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Learn to Play the New Zealand Stick Game – E Papä Waiari

E Papä Waiari is a song and a stick game played in New Zealand.

John Archer, of the site New Zealand Folk Song, wrote me, “Girl Guides and Girl Scouts all over the world learn the Maori stick tossing song ‘E Papa Waiari’.” According to his site, this is a stick game which are called “Tï Räkau”. These games consist of “the rhythmic throwing and catching of sticks from person to person.”

Here are the lyrics to “E Papä Waiari” in Maori, followed by an English translation and two YouTube videos of the game and song…

E Papä Waiari

1. E papä Waiari, taku nei mahi
Taku nei mahi, he tuku roimata

Chorus:

Ë aue, ka mate au; E hine hoki mai rä
Ë aue, ka mate au; E hine hoki mai rä

2. Mäku e kaute öhïkoitanga
Mäku e kaute öhïkoitanga

Chorus

O Elder Waiari

1. O elder Waiari my habit has been
My habit has been to shed tears

Chorus:
Alas I will die; oh girl, return to me
Alas I will die; oh girl, return to me

2. I will count your footsteps
I will count your footsteps

Chorus

I like this video because you can clearly hear the lyrics…

This video has slow parts, so you can learn how to play the stick game (though it gets silly at times):

Here are more Maori Stick Games/Dances:

Enjoy!

Mama Lisa

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 12th, 2009 at 10:59 am and is filed under Children's Songs, Countries & Cultures, E Papa Waiari Stick Game, Games, Languages, Mama Lisa, Maori, Maori Childrens Songs, Maori Stick Games, New Zealand, New Zealand Children's Songs, Stick Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Learn to Play the New Zealand Stick Game – E Papä Waiari”

1. JOSHUA Says:
   June 15th, 2009 at 8:37 pm

   Hi, Great Site.

2. Maddy Says:
   September 9th, 2009 at 3:16 am

   great videos!

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