Why Maori women miss out with hongi

By Piata Rapata-Hanning - Year 12, Kavanagh College

Another powhiri. Another 20 kisses on my cheek.

If you're female and you've ever been to a powhiri, you will know exactly what I'm talking about.

If you haven't, let me paint a picture to help you understand exactly where I'm coming from.

The formal speeches are over. Songs have been sung. Now it is time to take place in a tradition that is thousands of years old - Te Hongi.

You take your place and move single file to finally meet those who have welcomed you.

Men either side of you, everyone is smiling, the atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming.

And then it happens AGAIN!

You watch as all of the men hongi and all of the women receive a kiss on the cheek.

I feel my face flush. I don't want to be a haututu (mischievous person) and embarrass them by laughing or forcing my nose to theirs.

So I smile, shake their hand and collect more cheek kisses - 850 and counting.

So why am I worried, you ask? Let's take a few minutes for a revisionist history lesson.

Maori creation stories reinforce how the hongi came to exist.

At the beginning of time, Tane Mahuta breathed life into the first woman, Hineahuone.

From that time onward, the exchange of breath between two individuals in the form of the hongi became a powerful symbol for Maori.

It symbolises two people joining together.

How so, I hear you ask? Isn't it all about rubbing noses?

Well, you are 50% correct.

The two people should touch foreheads and noses.

Again, Maori belief is that the head is a sacred region of the body - it holds the brain that allows us to function.

The hongi is also a symbol of sharing knowledge between two people.

How could a kiss on the cheek compete? I thought. It takes all of two seconds.

For generations, Maori from all over our land understood the hongi significance and importance.

There were no gender biases. No accusations of inequality. It was tikanga (a formal rule) and everyone, I mean everyone, followed it.

So what caused the change?

In the 19th century, Maori experienced first-hand the patriarchal society of the new arrivals.

All of the church leaders were men. All of the traders were men. All of the politicians were men.

Women were considered their husbands' property, and obedience was expected.

Maori saw no visible signs that Pakeha women held any positions of power.

This was in contrast to the social structure of Maori society which was matriarchal.

Yes, it's true. In pre-colonial Maori society, the dominant whakapapa (ancestry) of an individual was taken from their mother's lineage.

Iwi and Hapu (sub-tribe) leaders were both male and female - gender equality in action!

We cannot underestimate the impact on Maori cultural practices of the experiences of the 19th century.

And so it was with the case of the hongi.

Maori men changed their traditional practices such as hongi ki te wahine (hongi with women) as they became influenced by patriarchal behaviour.

How do we know this? Awesome Maori and Pakeha researchers such as Ngahuia Awekotuku, Ranginui Walker, Anne Salmond and Judith Binney have all explored the history of what really happened in the Maori communities during the 19th and 20th centuries.

These are the writers who have helped me understand why I get 20 kisses on the cheek and not 20 hongi.

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