Kidscorner

Saturday 14 November 2009

Kiwiana






Kiwiana or kiwi icons are on the newest post stamps which you can see in the top left corner. To become a kiwi these things have to become part of your life. According to that I am only partly kiwi.
So let's explore these kiwi items

Paua shell  This shell is only found in New Zealand. The creature clings to rocks in the sea 1 to 10 meters deep,along the shore. It is a very colourful shell and you can buy lots of jewelery made from Paua shell. Kiwies often have them at home and were in use in the past as ash trays.  

Pavlova is a typical  NZ sweet dessert which appeared in NZ when the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova
toured the country in 1926. The Australians however claim it is theirs
 
Hokey Pokey icecream is eaten a lot in kiwi families. It is vanilla icecream with lumps of sponge toffee.

Fish and chips or Fush 'n Chups is very typical. There are heaps of Fish and Chips shops. The ships are packed in paper or newpaper and eaten with tomato ketchup.
I love particularly the wedgies made of kumara you see on the photo. A kumara is a sweet potatoe.

Jandals is the typical footwear of New Zealand. Of course mainly seen in summer. On the photo in the shape of a silverfern. This is an embleem for many NZ sports teams. There are many NZ native ferns and fern trees especially on the West Coast

Swanddri bush shirts A NZ woolen shirt mostly worn by forest workers and farmers

Gum Boots or Wellingtons Mostly worn by farmers, nicely combined with short shorts

Buzzy Bee a typical NZ bright coulured toy the wings rotate when you pull the Bee on a string.

Rugby is not only a sport but a religion in NZ where big man run after an oval shaped bal. When someone has got the ball others tackle him to to take it of him. The Haka, a Maori war dance is performed at the beginning of the game. The All Blacks is the name of the team of the saints.

Kiwi Everyone knows the green wiki fruit. It is also a the name of a nocturnal flightless bird only found in NZ. It is an endangered species.
I like kiwies and I even wrote a poem about him here. But I made him a bit Dutch Oops

I am not really a rugby fan. Soccer is my sport. This gives me a  minus but most of the others are part of our lives now.

6 comments:

  1. Kia ora marja,
    Got every one. But 16 plus years ago I wouldn't have had a clue of most of them. I even wore more swandri today, though not with my gumboots! Have a great weekend.
    Aroha,
    Robb

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  2. Some very cool things & fun to learn about as well! Thanks for sharing this :-) Thanks for stopping by my blog too & ik wens je nog een prettig weekend! Groetjes!

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  3. Great post :) I forget these make NZ so unusual... thanks for the reminder :)

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  4. To be honest Rugby scares the hell out of me. Saw a game once and those guys wanted to kill each other. American football only looks tough, and sometimes it is but never like rugby.

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  5. Very cool! Fun to be a kiwi!

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  6. Really interesting and funny!

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Thank you!!