Post #167976 by nuimaleko on Sat, Jun 25, 2005 5:20 AM

Not sure how many here know this but the original tiki was was a carved stone image of Tiki, the first man in Polynesian mytholgy. In Maori and other Polynesian cultures it common to wear a small carved image of Tiki around the neck. Other images include Maui's fish hook, various spritual symbols like the spiral, sea animals and miniature tools carved in wood, bone, shell and stone. They are all generaly refered to as tikis in surfer culture. I think this is how the word tiki was transefered to all carved images in Polynesia.
I have been collecting them uncontiously for decades and never realized what I had until I looked at them all togther for a video project I am working on. I have seen small Polynesian god images too. And since I have limited space and it is wearable art, I have decided to concentrate on collecting only these tikis necklaces (including shell like puka). Anyone else collecting the original wearable tikis?
Here are some pics of what I'm talkinbout
link here

[ Edited by: nuimaleko 2005-07-13 03:28 ]

[ Edited by: Humuhumu - Fixed overly-long link - 2005-07-14 00:05 ]