lifestyle / Travel
Alive + Thriving The Country That Didn’t Skip a Beat By Kaitlin Emig
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YOGALIFELIVE.COM
Photo by Federico Pagola
NEW ZEALAND SUMMER FESTIVALS
hile much of the world wore masks throughout last winter in the Northern Hemisphere, people in New Zealand dressed in costume, painted their faces and joined together for a summer of festivals. This celebration of “normal” life has given everyone watching from around the world a glimpse that this too will pass. May this give you hope for the time when traveling around the world, gathering with friends and dancing to music all night will soon be around the corner. I caught up with friends and cohorts from my time dancing barefoot in a New Zealand paddock to hear how the festival season has been alive and thriving, but also to ask why these festivals are unique compared to anywhere else. Everyone answered with similar thoughts about the smaller size and beautiful settings these camping excursions take place in. But is there something deeper within the roots of the culture that sets New Zealand festivals apart? Photographer Tim Shoultz weighed in on this matter. “One of my favorite parts about New Zealand festivals is the opening ceremony,” he says. The Maori culture is represented in a pōwhiri (traditional welcoming to a marae or meeting house) as a welcoming onto the land where guests are invited to show they come in peace, to make an offering and to pay respect to the land and ancestors. Generally, several Te Reo Maori (traditional language) blessings are said and an intention is set for the festival, Shoultz describes. The intentionality behind a reason to gather, live, love and be present warms Shoultz’s heart and provides a glimpse of how the festival community enacts a potential for what can be. “Festivals are a fulfillment of the ideal environment for love, creativity and compassion that guide our efforts into the betterment or evolution of our species by remembering our true purpose of being stewards to Mother Earth, or Papatūānuku, or Pachamama — our home,” Shoultz believes. Shoultz is originally from Alabama and has attended medium to large festivals in America, but finds their sheer size doesn’t appeal to him anymore. Since arriving in New Zealand in 2017, he has attended, volunteered and been a media coordinator at seven festivals ranging in size. He is
