Please walk in under the grove
of tree ferns.
Notice how it has become darker here? In Tahitian and Maori the verb Pō means "It's becoming dark." Adding -nga to it gives the noun pōnga; evening, dusk, nightfall. Hence the general name for tree ferns is ponga, which most Pakeha New Zealanders call pungas. KIDS As you walk along point out "Ponga! It's DARK underneath!" GROWN-UPS Look at the dead fronds on the
ground and think of your ancestors, to whom you owe so much,
then at the young fronds, the pītau, curling
out out of the top of the trunk where they are protected by
the older fronds, and think about our next generation of
children whom we must protect. This is why whorls feature so
much in Maori carving.
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