Traditions of Oceania
Haka and hangi, Dreamtime and corroboree, kava, tapa and the umu oven. 58 traditions on EveryParampara so far.
🇼🇸 Samoa and 1 moreʻIe tōga
Precious woven mats exchanged in Samoan ceremonies to honor family ties and chiefly status.Dress
🇼🇸 Samoa and 1 morePeʻa
The traditional Samoan rite of full-body tattooing for men, tapped by master artistsRite of passage
🇳🇿 New Zealand and 2 moreMarae
A cleared, sacred gathering place at the heart of Māori and Polynesian community lifeSpiritual
🇼🇸 Samoa and 3 moreWhite SundayLotu Tamaiti
A Samoan holiday honoring children with church services, white clothing, and family gatherings on the second Sunday of OFestival · Dinner
🇦🇺 AustraliaSmoking ceremonyNumbuk Yabbun
An Aboriginal Australian ritual of burning native plants to cleanse, heal and welcomeSpiritual
🇳🇿 Auckland, New ZealandTā moko
The traditional permanent tattooing of the Māori people of New Zealand, marking identity and status.Rite of passage
🇹🇴 TongaTauʻolunga
A Tongan dance of hand gestures and steady eyes, performed by young women at weddingsPerformance
🇦🇺 AustraliaWalkabout
A rite of passage involving travel through the Australian landscape to learn ancestral lore.Rite of passage
🇫🇲 Satawal, MicronesiaPwo
An initiation that turns students of Caroline Islands wayfinding into navigatorsRite of passage
🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea and 5 moreCouvade
Childbirth rituals where fathers take to bed and mimic the labor of childbirthRite of passage
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- ʻIe tōga: Sarah Kelemen, CC BY 2.0, source
- Peʻa: Thomas Andrew (1855-1939), Public domain, source
- Marae: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Smoking ceremony: Shillings1005, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tā moko: Gottfried Lindauer, Public domain, source