Virtual Reality Pōwhiri—Practicing an Indigenous Welcoming Ceremony

Pōwhiri is a traditional welcoming ceremony in Māori culture in Aotearoa New Zealand. Certain protocols (tikanga) have to be followed and must be learned. There is a general lack of understanding regarding this due to the scarcity of pōwhiri. The immersive and experiential nature of Virtual Reality (VR) can be used as a tool to increase understanding and confidence. We have implemented a VR learning tool in the reconstructed context of Te Rau Aroha marae in Bluff which allows for safe practice of pōwhiri before applying it in a real welcoming ceremony. A cultural evaluation study was conducted first followed by a user study to determine understanding and confidence gains, highlighting the complexity of the topic. The user study clearly showed that the system was useful to increase participants’ understanding in regards to pōwhiri as well as their confidence surrounding pōwhiri. We are confident that our experiences and key findings from the studies can be used to drive further development of VR tools in the context of visualising cultural ceremonies.