Video – New Zealand: This is the village with the longest name in the world

The All-Blacks are our first opponents during the Rugby World Cup, and it's a chance to visit their home ground to get to know them better.
Did you know that New Zealand is home to the village with the longest name in the world?
Listen to the people say it, you will never be able to get it back.

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One o'clock in the afternoon.

The first test to reach the village with the longest name in the world, enter it into the GPS: it contains… 85 letters! A few minutes after typing it on the screen, head to the New Zealand countryside. Along the way, there are landscapes and herds of animals as far as the eye can see…

Finally arriving at the site, it was impossible for our reporters to miss the huge signboard with the name of the village. As for pronouncing it, after several failed attempts… We went to ask for help from the nearest house, Katerina's house. We ask her if she can do it, and she is amazed: “Taomatawakatangihangakuawotamataturipokakapikimaungahoronokopokaiwinawakitanahu”. Success on the first try! Did you learn it by heart? “Yes, when I was young, most people here knew how to pronounce it.”.

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I must say that there are not very many people here. This village consists of only one family and three houses. There are currently eight people living in Katrina's house. This New Zealander introduced us to her aunt, which is good, because we have a question to ask her: “What are the names of the people who live here?” “What do we call the people here?!”She continues, surprised. Once again, she answers without any hesitation, with a smile on her lips and a humming tune: “The people of Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu.”

This Maori family owes the extended name of the village to one of their ancestors. This is what Tamatea looked like just now, Katrina explains next to a poster representing him. Legend has it that he crossed many lands, and even seas, on foot.These 85 letters are actually a poem in his honor. Katerina knows it by heart: “The peak where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, descended, swallowed the mountains and climbed them. The inveterate pedestrian playing the flute for someone dear to him“She recites in a soft voice.

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CD | TF1 Report Julien Cressens, Lucas Lasalle

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