An Irish Greeting based on a Mihi from New Zealand

On this Link to Class Blog for Y7/8 Room 5, Melville Intermediate School, Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

we read how

A Mihi

is a Maori introduction or greeting,

which contains information about yourself”.

 

We saw the students introducing themselves.

It was very interesting.

They talk about the name of their canoe,

the nearest mountain to them,

the closest river,

their meeting place,

their tribe,

their chief

and last of all their names. .

 

We decided to make our introductions

to these students from

Room 5 Melville Intermediate School,

because we are working with them at the moment.

 

They are teaching us about New Zealand

and they are learning about Ireland.

 

This is our podcast:

‘Dia Dhaoibh (May God be with you)

to our new friends in Room 5,

Melville Intermediate School

in Hamilton

New Zealand

We liked your greeting,

your Mihi.

So we decided to send you one back

In Irish we say

‘Céad míle fáilte romhat!’

 

to a visitor.

 

This means

‘A hundred thousand welcomes’

We come from Ireland

We live close to the

Little Sugar Loaf Mountain.

 

The Three Trout River is our nearest river

 

The name of our county is Wicklow

This means ‘Viking Meadow’.

 

The Vikings were

fierce warriors

who came to Ireland

 from countries to the North 

from 795 AD

 

We meet in our local town Greystones

In the 1800s the sailors who had passed

our local beach would call it

‘The Grey Stones’.

They would say

‘There was a storm at the Greystones’,

or

‘There was good fishing at The Greystones’.

This is how our town got it’s name.

 

The name of our school is Saint Brigid’s.

She was born over fifteen hundred years ago!

But people remember her because

she was good to the poor, the sick and the old.

February 1st is her Feast Day

so we will have No Homework 😀 to celebrate.

Bye for now.

Click here for the earlier post on sharing learning with Room 5, Melville School

9 thoughts on “An Irish Greeting based on a Mihi from New Zealand

  1. Pingback: If Only The Best Birds Sang … » Blog Archive » Message received from New Zealand today.

  2. Hi Guys!!!!!!
    I enjoyed listening to the podcast you sent us.
    Ive studied Ireland and before and found out a whole lot of cool facts. I have Irish in my blood and my mum told me that our family comes from a place called Dingle and my mum also told me that when she was younger she travelled around the world and one of the places she went to was Ireland. She Lived there for 6 months with my dad! 🙂

    Elizabeth
    Room 5
    Melville Int School
    Hamilton
    New Zealand

  3. Hello Elizabeth,

    Thank you very much for your lovely message.

    We are happy to hear that you know about Ireland. We are also pleased to hear that you have some Irish in your blood.

    Dingle is in the South of the country in a county called Kerry. There is lots of nice scenery and friendly people there.

    We hope that your Mum and Dad enjoyed their stay in Ireland. Ireland is sometimes called ‘Ireland of the Welcomes’. We hear that New Zealanders are very welcoming too. We like when visitors come to our country.

    We hope you have a good week in school. It is only Monday here when we are writing this. We have been in school an hour and a half. School starts at nine and ends at twenty to three. When does your school start and finish?

    Best wishes

    2nd Class Room 6

  4. Pingback: If Only The Best Birds Sang … » Blog Archive » Class Collaboration between Greystones, Wicklow, Ireland and Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand

  5. Hi Guys 🙂
    Our school starts at 8:20am and goes to 3:00pm 🙂
    I too have some questions for you:

    1. Where did the Leprechaun stories come from?
    2. Had you ever heard of New Zealand before we started talking to you?
    3. Do any of you have ancestors from New Zealand?
    4. Except for St. Patricks Day, what do you celebrate?
    5. Do you have a St. Patricks Day Parade and if you do, what’s in it?

    Best wishes

    Eliabeth
    Room 5
    Melville Int. school
    Hamilton
    New Zealand

  6. Hi Elizabeth,
    Good 🙂 the way that you have laid out your questions so clearly. We think you must be an organized person.
    You have an early start at 8:20am. We don’t start until nine. And you have a longer day. We finish
    at twenty to three. But then our class is a bit younger than yours. We have breaks of 10 minutes
    and 30 minutes. Perhaps your breaks are longer.

    So to answer your questions
    1. Where did the Leprechaun stories come from?
    Some say that they descended from the legendary tribe of Tuatha de Danann. When a new tribe, the Milesians invaded Ireland, legends tell us that they conquered the Tuatha de Danann and forced them to live underground. Some people say that this is where the leprechauns came from. Leprachaun comes from the old Irish words for ‘little body’. The Legend of Leprechauns has been made popular by TV and films and also as something that tourists might enjoy.

    2. Had you ever heard of New Zealand before we started talking to you?
    Many of 2nd Class Room 6 are big rugby fans so that is the main reason we would know about New Zealand. Also when the earthquake of 2011 happened, the children in 2nd Class Room 6 at the time, would have seen a lot about New Zealand on the TV news. Because it was in the news they did a project on New Zealand and learned a lot more about your country. Children in the class who are interested in nature knew about the unusual animals that live in New Zealand like the Moa and the Kiwi. We knew there was a lot of sheep in New Zealand and a lot of farming and dairy products from New Zealand are well thought of, as being of excellent quality here in Ireland. Finally,’The Hobbit’ movie is very popular here at the moment. We could see that the scenery in New Zealand is very beautiful. Jack says he would like to live in a Hobbit house when he grows up 😉

    3. Do any of you have ancestors from New Zealand?
    No, nobody has ancestors from New Zealand. But we know of people who have gone to New Zealand to find work.

    4. Except for St. Patricks Day, what do you celebrate?
    Perhaps some of these are similar to New Zealand
    Besides St.Patrick’s Day we celebrate:
    ‘Pancake Tuesday’. That is happening tomorrow. Some of us will have pancakes for breakfast, dinner and tea.
    We will eat them with lemon and sugar, or perhaps with chocolate spread or banana. In our grandparents’ time Pancake Tuesday was the day the house was cleared of everything nice to eat because for forty days in the run up to Easter Sunday people ‘fasted’ and did not eat sweets or cakes or biscuits. These forty days are called ‘Lent’.
    ‘Easter Sunday’ which is a church feast when we will have Easter Eggs
    ‘Valentine’s Day’ on February 14th
    ‘Halloween’ on October 31st
    and ‘Christmas’

    5. Do you have a St. Patricks Day Parade and if you do, what’s in it?
    Nearly every town has a Patrick’s Day Parade. Many of 2nd Class Room 6 will march in it 🙂 representing the rugby club or tennis or football club. If children are in the ‘scouts’, they may march wearing their uniforms. Businesses advertise in the parade. They have displays advertising their companies. So do voluntary groups. There will be musical bands and dancers too.

    We hope this has answered your questions
    With every good wish, to you and your class and Teacher

  7. Hi Guys!!!!!!!

    Thanks so much for writing a comment about my recount. My Friend (Jamie) and I both Laughed when you mentioned the Onion. 🙂 In my stories I often like playing with time. My Sister said that sometimes it can hook the reader onto my story 🙂 Right now in class we are doing Diary writing. We are making up 5 charachters and giving them descriptions, when we have finished that we are going to make a mini diary and add in the Characters we made up. 🙂

    Hope to talk to you soon 🙂

    Elizabeth
    Room5
    Melville Int. School
    Hamilton
    New Zealand

  8. Hey Guys!!!

    Like I mentioned before, in class we are doing diary writing and mine is about immigrants that come from Ireland and are moving to New Zealand. My Main character Kendal loves to play netball and I was wondering, Have you guys ever heard of Netball and do you guys play it?

    Cant wait to see your answer! 🙂

    Elizabeth
    room 5
    Melville Int. School
    Hamilton
    New Zealand

  9. Hello Again Elizabeth,

    Diary writing is fun.
    Immigrants from Ireland sounds like a very interesting idea.

    Netball is played in Ireland.
    It isn’t a hugely popular sport in that not many people play it here,
    but those that play it love it.
    Not many of the boys and girls in 2nd Class, Room 6
    would know what netball is.
    It has travelled over from England to Ireland.

    We play basketball in school.
    The boys do rugby training at the weekend.
    Our national sports are Gaelic football and hurling.
    These are very popular.
    In the summer months many children play tennis.

    If your character can play netball and it is popular in New Zealand,
    it may be a way that she ‘finds her feet’ and makes friends in her new home.

    Good luck with your work,

    2nd Class, Room 6 and Merry Beau (Class Teacher)

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