with Maori listed first just as often as English. The names of most places we visited were Maori as well, which was very interesting. I can't imagine what it would be like if most of the city and landmark names in the US were their First Nation designations.

We spent a lot of time watching Maori TV as well. Every place we stayed had access to at least one Maori TV station, though most had two or more. We saw several cultural shows, which consisted of Maori song and dance, as well as some weapons and sparring displays. News reports were in Maori, or Maori with English interviews thrown in. It was very cool to watch news stories where everyone was expected to be bilingual, and there were no subtitles. It was also cool to have access to aboriginal television in all locations. We didn't spend as much time listening to Maori radio (we listened to NZ National, their version of NPR), but I noticed a couple Maori radio stations as well. I find the language really interesting and beautiful, and I may have just added another to my long list! I'm glad we were able to learn and experience so much of Maori culture.