When in Rome

So, I had my first experience with a hongi last Thursday.

First, a little background; like many western cultures, modern day New Zealand consists primarily of people of European descent who took over the native culture in not-so-subtle fashion within the last few hundred years (the Maori learned quickly; after northern tribes acquired muskets, their initial instinct was to shoot the hell out of their southern neighbors, who then acquired muskets and shot the hell out of their southern neighbors and so on, in an interesting bit of history called the Musket Wars). Unlike any other western culture I've seen, though, the Europeans (called pakeha) have since made a truly impressive effort to live alongside the native culture instead of taking it over. They really take this seriously, and Maori culture is therefore ubiquitous around here.

For example, I'm working at an inpatient unit now called the Rangatahi (youth) unit, and they have a Maori elder as part of the staff to help the Maori families acclimate to the Westernized style of medicine. There's also a Pacific Islander elder on staff for the same purpose. They bust out the guitar on a daily basis and all of the patients on the unit join in traditional Maori songs, complete with the accompanying dances. When someone is discharged from the unit, they have a traditional Maori farewell.

I happen to be working for one of the Pakeha outpatient teams, but they have teams who specialize in Maori and Pacific Islanders. They have their own set of challenges to deal with; apparently mental illness is so stigmatized in PI culture that an entire family will be shunned if people find out that a single member of a family was hospitalized. As a result, we don't see to many PI's in the inpatient unit.

It's pretty neat being exposed to other cultures which still maintain so much of their original identity. My days on the inpatient unit will begin with a hongi with the maori elder followed by our team singing a maori song. It's not what I'm used to but I guess that's why I'm here in the first place.