The Twelve Days of A New Zealand Christmas

So here's a little ditty for you to sing along to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"...The translation is thoughtfully placed below.

The Twelve Days of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, twelve piupiu swinging,
eleven haka lessons, ten juicy fishes, nine sacks of pipi, eight plants of puha,
seven eels a-swimming, six poi a-twirling, five big fat pigs, four huhu grubs, three
flax kits, two kumara, and a pukeko in a ponga tree.

For non-natives, see these words....

On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...
Twelve twelve flax skirts worn by kapa haka groups,
Eleven traditional Maori dance lessons,
Ten Juicy fishes,
Nine sacks of fish having a white elongated shell, abundant in sandy and silty mud,
Eight plants of prickly sow thistle,
Seven eels a-swimming,
Six juggling balls on ropes, held in the hands and swung in various circular patterns, similar to club-twirling,
Five big fat pigs,
Four native New Zealand insects,
Three kete (woven flax kits) were brought down from the heavens by Tane-nui-a-rangi (the Sky Father) for the benefit of 
his children to use in collecting the bounty the earth mother provided in the earth and sea. In themselves, they depict Birth, Life, and Death. (Whew!)
Two sweet potatoes,
And a New Zealand Swamp Hen in a tree fern....

Yes, that is a picture of the Ponga tree fern and its fronds above.
Now, so much research leaves one exhausted!