Te Papa: Blood, Earth, Fire

Today I visited Te Papa and spent 3 hours on just the Blood, Earth, Fire exhibit which touches on the beginnings and development of New Zealand. What stick out in my mind the most is the very first part of the exhibit. You walk into a darkened room, in the center is a lighted case with the Maori story on how the first woman was created, a carved whakapapa (fuc-a-papa) staff which is a tool to prompt great orators in the reciting of their genealogy which Maori trace back all the way to the stars, and a stone with red earth/clay in it. There are 4 small lighted displays in the four directions North, East, South and West. Each display has a poem and a specific type of rock the represents each region of New Zealand, you are encouraged to touch each stone, which is a twin half to the other sides that still reside in the area they come from. There was something that was truly powerful about that display.