HEGOGO - Restoring Balance

HEGOGO: Restoring Balance
Healing in the Irutahuna

What happens when illness is understood as more than a physical condition- when it becomes a sign that something within the family has been left unsettled?

In this deeply personal cultural reflection, Mea Podi Vai explores the Motuan practice of hegogo: a family gathering called to confront anger, acknowledge wrongdoing and restore balance within the irutahuna, the centre of the home.

Beginning with the illness of his young niece, the story moves from a present-day family experience into the ancestral origins of the practice. Through the recorded words of Dou Kevau Rahobada, it reveals how families once gathered before the ruma dirava, spoke openly about conflict, washed their hands in water and released their anger so that healing could begin.

The book also considers how the arrival of Christianity transformed the beliefs surrounding this practice while leaving much of its original structure intact.

At its heart, HEGOGO is a story about family, spirituality and reconciliation. It reminds us that healing is not always experienced by one person alone. Sometimes healing begins when anger is released, relationships are repaired and the family becomes whole again.

Part of the Journey of Discovery – Motu Sene collection, this ebook invites readers to look beyond the visible practice and consider the deeper cultural meaning that may still live quietly within it.

Author: Mea Podi Vai
Format: Digital ebook (PDF)
Delivery: Available for download following purchase