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At a certain moment in time I sat down and watched a film on the Maori tatooing before proceeding onto the discovery of the other ground floor galleries.
Rakeitonga, sacred canoe - This Vaka tapu was built for Te Ariki Taumako, the Chief of the Taumako clan of Tikopia. Named after an ancestor of Te Ariki Taumako it has its own spirit guardians. In sasonal canoe rituals, appeals are made to these spirits to protect fishermen and to ensure a successful harvest from the sea.
Canoe board - Gulf of Papua, Papua New Guinea.
Tapa - Tapa or barkcloth is made mainly by women throughout much of Polynesia and Melanasia by beating and layering the inner bark of certain trees, especially the paper mulberry, but also breadfruit and wild fig. Distinctive patterns are then imprinted on the cloth from either design tablets of leaves and/or wood or freehanded painted on the cloth with dyes obtained from plants and other sources.
Bilum bag. West Sepik coast, Papua New Guinea.
Munge dukna, Santa Cruz.
New Ireland mask.
The number of Maori artifacts was huge and I found they were thoroughly explained on written information provided underneath each of those for visitors, whose knowledge on these peoples was minor, which was my particular case.
I didn't realise the amount of time I had been inside this ground floor galleries, until it was time to move up to the first floor but every minute spent admiring these artifacts was worthwhile.
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