Celebrate Cook Islands Language Week
Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki 'Airani | Cook Islands Language Week is being celebrated across Aotearoa this week, as part of the Pacific language week series for 2025.
The theme for Cook Islands Māori Language Week is Ātui'tui’ia au ki te raurau a tōku matakeinanga – connect me to the offerings of my people.
For AUT Master of Design graduate, Kyani Vira Utia, from Manahiki, Rakahanga and Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, the practice of tivaevae has helped her feel closer to her family, people, and culture.
She speaks of both the joy and the challenges in learning to create tivaevaeand the beauty of figuring it out along the way.
Now, as she attends weekly te reo Māori Kūki ‘Airani classes and prepares for her first performance at the Te Maeva Nui festival, Kyani continues to deepen her connection to the language and cultural heritage of her matakeinanga.
Kyani says she and her mother are continuing to work on the tivaevae pieces that her grandmother started and says, “We get to be on the journey together. While it’s really fun, it’s also frustrating at the same time because we both don’t know what we’re doing but it’s such a privilege that we get to work it out as we go which I think speaks to my cultural journey.”
AUT’s Pacific language week videos and photos are a celebration of the power of culture and language, featuring our Pacific students, staff and alumni.
Cook Island greetings and other resources for Epetoma o te reo Māori Kūki 'Airani, including email signatures and printable posters, are available on the website of the Ministry for Pacific Peoples.
To watch each video in the 2025 AUT Pacific language video series as they are launched, watch on the AUT Pacific YouTube channel.