Story: Leisure in traditional Māori society – ngā mahi a te rēhia

This romanticised version of Māori life in a kāinga, or traditional village, was painted by Gottfried Lindauer in the early 1900s. The children in the image probably reflect Elsdon Best's description of Māori children as leading 'a care-free, joyous, outdoor life until old enough to take part in domestic tasks and even then indulged in.'