Learning Through Stories

       Stories have always captivated me. Whether they are tall tales, fables, or myths, they all have a characteristic way of sharing a belief or an experience with others. They don’t read like textbooks crammed with facts, but rather take you on a journey filled with metaphors and imagery. Their nature makes them both entertaining and educational so we are naturally drawn to using stories to express ourselves. Because of this, one of my favorite parts of the trip so far has been hearing and reading countless new stories. Our tour guides told us Maori stories of Earth Mother and Sky Father, the separation of North Island and South Island, the sacrifice that kiwi birds made, and many others. I was filled with awe as I heard these stories that have been passed down from parents to their children for hundreds of years before reaching my ears.

       These stories were used as a way to explain natural phenomenon and help make sense of the world around them. Rangimoana, our tour guide in Te Papa, told us that “myths always stay the same but fact changes.” His words really struck me because we usually think of facts as being the truth and myths as silly made up stories. But as new discoveries are made, our facts are constantly changing. We learned that the earth is an oblate spheroid rather than flat, that there are eight planets rather than nine, and that heredity is based on Mendelian genetics rather than the blending theory of inheritance. The Maori creation myths, however, have been told from generation to generation without much variance. Of course I knew all of this before hearing Rangimoana’s words, but he made me appreciate the importance of the myths and realize how much they can reveal about a culture. Through these stories I was able to see the sacred relationship that the Maori have with nature and it allowed me to understand many of their traditions promoting environmental sustainability that I had previously researched. The stories are also integral to the artwork so listening to our guides repeat these ancient myths allowed me to appreciate the meanings behind the Maori artwork rather than just their craftsmanship.

       In addition to these traditional myths, we also read more recent short stories depicting various aspects of New Zealand. One of these stories, “Maori Art”, tells a narrative of a girl’s ancestors and the significance of their names while “Hooks and Feelers” narrates the story of a child whose hand was amputated after being crushed by a car door. Each of these stories depicts a distinct experience that I initially considered to be completely unrelated. However as I was exposed to more stories, I was able to piece together a more genuine picture of this country and notice some common themes between stories. These similarities include Maori perception of time and conflicting cultures of Pakeha and Maori in addition to the universal experiences of community, love, and rejection. I look forward to understanding more about the cultural dynamics that exist in New Zealand through the many short stories and old myths that we will hear while we are in Auckland and Rotorua.