"Clearing of the way" - cadavers

what were people's thoughts about the "clearing of the way" ceremony in the dissection room? it felt a bit overwhelming and surreal to me

Originally Posted by elephantine

what were people's thoughts about the "clearing of the way" ceremony in the dissection room? it felt a bit overwhelming and surreal to me

Care to elaborate for those in the cheap seats who don't know what the "clearing of the way" ceremony is...?

the clearing of the way ceremony was held for the new 2nd year med students at Otago. We were taken into a big room with several cadavers in covers (obviously not see through) laid on tables, and then some members from the Maori community sang a special song. They said one of the purposes of the ceremony was to help students get over "uncomfortable" feelings when dealing with the cadavers later on.

Here's my blog post about the ceremony

That sounds like an interesting way to deal with the issue. Why did they pick 2nd years over the 1st years do you think? Maybe its a maturity thing?

Originally Posted by miss_universe

That sounds like an interesting way to deal with the issue. Why did they pick 2nd years over the 1st years do you think? Maybe its a maturity thing?

No it's because in Otago the "1st year" is really a common year to all the health science courses (including medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, etc) and at that stage (most) students have not been admitted into any specific course. So they really become medical students only at the start of 2nd year if they make it into medicine through that common first year (called HSFY here).

Originally Posted by elephantine

the clearing of the way ceremony was held for the new 2nd year med students at Otago. We were taken into a big room with several cadavers in covers (obviously not see through) laid on tables, and then some members from the Maori community sang a special song. They said one of the purposes of the ceremony was to help students get over "uncomfortable" feelings when dealing with the cadavers later on.

That sounds like quite a nice thing to do, though I can see how it mightn't work for some. Many anatomy departments have special ceremonies to give thanks to the deceased who have contributed to the teaching of others - though they usually only run once or twice per year.

Otago also runs a thanksgiving service for the body donors once a year, alternating between Christchurch and Dunedin (the two cities that contribute the most donors).

I didn't go to the clearing of the way ceremony simply because I don't follow the Maori beliefs system, so that stuff about clearing Tapu (while obviously valuable to some) just does nothing for me. I hear it was a worthwhile event though.

Personally the documentary still did the most for me in terms of dealing with the cadavers (and I think more than the clearing of the way ceremony could ever achieve), though we shall see when we actually see the cadavers in April...

Originally Posted by chinaski

That sounds like quite a nice thing to do, though I can see how it mightn't work for some. Many anatomy departments have special ceremonies to give thanks to the deceased who have contributed to the teaching of others - though they usually only run once or twice per year.

Yes adelaide does the same thing. I think that is important to do as well.

Originally Posted by greenglacier

Otago also runs a thanksgiving service for the body donors once a year, alternating between Christchurch and Dunedin (the two cities that contribute the most donors).

I didn't go to the clearing of the way ceremony simply because I don't follow the Maori beliefs system, so that stuff about clearing Tapu (while obviously valuable to some) just does nothing for me. I hear it was a worthwhile event though.

Personally the documentary still did the most for me in terms of dealing with the cadavers (and I think more than the clearing of the way ceremony could ever achieve), though we shall see when we actually see the cadavers in April...

It was kinda eerie, like when we walked in the room was cold and just reading what the donors died of made it a bit uncomfortable. I thought they would have had some religious things, but I guess not everyone is religious. The majority of the cadavers looked like they were going to be used by the dental department

Originally Posted by SASOL

It was kinda eerie, like when we walked in the room was cold and just reading what the donors died of made it a bit uncomfortable. I thought they would have had some religious things, but I guess not everyone is religious. The majority of the cadavers looked like they were going to be used by the dental department

It sure was something i had never experienced before...i noticed the "DENTAL" signs on some of them but i had no idea they had written what the donors died of