God of Money Tiki: what is the history of this tiki? - General Tiki

A aquarj Tiki Socialite SF bay area, CA Joined: Apr 02, 2002 Posts: 1125	A aquarj Posted posted on Fri, Nov 29, 2002 3:42 PM I think Laney was the closest in terms of explanation - that is, they're just novelty items. There isn't a "correct" mapping from the KC Co. tikis to authentic Hawaiian deities. In some cases, even the original Hawaiian gods' physical representations were somewhat interchangeable, I think. There are some basic features (Lono often has a tall headdress, Ku often has a mean look and very sharp hair features, Kanaloa often has bug eyes), but many of the other distinctions are just legacies of a little creative extrapolation by Cocojoes and HIP and other earlier souvenir companies. The Chiefly co. tikis that you see in Hawaii a lot now instead of cocojoes (RIP) actually seem to use their labels almost randomly. I've seen the same tiki be the god of money, good fortune, love, etc. "Keep this Long Life Tiki with you, you may always be safe and health." Many good lucks to you. -Randy

I think Laney was the closest in terms of explanation - that is, they're just novelty items. There isn't a "correct" mapping from the KC Co. tikis to authentic Hawaiian deities. In some cases, even the original Hawaiian gods' physical representations were somewhat interchangeable, I think. There are some basic features (Lono often has a tall headdress, Ku often has a mean look and very sharp hair features, Kanaloa often has bug eyes), but many of the other distinctions are just legacies of a little creative extrapolation by Cocojoes and HIP and other earlier souvenir companies. The Chiefly co. tikis that you see in Hawaii a lot now instead of cocojoes (RIP) actually seem to use their labels almost randomly. I've seen the same tiki be the god of money, good fortune, love, etc.

"Keep this Long Life Tiki with you, you may always be safe and health." Many good lucks to you.

-Randy

Post #15085 by aquarj on Fri, Nov 29, 2002 3:42 PM