Please walk right in underneath this grove of tree ferns.

Notice how it has become darker here.

In the Tahitian and Maori languages, the verb Pō means
    "It's becoming dark."

Adding -nga to it gives us the noun pōnga; evening, nightfall.

Hence the general name for tree ferns is pōnga, which most Pakeha New Zealanders call pungas.


KIDS
As you walk along point out "Pōnga! It's DARK under there!"


TEENAGERS
Where did the Maori word PŌNGA come from?     FIND OUT

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, then 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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Draft webpage by John Archer,  6 Nov - 26 Dec 2025
 

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