These taonga (treasures) were photographed in Te Poho-o-Hinekura meeting house, Te Kūhā marae, at Tuai near Lake Waikaremoana, in 1970. Te Kūhā is the marae of the Ngāti Hinekura hapū of Ngāi Tūhoe. The figures painted on the poupou (upright posts) are the important tūpuna (ancestors) Ruapani and Toi-kai-rākau. In meeting houses whakairo (carvings), paintings and photographs of tūpuna are displayed, being seen as living representations of those ancestors' presence on the marae. Tukutuku (woven panels) and kōwhaiwhai (rafter paintings) also often represent traditional stories of the marae.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
University of Auckland, Department of Anthropology, Anthropology Photographic Archive
Reference: M_4_043_016.jp2
by Sidney Mead
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