Winston Peters Suggests Hongi May Never Return

New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters has suggested Māori ditch the hongi greeting for good to stop the spread of disease.

The hongi is a traditional Māori greeting in which noses are pressed together. It has been in less active-use during the Covid-19 crisis thanks to fear of spreading the disease.

Peters said cultural practices would need to change to adjust to a post-Covid-19 world, and openly questioned whether the hongi would ever come back.

He suggested that the high death rate of Māori in other pandemics were thanks to cultural practices.

(Source: RNZ Pacific 12th May 2020)