There was waiata, animation, stories, korero, team quizzes and fitness routines to Poi E.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King
Just a sample of the ways more than a million people came together on Tuesday to share a moment and celebrate Te Reo Māori.
The Māori Language Moment is one of the pinnacle events of Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori, organised by the Māori Language Commission, Te Taura Whiri.
Its chief executive Ngahiwi Apanui said the numbers for this year's event were already rocketing past last year's record.
"We had over 1.1 million people register, but more importantly than that in the first hour we received over 2000 uploads of people doing their various celebrations of the Māori language moment," he said.
"We're really stoked, the engagement is well up on what it was last year."
Apanui said numbers like that were phenomenal, considering the position the country is in right now with Auckland in lockdown, and level 2 restrictions in the rest of the country making events difficult.
"Given the impact of Covid, you know we were in lockdown for much of the last six weeks and of course Tāmaki Makaurau is still in lockdown, I think our people have adapted really, really well and it's been a brilliant celebration."
Upper Hutt Primary School, which won the award last year for their standard of participation, was back at it this year.
Their kaiako Shanice Tredrea said it was important the school took part. Her students had been learning about the journey of Te Reo, she said, and the laguage petition of 1972.
"We just want to revitalise that language and looking at the newspapers, it looks like we're going from surviving to thriving, which is amazing. We just really want to push that kaupapa," she said.
"They were really excited about it, every child has been connecting with Te Reo Māori regardless of whether they whakapapa."
Te Taura Whiri said uploads were still happening, and the final tally will be known at the end of the week.
Having passed 1.1 million so far, they might fall short of the 2 million world record they had hoped for, but Ngahiwi Apanui said he's still happy.
It just leaves a goal for next year.
