Māori Art: Carvings, Crafts, Jade, Ritual Objects, Everyday Items | Sea Life, Islands and Oceania

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MĀORI ART AND CRAFTS

entrance to a marae

Traditional Māori art forms include wood carvings, stone carving, tattoo-making and weaving. Weaving is a popular art form that involves creating intricate patterns from natural fibers, such as flax. These fibers are used to make baskets (kete), skirts (piupiu), mats (whariki), and architectural panels (tukutuku). Like tattoos, each pattern and design tells a particular story. Carving is similar, with cultural meanings and messages carved into materials such as wood, bone, and greenstone (pounamu, jade). Carved items, such as jewelry, are among the most popular souvenirs for tourists visiting New Zealand. Māori carvings and weavings can be seen in museums throughout New Zealand, where the unique styles of different tribes are on display.

As the Māori originally had no written language, artwork encapsulated beliefs and carried stories through time. The Māori have traditionally decorated many kinds of material objects. Even today, Māori carvers make elaborate designs and images of gods and mythical figures on canoe prows, jade pendants, and bone tikis. “Whakapape” are carved on every marae. Māori statues and carvings, especially those with filigree motifs, are admired worldwide.

Large meeting houses of the Māori were decorated with elaborately carved facades containing figures of their ancestors. The entire structure was conceived as a representation of an ancestor." Each Māori sub-tribe is an art-producing and art-owning unit. Therefore, while there are certain similarities in Māori art styles, there are also differences between sub-tribe styles. [Source: J. Williams, “Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life,” Cengage Learning, 2009 *]

Carving have been an important tradition in Māori culture. Traditionally, carvings are either made out of wood, whalebone or pounamu (greenstone, jade). Traditional carved crafts include “rakau” (carved walking sticks), “hei taonga pounamu” (greenstone necklaces), and bone carvings. According to the auction house Christie’s, sought-after Māori objects include wood carvings, bowls, statues, clubs, marine objects such as paddles and canoe prows, and ceremonial tools. Among the Māori-related objects that Christie’s has auctioned off are images created by the expedition artists who accompanied the Captain Cook expeditions (1728-1779) such as “The Head of a New Zealander [Māori]. with a comb in his hair, an ornament of green stone in his ear, and another of a fish's tooth; and a drawing of a tattoo sketched by one of the earliest Māori visitors to Britain. The Māori artist Tene Waitere (1854-1931) carving a window pare (lintel) in 1905 during the restoration of Nuku-Te-Apiapi, a carved house at Whakarewarewa, New Zealand. [Source: Christie’s]

Māori symbols

Art Galleries and Shops:
Wairau Māori Art Gallery, Wairau, northern North Island
Māori Arts Gallery, Boat shed 1, Frank Kitts Park, Wellington Central, Wellington 6011
Kura Gallery (Wellington) 19 Allen Street, Te Aro, Wellington 6011
Kura Gallery (Auckland), 95a Customs Street West, Auckland CBD, Auckland 1010
The Poi Room, 17 Osborne Street, Newmarket, Auckland 1023
The Hangi Shop, 583 Great South Road, Ōtāhuhu
The Haka Shop, 31 Watene Lane, Nukuhau, Taupō 3330
Stonepeace Kohatu Hūmarie, 9 Haumoana Road, Haumoana 4102
Lisa Tamati Designer Jewellery, 44 Liardet Street, New Plymouth Central, New Plymouth 4310
Native Woodcraft, 5c London Street, Dannevirke 4930
Tika Pono Toi Gallery, Māori Art & Carving
Tarati Design: Māori Arts & Crafts
An Eye 4 Art: Māori Art & Māori Gifts - Korowai - Pounamu
Garth Wilson Jade, 63 Rutherglen Road, Paroa, Greymouth 7805
Te Koha Jade Carving, 69 Waiho Flat Road Franz Josef, West Coast
Mountain Jade, Auckland Airport, Rotorua and Mānawa Bay
Rakai Jade, 1234 Fenton Street, Rotorua

Subjects and Symbols in Māori Art

Common symbols used to decorate carvings include: 1) Pikorua (single twist) representing the path of life, and eternity and symbolizes connectedness or friendship as two people’s souls are joined for eternity, even though they may be apart at times; 2) the double or triple twist, symbolizing an eternal bond of cultures or peoples as opposed to individuals; 3) Koru (spiral), representing an unfurling silver fern frond, and symbolizing the cycle of life, new beginnings, and fresh starts and may be expanded to include harmony, peace, tranquility, personal or spiritual growth, awakening, and change. [Source: Elizabeth Jacobsen Education Abroad Network]

‘Matariki’ (the Pleiades constellation) — an example of a high-quality, contemporary pounamu (jade, greenstone) artwork based on traditional designs and concepts and made with modern carving and polishing tools

Manaia is creature has a bird head, human body, and fish tail. It is a messenger and intermediary with the spirit world, and can be a protector. It also represents the balance of heaven, earth, and sea. Whales were important to early Māori as they arrived in New Zealand. The whale tail represents protection and guidance, especially for seafarers. Dolphins indicate a free spirit and closeness to nature. The Hei Tiki figure has traditionally been a good luck charm. It can also indicate ancestral pride, wisdom and clarity, and character. It is often handed through generations. The Pleiades constellation is important to the Māori. Its pre-dawn rising in June represents the beginning of the Māori New Year. Māori consider this group of stars to represent a mother and her six daughters.

Ancestors (tupuna) play a central role in Māori art and culture. The majority of human images (tiki) in Māori art portray ancestors, and some of the finest ancestor images were, and are, created as architectural ornaments. Māori proverb states: "My strength comes not from one source but from thousands; from my ancestors." Ancestors include all forebears, from the founding ancestors who arrived in canoes from eastern Polynesia and gave rise to the different Māori groups, or iwi, that exist today to individuals who were born and died within living memory. Tupuna of both sexes are honored and revered throughout Māori society. The great majority of human images, or tiki, in Māori art depict ancestors in myriad manifestations on works ranging from personal ornaments to monumental sculpture. [Source: Eric Kjellgren, “Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in The Metropolitan Museum of Art”, 2007]

Māori Tattoos and Canoes

Tattoos were introduced to much of the world by the Māori and Tahitians. The word tatoo is of Polynesian and the custom of tattooing was introduced to Europe by Captain Cook's 1769-71 expedition. Sailors on Cook's ship copied Māori tatoo patterns and observed how the practice was done. After tattooing was introduced to Europe it became popular with sailors The Māori, wrote Terry Madau in “About Faces”, have "an elaborate tattoo techniques called ta moko...One traveler described a tribal chief who prided himself on having spared no visible part of his body: even his lips, tongue, gums, and palate were completely tattooed."

Tattooing among the Māori was highly developed and extremely symbolic. It also was a sign of status and rank, and was regarded as attractive to the opposite sex. Men generally wore tattoos on their faces, buttocks (raperape) and thighs (puhoro). Māori men have traditionally worn tattoos on their faces, thighs and buttocks. Women also sometimes wear them, particularly on their lips (kauwae) and chins. Other parts of the body known to have tattoos include women's foreheads, buttocks, thighs, necks and backs and men's backs, stomachs, and calves.

woman Māori with tattoo, Rotorua, New Zealand, 1900-1920

Ta moko is name for Māori tattooing, It is one of the five main Polynesian tattoo styles (the other four are Marquesan, Samoan, Tahitian and Hawaiian). Tohunga-ta-moko (tattooists) were considered tapu, or inviolable and sacred. The methods and tools they use are similar to those used in other parts of Polynesia. In pre-European Māori culture, many, if not most, high-ranking individuals received ta moko. Ta Moko were associated with mana and high social status. However, some individuals of the highest status were considered too tapu to acquire ta moko, and it was also not considered suitable for certain tohunga to do so. Receiving a ta moko was an important rite of passage from childhood to adulthood and was accompanied by many rituals. [Source: Wikipedia]

Māori canoes (waka) are doubled hulled vessels with elaborate carvings and feathers hanging along the waterline. A 120-foot Māori war canoe can hold 150 people and is steered with two rudder-like devices guided by two people at the stern. Both men and women paddle the canoes (but usually men do it). During traditional ceremonies, when a canoe is brought ashore it is welcomed by tattooed men in flax skirts who blow conch shells and do a haka. Among the greatest Māori works of art are Tauihu (canoe prows). One from Late Te Puawaitanga or early Te Huringa I period (1500–1900), attributed Ngati Toa, is from the lower North Island and is made of wood and paua shell. At the tauihu's top is the peaked head and protruding tongue of a human form. Two large carved spirals behind the head represent the parent deities of the Māori creation story, Ranginui (the sky father) and Papatuanuku (the earth mother). These tauihu became tribal heirlooms, passing from generation to generation. [Source: Māori Treasures from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Tokyo National Museum, Heiseikan Special Exhibition Gallery 1 & 2, January — March 2007]

Māori Personal Ornaments and Ritual Objects

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Personal ornaments are precious and powerful objects in Māori culture. Often worn on the head, the most sacred part of the body, these absorb the supernatural power (mana) of their wearers and are carefully handled when not in use. Personal ornaments were worn primarily to accent the beauty of the face and neck, ornaments in the past ranged from ornamental combs of wood or bone to ear ornaments and pendants of pounamu (greenstone). whale ivory, and other materials, as well as natural objects, such as the distinctive white-tipped black feathers of the huia bird. Many of these ornaments continue to be made and used today.' Intimately associated with the head , the most sacred part of the body, ornaments absorbed and retained the mana (supernatural power) of their wearers and were handled and preserved with care when not in use. [Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Maripi (shark-tooth knife), 1700

Tikis are sophisticated, hand-carved, palm-size fertility symbols, usually carved from greenstone and often worn as pendants. One ritual object made of wood and shell at the Metropolitan Museum of Art looks like a penis. Dating to the 19th century, it originates from Gisbourne and measures 8.9 × 7.3 × 24.8 centimeters (3.5 inches high, with a width of 2.9 and a depth of 9.75 inches). A Flute (Putorino), dated to 1800–1820, is made of wood and fiber. It originates from the Bay of Plenty region and measures 43.2 × 3.8 × 2.5 centimeters (17 inches high, with a width of 1.5 inches and a depth of 1 inches)

Shark-tooth necklace (Nga Kakano or Te Tipunga, 1100–1500) is made from the teeth of a great white shark and is from Opito Beach, Coromandel region: The great white shark was regarded as a supernatural being by the Māori and known as mango taniwha. It has been admired by Māori for its legendary qualities of strength, speed and ferocity. Māori made necklaces out of bone, stone, and shell as well as teeth. Shark-tooth necklaces are rare.[Source: Māori Treasures from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Tokyo National Museum, Heiseikan Special Exhibition Gallery 1 & 2, January — March 2007]

Ngarara (lizard) pendant (Nga Kakano or Te Tipunga, 1100–1500) was made by an unknown Iwi (tribe) from the Gisborne region. Made of whale bone, this ornament is shaped like a lizard believed to have the mauri (spiritual qualities) of the animal it represents. Ornaments in animal form are very rare, both in New Zealand and in the tropical Pacific islands from which the ancestors of Māori come.

Hei tiki (neck pendant in human form) (Te Puawaitanga, 1500–1800) was made by an unknown Iwi (tribe) from pounamu (New Zealand jade), paua shell and pigment. The most distinctive type of Māori neck pendants take the form of a highly stylized human figure called the tiki. Hei tiki are among the most valued of all Māori ornaments. Those who wear a hei tiki carry with them the stories of ancestors who made the tiki and who wore it before them. They are finely carved in pounamu (New Zealand jade), a hard, durable, and beautiful stone.

Māori Human-Bone, Fish-Hook-Shaped Pendants

A Māori human-bone, fish-hook-shaped ceremonial pendant (Hei Matau’) that dates 18th century or earlier was sold at an art auction by BADA. Measuring 7.5 centimeters high, 2.5 centimeters wide, 4 centimeters deep (3 x 1 x 1½ inches), it is made from one piece of human bone. Such one piece fish hooks, particularly amongst the Māori, are mostly relics of deceased ancestors. [Source: British Antique Dealers' Association( BADA)

In Māori legend the god Maui pulled up the land of New Zealand out of the ocean with a fish hook made from the jaw bone of his ancestor Muri Rangawhenua, and so these hooks became more than just utilitarian objects. Often worked from the shoulder or jawbone of a prominent individual, the hook became a valued ceremonial pendant, worn hung from the ear or around the neck, which conferred great prestige or ‘mana’ on the owner.

necklace made from bones of moa (large extinct New Zealand bird) and shaped to resemble whales’ teeth; It comes from Southland region occupied by Murihiku Māori, when moa were still around

Originally made from the bones of either ancestors or those with a renowned prowess in fishing the hook pendants eventually became purely ornamental and were copied in greenstone. Hei matau is the Māori word for fish hook pendant. Hei means “worn around the neck”). The sea and fishing have always been important to the Māori, and a fish hook symbolizes prosperity, life, and well-being. It can also bring safety when traveling over water.

Carvings worn around the neck could serve a variety of purposes, including ornamentation, identification, protection, self-affirmation, and award. When bone is worn against skin, it begins to change color. This represents the person’s spirit being absorbed into the carving. In this way, a carving carries the spirit of those who have worn it, and they are often passed down through generations, carrying the spirits of ancestors. [Source: Elizabeth Jacobsen Education Abroad Network]

Māori Treasure Boxes

The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection contains a Treasure Box (Papahou) made of wood and shell. Dating to the 18th century, it originates from the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand and measures 8.3 × 10.2 × 44.5 centimeters (3.25 inches high, with a width of 4 inches and a depth of 17.5 inches. Another kind of Treasure Box — a Wakahuia — at the museum dates to the 1830s–40s and originates from Rotorua. It is made of wood and mother-of-pearl and measures (14 × 16.5 × 47 centimeters (5.5 inches high, with a width of 6.5 inches and a depth of 18.5 inches). [Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: To contain ornaments and other small valuables, in former times carvers fashioned ornate treasure boxes, which were designed to be suspended from the rafters of houses to keep the boxes' valuable and supernaturally powerful contents safely out of reach. Suspended from lugs carved at either end , treasure boxes hung above the heads of the household residents and were most often seen from below. As a result, the underside was often as lavishly embellished as the lid and sides.

Treasure Box (Papahou) from The Met

Adorned with the sinuous relief carving for which Māori tohunga whakairo (expert woodcarvers) are renowned, the boxes were regarded as taonga (treasures) in their own right and, like other taonga, bore individual names and histories. Treasure boxes occur in two basic forms. Shallow rectangular examples were known as papahou, and the deeper oval type were called wakahuia. The distinction between papahou and wakahuia is partly temporal and geographic as well as typological. Papahou were characteristic of the northern region of the north island of Aotearoa in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Wakahuia are more typical of the eastern region of the north island and begin to appear in large numbers in the early nineteenth century; by the second half of that century the wakahuia had become the predominant form of treasure box. [Source: Eric Kjellgren, “Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in The Metropolitan Museum of Art”, 2007]

The Metropolitan's papahou likely dates from the eighteenth century. The composition consists primarily of tiki (human images), almost certainly representing tupuna (ancestors), which cover virtually the entire surface. In many instances the eyes are inlaid with the iridescent shell of the paua, a marine snail related to the abalone. At either end of the underside, human bodies-one male, one female-appear in low relief; their necks curve upward around the ends of the box to join fully modeled heads, which served as the suspension lugs. Other, smaller tiki figures curve from the lower surface up the sides, where their heads and arms appear in rows interspersed with spi ra Is. The closely fitted lid is adorned with a handle formed from three reclining tiki shown nearly in the round. Two of the figures a re portrayed in the act of procreation, perhaps symbolizing the continuity of the mana of the ancestors through successive generations of their living descendants.

Māori Pounamu (Greenstone, Jade) Crafts

Pounamu is a type of jade also called New Zealand greenstone. It is found only in a few places on the western coast of the South Island but carvings made from it are found throughout New Zealand. There are several types of pounamu, categorized by the green appearance and the presence of flecks. According to legend, pounamu was once a woman named Waitaiki. She was very beautiful, and one day, Poutini, son of Tangaroa the sea god, carried her away down the South Island coast. Her husband Tama-ahua pursued them to the Arahura River, where Poutini turned Waitaiki into greenstone to keep her there. Poutini is considered to be the guardian of pounamu. [Source: Elizabeth Jacobsen, Education Abroad Network]

portrait of Rangi Topeora, wearing numerous pounamu items

Jade was prized and sacred to the Māori as it was for the ancient Chinese and the Olmec and Mayan civilizations in America. Jade comes in two forms, nephrite and jadeite, both of which are treasured for their hardness and firmness and a luster that creates an appearance of transparency. Jadeite is a green silicate of sodium and aluminum that is found mostly in Burma. Jadeite is slightly heavier and harder than nephrite (rating 7 on Mohr scale compared to 6½ for nephrite and 10 for a diamond) but not as tough as nephrite, which is more plentiful and is a silicate of calcium and magnesium. [Source: Fred Ward, National Geographic, September 1987]

Pounamu (greenstone) is a nephritic jade. Nephrite appears in a variety of colors and is found mostly in dolomitic marbles and serpentised ulramfics. Without impurities it is snowy white. The presence of magnesium and iron produce a bluish white color. Yellow is produced by ferric ion, brown by hematite, and grey and black by graphite. Green is produced by chromium or a mixture of magnesium and ferric ion. Nephrite is stronger than most steels. When Europeans arrived in New Zealand the Māori had not yet learned how to forge metal and many of their tools were made from jade. The best stones were often used to make weapons such as war club that could easily kill a man with one blow. [Source: Fred Ward, National Geographic, September 1987]

In the old days, Māori on the North Island searched for greenstone in the forest and mountains of the South Island, using trails popular with hikers today such as the Routeburn and Hollyford Track. Green stone was used to make weapons, tikis and jewelry. According to gemologist Fred Ward, after jade was brought back to the villages "slices were cut using abrasive saws moistened with a slurry of quartz or garnet or sand. Holes were drilled by spinning bamboo, wooden or metal points coated with a wet abrasive. Carvings were polished with jade powder or sand. Months of years were often required to fashion a single piece." [Source: Fred Ward, National Geographic, September 1987]

The Tawhito Whenua Mere pounamu (New Zealand jade weapon) (Te Puawaitanga, 1500–1800) was made of pounamu (New Zealand jade). This old and famous mere pounamu was owned by Te Kekerengu, a rangatira (chief) of the Ngati Ira tribe. During inter-tribal fighting, Ngati Toa chief Te Rangihaeata captured Te Kekerengu and his mother. As they were about to be executed, this chiefly woman sang a song of farewell to her ancestral lands. Her song was so moving that Te Rangihaeata spared both her son's life and hers.In gratitude, Te Kekerengu presented Te Rangihaeata with this mere. [Source: Māori Treasures from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Tokyo National Museum, Heiseikan Special Exhibition Gallery 1 & 2, January — March 2007]

Māori Decorated Everyday Objects, Tools and Weapons

Among the decorated Māori everyday objects in the Metropolitan Museum of Art are: 1) a wood Feeding Funnel (Korere) dated to the 19th century and measuring 17.5 × 8.9 × 12.1 centimeters (6.9 inches high, with a width of 3.5 and a depth of 4.75 inches); 2) a wood Canoe Bailer (Tiheru), dated to the 19th century and measuring(14 × 29.8 × 47 centimeters (5.5 inches high, with a width of 11.75 inches and a length of 18.5 inches); 3) a fiber Carrying Basket (Kete Whakairo) dated to the mid-20th century, originating from the Bay of Plenty region and measuring 22.9 x 35.6 centimeters (9 x 14 inches).

Heru (ornamental comb)

Matau (fish hook) (Te Huringa I, 1800–1900) was made by an unknown Iwi (tribe) of paua shell, wood and fiber. Matau have been expertly fashioned from wood, bone, shell, and New Zealand flax fiber. The care with which they have been made indicates their importance. [Source: Māori Treasures from the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa Tokyo National Museum, Heiseikan Special Exhibition Gallery 1 & 2, January — March 2007]

Taiaha kura (chief's long fighting staff) called Te Rongotaketake (Early Te Huringa I, 1800–1900) is made of wood, kaka feathers, dog hair, flax fiber, rushes and paua shell. Taiaha kura (chief 31's long fighting staff) has red parrot feathers and white dog hair, which mark this as the weapon of a chief. It has a personal name, Te Rongotaketake. Weapons of great status were sometimes exchanged to seal peace arrangements. This taiaha was passed between two Māori tribes in about 1819. Around 1847 it was again gifted as a symbol of peace, this time to a senior officer in the New Zealand colonial police force.

Heru (ornamental comb) (Te Puawaitanga, 1500–1800) was made by an unknown Iwi (tribe) of whale bone and paua shell. Long hair was high fashion for chiefly Māori men at that time. The hair was oiled, braided, coiled on the head in a topknot, and embellished with bird feathers and heru. Heru were an indication of status and authority. Like any personal objects associated with the sacred head area, they were carefully kept away from any casual handling.

Toki poutangata (ceremonial adze) (Te Puawaitanga or early Te Huringa I, 1500–1900) was made by an unknown Iwi (tribe) of of wood, pounamu (New Zealand jade) and fiber. When a meeting house was to be built, a large tree was felled for the ridge pole. A chief might use a toki poutangata to make the ritual first cut. The chief wielded the toki as a symbol of his authority and tribal leadership. Toki poutangata are made of the finest materials. They are tribal heirlooms, given personal names, and sometimes credited with spiritual powers.

Māori Hand Clubs

The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection contains a wooden hand Club (Wahaika) dated to around 1890. Originating from Rotorua it measures 16.5 x 44.5 centimeters (6.5 x 17.5 inches). Another hand club in museum’s collection — this one referred to as a Mere pounamu — dates to the 19th century and is made of Greenstone (nephrite). It is (37 centimeters) (14.5 inches) tall.

Mere pounamu (greenstone hand club)

Eric Kjellgren wrote: One of the principal weapons of Māori warriors was the patu, a teardrop-shaped hand club used to strike a thrusting or slicing blow to the head or torso of an opponent during hand-to-hand combat. The clubs were typically made from wood , whalebone, or grayish stone, but the most prized examples, known as mere pounamu, were fashioned from pounamu (greenstone), a type of jade. When not in use, patu were suspended from the wrist by a loop or worn at the waist thrust into a belt. Patu served as symbols of authority and martial prowess as well as practical weapons. [Source: Eric Kjellgren, “Oceania: Art of the Pacific Islands in The Metropolitan Museum of Art”, 2007]

Joseph Banks, who accompanied Captain James Cook to Aotearoa in 1770, noted this symbolic role of Māori patu: "The principal people seldom stirred out without one of them [a patu] sticking in his girdle... insomuch that we were almost led to conclude that in peace as 190 well as war they wore them as a war-like ornament in the same manner as we Europ~ns do swords."

Māori hand clubs were passed down within families as taonga (treasures). Like other Māori weapons, many bore individual names and were among the most coveted trophies of war. Imbued with the mana of their successive owners, weapons also absorbed the mana of the individuals they had slain. As noted by the Māori scholar Ngahuia te Awekotuku, such venerable weapons continue to be "treated with considerable reverence and caution " by contemporary Māori.

Painstakingly ground from precious and extremely hard greenstone, mere pounamu were created for rangatira (chiefs). So prestigious were the mere pounamu that when captured in battle, chiefs in some instances reportedly handed the clubs to the victors and asked to be slain with them rather than more ordinary weapons. According to the early-twentieth-century Māori historian Makereti, "When a tangata rangatira [chief] was captured and was about to be slain, he often passed his own patu pounamu to his captor, asking that he might be killed with it. If his captor was also a tangata rangatira , the request would be granted, for a chief of high rank would do this." Used, reused, captured, and treasured for generations, many mere pounamu and other weapons accrued illustrious histories and formidable mana (supernatural power).

Māori Clothes and Weaving

Māori cloaks at the Hetet School of Māori Art

Weaving is a popular art form that involves creating intricate patterns from natural fibers, such as flax. These fibers are used to make baskets (kete), skirts (piupiu), mats (whariki), and architectural panels (tukutuku). Like tattoos, each pattern and design tells a particular story.Traditional Māori garments includes kākahu (cloaks), such as the korowai adorned with feathers and the piupiu skirt made from woven flax. Made primarily from harakeke (flax) and often decorated with intricate woven patterns called tāniko, these garments hold deep cultural significance, reflecting identity, status, and a connection to the natural world.

The “kakahu” is a feathered cape used by Māori for ceremonial purposes. It has traditionally been made of flax without needles, without looms, and without tools of any kind except the fingers of the women who make them. Kakahu worn by esteemed Māori chiefs sometimes are adorned with kiwi feathers. They are decorated with intricate geometric patterns created with the tāniko weaving technique.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Most Māori garments, including cloaks, were made using a twining technique known as whatu, in which single or double pairs of wefts were wrapped around each warp thread individually by hand. The practical preparation of fibers for weaving was a lengthy process. Fibers from the leaves of the flax plant (Phormium tenax) were extracted by skillful cutting and scraping with a shell, and then washed. Prepared fibers were gathered into rolls and pounded with a stone beater to soften them. The process of twining began when the weaver drove two pegs into the ground and stretched between them a single cord from which the strands of flax were hung.

Māori Weaving Pegs (Turuturu)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art collection contains a wood weaving peg (Turuturu) dated to the late 18th–early 19th century. Originating from Whanganui region, it measures (37.1 × 3.8 × 4.8 centimeters (14.6 inches high, with a width of 1.5 and a depth of 1.9 inches). A Māori proverb goes: Ko te taura whiri, he whiri i te tangata — The woven cord is like the cord that connects people. [Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Weaving Peg (Turuturu) at the Met

According to Metropolitan Museum of Art: This weaving peg incorporates a distinctively carved male figure with elaborate designs that accentuate his tattooed skin (moko). Carved in the round, intricate low-relief carvings cover the entire surface of the figure’s body except for the back of his head, which is the seat of an individual’s mana or personal sanctity. With elbows resting on each knee, the arms extend up towards the chin, which is supported by five-fingered hands. The face is dynamic — serial notching accentuates the pronounced arch of each brow, giving way to more fluid grooves, lengthened lines that delineate elongated eyes and the contours of the lips and mouth. The nostrils flare, the mouth is wide open and gaping, as if to consume this flow of energy. Spiral designs on each knee spill over onto the top section of the polished shaft and create a characteristic double spiral motif. This feature frames the face of a further face which faces the other direction, drawing the eye around to the back, creating an energy and dynamism much admired in Māori figural sculpture. [Source: Evelyn A. J. Hall and John A. Friede, Metropolitan Museum of Art]

Weaving pegs (turuturu) were driven into the ground in pairs for the suspension of prepared flax fibers for weaving. The terminal and pointed tip of this example attest to this practical function, yet their overall composition emphasizes a formal similarity to important deity figures known as tiki wananga and hint at the cosmological associations of this genre of carving. The left-hand peg was always left plain, while the right-hand one was carved and dedicated to the female deity associated with the moon, Hine-te-iwaiwa. The more complex form of carved weaving pegs, such as this one, were designed to incorporate the spiritual potency associated with the goddess whose efficacy was believed to become integrated into the bound texture of the cloak, thus enhancing the spiritual armature of the wearer.

The term turuturu reinforces these powerful cosmological associations. Derived from the terms ‘tu’--meaning to stand upright and erect in a vertical posture; and ‘ru’ — meaning to split, to shake or quiver. Whilst ‘tu’ referred to the act of thrusting upwards, ‘ru’ referred instead to a seismic renting of the earth (whenua), in this instance by the penetrative force enacted by the peg as it was driven down into the earth. Both terms combined in a single phrase — turuturu –referred therefore to an intensified duality that operated forcefully in two contrasting directions. For the act of driving the wooden peg into the soil rent the earth below as much as it pierced the air directly above it. This ritual, accompanied by the steady rhythm of chanting, was enacted at night by an officiating male expert known as a tohunga. His actions were complemented and balanced by the female weaver who in subsequent months would bring her own power to bear for the task at hand. Sitting directly on the ground, a weaver connected physically with Papatuanuku (the divine force associated with the land), pooling her creative energies and innate female potency (ira wahine) in a concentrated effort towards completion of the sacred task ahead of her.

Within the context of te ao Māori, a Māori worldview, this single carved wooden peg captures the entirety of the universe. Conceptually, it is far from merely functional but rather embodies a wealth of associations that allude to the complex interconnected fabric of the world. The wood of the carving emulates the uprightness of the tree from which it was hewn, thrusting upwards into the dark night skies where it mingles with the close concentration of stars overhead. The elaborately carved turuturu tapu, in tandem with its uncarved partner, therefore forms a vertical and horizontal bridge that links the two worlds of land and sky via a single sacred thread of fiber, woven and bound over time into a foundation (kaupapa) that speaks strongly to a network of ancestral relations and genealogical relationships.The act of weaving was emboldened by this integration of cosmological principles into its material frame. It was a strategy intended to heighten the efficacy and potency of textiles which were conceived as a means to mirror the very fabric of the universe itself and our own integral, and interconnected, relationship with it.

Māori Architecture

Traditional Māori houses, or whare, are typically rectangular in shape and built by family groups from materials like timber, rushes, and tree fern fronds, with a thatched roof, low door, and an interior hearth. While early dwellings were sometimes semi-permanent, larger architectural forms like the communal meeting house (wharenui) and elevated storehouse (pātaka) also existed. Over time, European influences led to the gradual adoption of European-style houses, particularly from the late 19th century onwards.

There were different kinds of traditional Māori houses. The houses where family’s lived were called whare puni (sleeping houses). They were designed for the cooler New Zealand climate with a low door and a central hearth for warmth. Families slept communally on mats on the floor. Mid-shipman Jonathan Monkhouse of the Endeavour, on visiting New Zealand in 1769, commented that the sleeping area inside traditional Māori houses was often defined by a woven mat or slightly raised platform, which would have helped to insulate against the ground.

Among the other types of traditional whare were Wharenui. The meeting houses described above, often elaborately decorated, used for communal gatherings and cultural events Pātaka, elevated storehouses, sometimes elaborately carved, used to keep food and valuable items (taonga) safe from pests and other threats; and kāuta, cooking houses for community use. In weaving houses women made flax skirts, mats, baskets and fishing nets.

According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Large communal meeting houses served, and continue to serve, as important focal points for the community among the Māori. Richly adorned with carvings depicting ancestors and figures from Māori mythology, the meeting house functions as council chamber, guest house, community center, and gathering place for the discussion and debate of important issues.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, Te Papa Museum, Te Ara Encyclopedia

Text Sources: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures, Volume 2: Oceania,” edited by Terence E. Hays, 1996, National Geographic, New Zealand Tourism Board, New Zealand Herald, New Zealand government, Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand, Live Science, Natural History magazine, New Zealand Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, The Conversation, The New Yorker, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Culture Shock! New Zealand, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated October 2025