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The culture and traditions of New Zeland

Nesterov D.A.

New Zealand is a small island country in the Southern Hemisphere. It is situated south-east of Australia. The main islands are called the North Island and the South Island. The North Island is smaller than the South island. The highest mountains are situated in the South Island. The Southern Alps are situated there with the highest peak of Mountain Cook. It was named after Captain James Cook. Its height is 3764 m. The Southern Island has a very beautiful nature - high mountains, beautiful fiords and waterfalls.

The climate of the country is very mild. There is no much difference between the winter and the summer in New Zealand. The natural resources are - natural gas, iron ore, sand, coal, timber, gold, limestone. The population of the country is about 4 million people. Almost 80% live in cities.The official languages are English and Maori. The currency, spread in the country, is the New Zealand dollar. new zealand culture

The aborigines of New Zealand are the Maoris. They call New Zealand the Land of the Long

White Cloud. The Maoris are one of the Polynesian nations, who made their great journey to New Zealand from Indonesia and the South Pacific in the middle of the 14th century. They sailed in double canoes, open to all weathers. They knew the winds, the ocean flows and the star navigation that is why they reached this land, later called New Zealand and we can call them the Vikings of the Sunrise. Early Mвori adopted the tropically based east Polynesian culture. Social organisation was largely communal with families (whanau), sub-tribes (hapu) and tribes (iwi) ruled by a chief (rangatira) whose position was subject to the community's approval. The British and Irish immigrants brought aspects of their own culture to New Zealand and also influenced Mвori culture,particularly with the introduction of Christianity. However, Mвori still regard their allegiance to tribal groups as a vital part of their identity, and Mвori kinship roles resemble those of other Polynesian peoples. More recently American, Australian, Asian and other European cultures have exerted influence on New Zealand. Non-Mвori Polynesian cultures are also apparent, with Pasifika, the world's largest Polynesian festival, now an annual event in Auckland.

The largely rural life in early New Zealand led to the image of New Zealanders being rugged by industrious problem solvers. Modesty was expected and enforced through the "tall poppy syndrome", where high achievers received harsh criticism. At the time New Zealand was not known as an intellectual country. From the early 20th century until the late 1960s Mвori culture was suppressed by the attempted assimilation of Mвori into British New Zealanders. In the 1960s, as higher education became more available and cities expanded urban culture began to dominate. Even though the majority of the population now lives in cities, much of New Zealand's art, literature, film and humour has rural themes. From around the middle of the 20th century, many cultural icons called Kiwiana, started to emerge that now helps to define what it means to be a New Zealander; such as the silver fern and the paua shell.

As part of the resurgence of Mвori culture, the traditional crafts of carving and weaving are now more widely practised and Mвori artists are increasing in number and influence. Most Mвori carvings feature human figures, generally with three fingers and either a natural-looking, detailed head or a grotesque head. The pre-eminent Mвori architecture consisted of carved meeting houses (wharenui) decorated with symbolic carvings and illustrations. Mвori decorated the white wood of buildings, canoes and cenotaphs using red and black paint and painted pictures of birds, reptiles and other designs on cave walls.Since European arrival paintings and photographs have been dominated by landscapes, originally not as works of art but as factual portrayals of New Zealand. Portraits of Mвori were also common, with early painters often portraying them as "noble savages", exotic beauties or friendly natives. The country's isolation delayed the influence of European artistic trends allowing local artists to developed their own distinctive style of regionalism. During the 1960s and 70s many artists combined traditional Mвori and Western techniques, creating unique art forms.

New Zealand art and craft has gradually achieved an international audience, with exhibitions in the Venice Biennale in 2001 and the "Paradise Now" exhibition in New York in 2004.

Mвori quickly adopted writing as a means of sharing ideas, and many of their oral stories and poems were converted to the written form. New Zealand music has been influenced by blues, jazz, country, rock and roll and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation. Mвori developed traditional chants and songs from their ancient South-East Asian origins, and after centuries of isolation created a unique "monotonous" and "doleful" sound. Flutes and trumpets were used as musical instruments or as signalling devices during war or special occasions. Early settlers brought over their ethnic music, with brass bands and choral music being popular, and musicians began touring New Zealand in the 1860s.

Radio first arrived in New Zealand in 1922 and television in 1960. The number of New Zealand films significantly increased during the 1970s. In 1978 the New Zealand Film Commission started assisting local film-makers and many films attained a world audience, some receiving international acknowledgement.

Most of the major sporting codes played in New Zealand have British origins. Rugby union is considered the national sport and attracts the most spectators. Golf, netball, tennis and cricket have the highest rates of adult participation, while netball, rugby union and football (soccer) is popular among young people. Around 54 percent of New Zealand adolescents participate in sports for their school.

New Zealand's cuisine has been described as Pacific Rim, drawing inspiration from Europe, Asia and Polynesia. For dishes that have a distinctly New Zealand style, there's lamb, pork and cervena (venison), salmon, crayfish (lobster), bluff oysters, whitebait, paua (abalone), mussels, scallops, pipis and tuatua (both are types of New Zealand shellfish), kumara (sweet potato), kiwifruit, tamarillo and pavlova, the national dessert. A Hвngi is a traditional New Zealand Mвori method of cooking food using heated rocks buried in a pit oven. New Zealand's climate is ideal for fine wine growing, wineries and vineyards.

Электронные ресурсы

1.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand (дата обращения февраль 2016)

2. www.newzealand.com/ (дата обращения февраль 2016)

3. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the.../nz.html (дата обращения февраль 2016) 4. www.immigration.govt.nz/ (дата обращения февраль 2016)

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