Poi Rakau

Today my class and I played Poi Rakau.

It is a game where you have long sticks and you need them for the whole of your class so

one stick each.

Whaka Te Maui means Left in Maori and Whaka Te Matou means Right in Maori.

You will need someone to call out those two words or you could call them out while your class

plays.

When you say Whaka Te Maui the person on your left has to go to the person on

their left stick and you go to the person

on your left stick leaving your stick standing for the person on your right to grab.

When you say Whaka Te Matou the person on your right has to go to the person on their

right's stick and you go to the person on your right stick leaving your stick standing

for the person on

your left and that's basically how you play Poi Rakau which is a traditional maori game.

Traditionally Poi Rākau was a training game for warriors. One person stood in the middle

(pūtahi), surrounded by the throwers (tukunga) standing in a circle (wī).

The rākau were made from Mako wood and sharpened.