Removing footwear wnen going inside.

[Sandy]

I'm not sure why this started, or when, but if anyone goes inside while on the marae, the shoes have to be taken off and left at the door.. I think part of it was to help keep the place clean, but it also served to leave other unwanted things outside where they belonged..

It reminds me of the Japanese tradition of taking off any footwear before going inside, I'm unsure why the Japanese one started, but it's possibly a cleanliness thing there..

I've seen some Iwi here get really offended if someone didn't take off their footwear before going inside any of the buildings, the people were quite often not welcome back again, and if they were they had to agree to remove their footwear.. It's almost an insult if you don't take off any footwear when going inside..