OkiOki Mid-Century, Instructional Manual

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He started to have trouble falling asleep. Weeks went
by, then months. Maybe he wandered to another herd.
Perhaps he fell off a cliff. Maybe Swifty found a better
life elsewhere. Swifty was gone.
The boy would lay in bed at night, staring restlessly
at the ceiling. Noticing that he was distraught, the
boy’s mother sat on the edge of the bed one night and
asked why he could no longer fall asleep. He missed
Swifty. Counting sheep no longer comforted him and
didn’t calm him. His mother empathetically rubbed
her hand through his hair, petting him repeatedly with
maternal care. “OkiOki, okioki.” She repeated this as
he dozed off to sleep. OkiOki, the Maori word for rest,
tranquility, and relaxation soothed the young boy. This
ritual continued for years. And the OkiOki tradition
continued beyond the young boy, with his children, and
his children’s children.
For generations now, well rested people
have depended on the lore of OkiOki.
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