Editorial: Ritual merits respect

Ignorance, there is no excuse for it - What's worse is when someone in authority spouts their ignorance in a public arena like Danish politician Marie Krarup did when talking about the Maori custom of the wero being less than "civilised" or correspondence within our paper calling the tradition "ridiculous".

Wero literally means "to cast a spear", today the challenge is accorded to distinguished visitors and is an honour to have it performed to you.

The ritual has been performed to kings, queens, government officials and many other dignitaries.

Originally the purpose of the wero was to find out whether the visiting party came in peace or war.

But that was only part of the tradition which dated back to pre-European colonisation.

One could perhaps see parts of traditions from different cultures as ridiculous. How many people really believe a rabbit actually delivers chocolate eggs at Easter?

It's about accepting the nuances of all cultures and embracing the ritual for what it is, a celebration and keeping alive the traditions of a culture.

Hiwi and Pat Tauroa describe the wero in their book Te Marae A Guide to Custom & Protocol - by accepting the wero you take the first step to signifying the beginning of an exchange between people. Relaxation results from the knowledge that, for the time being, we are at peace with one another.

I'd suggest to those who don't know about a particular ritual or someone's culture to first learn about it before casting aspersions.