Post #266773 by Tamapoutini on Tue, Nov 14, 2006 6:22 PM

This one is a very interesting style. Any history with it? Besides it being Buzzy.

JP

Hi John.

A: Not a traditional design at all, but a 'fusion' I have used many times... The smaller toki/adzeblade (more correctly termed whao) was often traditionally worn as an amulet & for safe keeping when not in use. These days it has become probably THE most popular/common design for pounamu pendants (in no small part due to its relatively simple shape/ease of production) & is regarded as a symbol for strength/leadership (belonging more to the toki poutangata/cheiftans blade)

I like to add the token-totem of our friend Tiki for added symbolism, the strength of People in general.

There is also an historical significance, in that when the first European travellers/settlers started arriving in NZ, there sprung up an immediate 'tourist trade' in he-tiki. With the coming of these new people, there also came STEEL, which made the use of stone implements obsolete... Many pounamu adzeheads became refashioned into Hei-tiki (often low quality knock-offs when compared to the 'pre-contact' examples...), and it was due to this that the 'popular' Maori tiki design is often adze-shaped.
I like to deliberately place a tiki as 'emerging' from/connecting to, the toki form as an acknowledgement of the part it has played in refining/defining the Maori Hei-tiki.

*Sound like a sales pitch? :lol: Would you like a bag for that?

Tama :)