Indigenous Surfing
What is clear is that people respond to the ocean in ways that they have not responded to other, more conventional modes of therapy. If we look at the indigenous roots of surfing, we have a clearer understanding of the healing properties of the activity. In Hawaii, early surfing was both for pleasure and a way to connect with nature. Surfing was an integral part of many festivals and celebrations to the gods. The Makahiki new year festival was an annual celebration to the god Lono, and surfing was one of the ways of honoring Lono (Handy, 1965, p. 64). Early surfing in Hawaiian was restricted to those with sacred and powerful positions. Since Hawaii is a group of small islands, it is not surprising that Hawaiians have over one hundred words to describe the ocean in all its forms. Riding on the waves was a form of rigorous training for Hawaiian chiefs and noblemen and a way to connect with their gods. For many, the very ritual of carving wood into a surfboard is seen as a spiritual process, where an offering is made to the gods to ensure that the wood’s life energy will continue, just in a new form.
Both Captain Cook and his lieutenant, James King, wrote about surfing in journals dating back to 1778 . This is one of the first recorded observations of the activity. According to Lieutenant James King (Marcus, 2007, n. pag.), “The greatest numbers are generally overtaken by the break of the swell, the force of which they avoid, diving and swimming under the water out of its impulse. By such like exercises, these men maybe said to be almost amphibious. The women could swim off to the ship and continue half a day in the water and afterwards return. The above diversion is only intended as an amusement, not a trial of skill and in a gentle swell that sets on must I conceive be very pleasant, at least they seem to feel a great pleasure in the motion, which this exercise gives.“
We can see that surfing to the Hawaiians was part of the fabric of their society: spirituality, exercise, and legends. After Cook’s presence in the Hawaiian Islands, surfing and other indigenous practices faded from the Hawaiian lifestyle as European missionary practices replaced them. Marcus (2007) writes, “The end of the kapu system (indigenous system) also brought about the demise of the Makahiki festival, the annual celebration to the god Lono in which surfing played an integral role. But now that the Hawaiians had been set adrift from the old ways, Hawaiian culture fell into chaos.” Even though Christian Missionaries continued to discourage Hawaiians from kapu traditions, they were unable to stop surfing altogether.
If it were just the ocean that gave the healing spirituality that surfers experienced, then indigenous Hawaiians would have stuck to swimming in the ocean, which they already did remarkably well as documented by the first Europeans. Young says, “Surfing is the finding of yourself through medium of a surfboard.” The surfboard is the magical vessel that connects you to what the spiritual healing properties that the ocean has to offer. Moore elaborates on this deeper when he says, “…the natural environment is the principal sources of sensory stimulation, freedom to explore and play with the outdoor environment through the senses in their own space and time is essential for healthy development of an interior life.” Their space and time would be the surfboard vehicle, which is the link between the self and the natural environment (ocean).
Greater healing could take place if we began to relearn from the indigenous cultures what we in Western Society have lost. Indigenous cultures have the knowledge to live in harmony with the natural world, instead of trying to conquer it as we do in the West. Though there has been no official research done to prove that surfing affects our health, or that strong community plays a part in the healing, we can find validation by investigating early accounts of how the early Hawaiians used surfing to heal.
“I wish that when they asked us; ‘What is surfing?’ I would have said it’s a spiritual ritual, and not just a sport, because that’s what put us on the wrong track.” ~ Nat Young 1966
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