A Powhiri is a welcoming ceremony extended by the Maori to visitors coming onto their land. There are some great explanations of what they consist of, for example on the Korero Maori website or the New Zealand travel website.
At ULearn09, I have just experienced my second Powhiri and below is a quick clip caught on my iPhone of the occasion:
ULearn09 Powhiri
The elder welcomed us to the area of Christchurch, overlooked by the white caps of the waves (the Southern Alps). He talked of the need to remove and leave behind any thoughts that will get in the way of us working together and fully participating in ULearn09 and towards the end we moved forward and the visitors and the welcoming party pressed their heads together to signify the meeting of minds.
As before, I found it a very moving experience and am led to think of other cultural greetings I have experienced in a variety of communities on the African Continent. I’m left feeling that in the UK we seem to be missing something, which is sometimes now sadly reflected in our all too often grab and get lives.
Tags: Reflection1 Comment
[...] Delegates were welcomed to Ulearn09 at the powhiri and reminded that knowledge can be found all over the world and we need to be open and listen to each other and learn from each other. (Blog reflections on the powhiri) [...]