A marae, malaʻe, meʻae or malae is a communal or sacred place that serves religious and social purposes in Polynesian societies. In all these languages, the term also means cleared and free of weeds or trees. Marae generally consist of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular, bordered with stones or wooden posts perhaps with paepae (terraces) which were traditionally used for ceremonial purposes; and in some cases, such as Easter Island, a central stone ahu or a'u is placed. In the Easter Island Rapa Nui culture, the term ahu or a'u has become a synonym for the whole marae complex.

Māori, or te reo Māori, commonly shortened to te reo, is an Eastern Polynesian language and the language of the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. A member of the Austronesian language family, it is related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and Tahitian. The Maori Language Act 1987 gave the language recognition as one of New Zealand's official languages. There are regional dialects. Prior to contact with Europeans, Māori lacked a written language or script. Written Māori now uses the Latin script, which was adopted and the spelling standardised by Northern Māori in collaboration with English Protestant clergy in the 19th century.