Māori etiquette in New Zealand
Māori etiquette in New Zealand is not a list of things not to do. Two ideas, tapu and noa, sit beneath almost every custom a visitor meets. Once you see how they work together, you can reason your way through a situation nobody warned you about. Most people who make that effort say it changes what they notice for the rest of the trip, not just how they behave.
Tapu and noa: the idea beneath the rules
Tapu means restricted, or sacred. It means more than “special”: a tapu thing stands apart from ordinary use. Sometimes that is because it is dangerous. Sometimes it is dedicated to an atua (a deity or spiritual power) and no longer free for everyday purposes. Te Aka Māori Dictionary describes tapu as removing something “from the sphere of the profane and putting it into the sphere of the sacred.” Noa is the opposite: ordinary, unrestricted, safe to use freely. Food is noa. A person’s head is tapu, the most sacred part of the body. Whakanoa lifts tapu, usually through water, food or a karakia (a prayer or incantation).
Most customs a visitor meets come down to keeping tapu and noa apart. The head is tapu and food is noa, so the two must not touch. Don’t pass anything over a person’s head, don’t let food near hair, and don’t sit where people eat. New Zealand’s own intellectual property office puts the rule in one line: combining something tapu with something noa is offensive. It collapses a distinction that is doing real work. Once that clicks, you don’t need a list for each situation. You can work most of them out yourself.
The pōwhiri, as you’ll actually meet it
A pōwhiri (formal welcome) follows a set shape, even when hosts shorten it for visitors. You do not need to know the words. You need to know the order, and when to move.
| Step | What happens | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Karanga | A woman of the hosts calls the visitors on, and a woman among the visitors may call back | Wait for the call, then move forward with your group, not ahead of it |
| Wero | At a formal welcome, a warrior challenges the visitors and lays down a token | Stand still and stay quiet; only the honoured guest picks it up. It is theatre with old teeth, not a threat |
| Whaikōrero | Formal speeches, each followed by a waiata (song) | Stay seated, never walk in front of a speaker, and switch your phone off |
| Koha | The last visiting speaker lays the visitors’ gift on the ground: customarily money, sometimes food or something of value | Give through your group. There is no fixed rate and nothing is haggled; ask your host what is usual |
| Hongi and harirū | Hosts and visitors press noses and shake hands | Follow the person in front of you; a light touch is normal |
| Hākari | A shared meal closes the welcome | Eat with your hosts: the food lifts the tapu of the pōwhiri |
The hongi is not a greeting in the Western sense. It exchanges the hā, the breath of life. Māori tradition ties its origin to Tāne, who shaped a figure from earth and breathed life into her through the nose. She was Hineahuone, the first woman. The great kauri Tāne Mahuta carries his name. Our companion piece on understanding Māori New Zealand follows that thread further.
You feel the karanga before you understand the words in it. One long call arcs across the space between you and the wharenui, and the small group around you goes quiet and starts forward together, unhurried. A hand touches your arm: not yet, wait. When the whaikōrero begins you won’t follow the te reo, but you will feel exactly when the mood turns, gathering, then lifting. By the time it’s your turn, you already know it is time to lean in, press your nose gently to a stranger’s, and hold still. For a moment you are close enough to feel their breath meet yours, in and out. You hold it a second longer than a handshake would ask. Once you notice what has passed between you, it is not a greeting at all.
At the marae: food, shoes and the wharenui
The customs below all come back to keeping tapu and noa apart. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, the government’s own reference, sets out the shared core.
The wharenui (meeting house)
The meeting house is tapu: its carved figures stand for ancestors.
- Take your shoes off at the door. The space is tapu; shoes carry the outside world in.
- Filming or recording without asking. Some marae do not allow photographs, filming or even tape recording without permission.
Eating in the wharekai (dining room)
Food is noa, everyday and unrestricted, so it is kept well apart from anything tapu.
- Wait for the karakia before you eat. Food is noa; the karakia clears the way to it.
- Eat with your hosts. The shared meal, the hākari, lifts the tapu of the pōwhiri.
- Passing food over someone’s head. The head is tapu, food is noa — the two must not meet.
- Letting food near hair, or sitting where people eat. Both bring tapu and noa together.
Sleeping in the wharenui
If you stay the night, the same rule about the head extends to where people sleep.
- Ask before you assume. Kawa — a marae’s own protocol — varies from place to place.
- Sitting on the pillows. The same head-and-foot rule, extended.
- Stepping over people. The same rule again: keep feet away from heads.
Rāhui: why you keep out
A rāhui is a temporary restriction over an area or a resource, such as a stretch of coast, a lake or a forest. Often it gives the place time to recover. In August 2026, Ngāi Tūāhuriri placed a rāhui over the customary whitebait season on the Canterbury coast. The Department of Conservation said it would “work to ensure this is respected,” standing, in its own words, “shoulder to shoulder with the hapū.”
Not every rāhui is about conservation. A beach, harbour or river can also go under rāhui after a drowning or a death. DOC’s notice for Ōpoutere Beach in the Coromandel followed a drowning and a missing-person search. For as long as it stood, it restricted fishing, shellfish gathering, swimming, surfing and boating. If you find a place closed with no environmental reason on the sign, this is very often why.
Either way, a rāhui carries real institutional weight. It is not a suggestion, and it is not a technicality you can read around. If a beach, track or river is under rāhui, stay out and go somewhere else. Don’t look for the loophole.
When to put the camera away
Ask before photographing people, especially during a pōwhiri or a cultural performance. Some elements, certain karakia among them, may not be for filming at all, and the venue will usually say so at the door. Te Ara’s guidance to visitors is blunt: some marae do not allow “photographs, filming or even tape recording without permission.” A phone left running to capture a speech or a waiata counts as much as a camera does.
Most of what you see is yours to keep: the landscape, the buildings, the performance where the venue invites cameras. Two things are not. An urupā (cemetery) is sacred ground, not a backdrop. And tā moko, Māori tattoo, can carry personal history and whakapapa, so photograph it only with the wearer’s permission.
Saying it right: the vowels and the macron
This is, by a distance, the highest-return thing on this page. A macron, the line over a vowel as in ā or ō, marks vowel length, and it changes meaning. NZHistory, run by the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, notes that some words spelled the same mean different things depending on it. Te reo Māori has five vowel sounds, and they stay steady wherever they appear.
| Letter or word | Say it |
|---|---|
| a | As in “far” |
| e | As in “desk” |
| i | As in “fee” |
| o | As in “awe” |
| u | As in “sue” or “boot” |
| ā, ē, ī, ō, ū | The same sound, held longer |
| wh | Close to an English “f”: Whanganui is “Fah-ngah-noo-ee”, Whakatāne “Fah-kah-tah-neh” |
| Aotearoa | Ah-oh-teh-ah-ROH-ah: said evenly, unhurried, with no hard consonant added |
The “wh” trips most visitors, because a first read suggests a “w”. NZHistory notes that a handful of districts do say it closer to a plain “h” or “w”. Hearing it said two ways is regional variation, not someone getting it wrong. Practise on the country’s own name. Get that rhythm and most other words follow the same pattern.
Tikanga varies: ask, don’t assume
Everything above is the shared core, not a complete code. Tikanga (custom) and kawa (a marae’s own protocol) vary by iwi, by region and by occasion. A tangihanga (funeral) calls for more formal dress and different expectations than a casual visit.
Even the formal speeches follow two different patterns. In pāeke, every host speaker goes first, then every visiting speaker. In tau utuutu, hosts and visitors alternate, speaker for speaker. Te Ara links tau utuutu, in broad terms, to tribes descended from the Te Arawa and Tainui waka. So a pattern learned on one marae may not be the pattern at the next.
Te Ara’s own advice to visitors is the honest one: ask the local people what they expect. Don’t trust a website, this one included, to have the last word. Asking is not a sign you failed to prepare. Hosts usually take it as the right thing to do.
Learn the five vowels before you go and ask when you get there: between them, those two habits carry you through most of what this page describes.
— Andrew + Margaret- Tapu is restricted, noa is everyday — keep the two apart, especially food and heads.
- At a pōwhiri, follow the person next to you. Nobody expects you to know the words.
- Shoes off in the wharenui, and wait for the karakia before you eat.
- A rāhui means stay out, not "probably fine."
- Ask before you photograph people, and never a cemetery.
- Macrons change meaning. Say the vowels cleanly and you're most of the way there.
A final word on Māori etiquette
None of this is a test you can fail quietly — most hosts would rather you asked than guessed. Get the sense of tapu and noa, and most of the specifics follow on their own.
Andrew + Margaret
- Understanding Māori New Zealand Culture
- The Te Pā Tū Māori experience Culture
- The Tiaki Promise: caring for New Zealand Culture
- Visiting New Zealand Overview
- Best time to visit New Zealand Practical
- Te Ara: basic marae etiquette Official
- Te Aka Māori Dictionary Official
- Department of Conservation Official
- IPONZ: Māori IP concepts to understand Official
Do I have to hongi?
It isn't obligatory, but it's appreciated if it's offered to you. A handshake (harirū) alongside it, or instead of it, is normal on many marae — if in doubt, follow your host's lead.
How much koha should I give?
There's no fixed rate. Ask your host or tour operator what's usual for the occasion, and give what feels appropriate rather than guessing at a figure.
What if I mispronounce a word?
A genuine attempt at the vowels is what's noticed, and it's noticed warmly. Silence, or refusing to try, reads worse than an imperfect effort.
Can I take photos at a marae?
Ask first, every time. Expect some moments — certain karakia, some carving — to be off-limits, and treat any "no" as final.