traditionsTaonga Māoritaonga

Start with what mana is and where it comes from, because that is the whole difference. Pounamu taonga increase in mana as they pass from one generation to another; the stone is held to absorb the mana of its past owners, and some heirloom pieces are named after a former owner in memory of their position and authority. The most prized taonga are those with known histories running back many generations, and those are the ones given as gifts to seal important agreements. Peace between groups was cemented by exchanging carved heirlooms — a tautau pounamu, a door of greenstone — as in the saying Me tautau pounamu, kia kore ai e pakaru, ake, ake: let us conclude a peace that may never be broken, for ever and ever.

Dougal Austin's 2014 thesis, supervised by Peter Adds and based on Te Papa's hei-tiki collection with early-contact examples in overseas collections, locates the mana of a hei-tiki in the 'agency of prolonged ancestral use'. That is an argument about time and handling, not about design. A hei-tiki was often buried when its kaitiaki — its guardian — died, and brought out again at tangihanga.

The objects are also functional history. Adze blades of pounamu were wanted for carving wood and stayed in use after metal tools arrived; when they were no longer useful as tools they were often reworked into hei tiki and other taonga. Pounamu crafting and trade mattered to the economy of Ngāi Tahu, the South Island iwi, and production increased after their arrival in the South Island in the middle of the 18th century. There were a dozen major pounamu trails and many minor routes, walked in summer by parties of six to twelve.

How the collections were formed is part of the record and the sources state it plainly. Te Papa holds over 200 hei-tiki and the British Museum about 50; some were exchanged or gifted to Europeans at the earliest point of contact, and, in the cited account's own words, 'the majority were stolen or improperly obtained through colonial processes'.

Two frameworks now sit over that. Te Papa works on a stated principle: 'Mana Taonga is a recognition of the power of taonga to communicate deep truths about our people.' The museum describes itself as recognising the role of communities in the care and understanding of collections and taonga, and names among its aspirations 'the reconnection of people to their tribal taonga' and 'the reclamation of Māori knowledge, language, and customs'. It also runs a repatriation programme, Karanga Aotearoa. And New Zealand law protects the objects by category: under the Protected Objects Act 1975, ngā taonga tūturu are one of nine classes of protected New Zealand object, unauthorised export of a protected object without permission from the chief executive of the Ministry for Culture and Heritage is an offence carrying fines of up to $100,000 for an individual and $200,000 for a body corporate, and the chief executive must consult two or more expert examiners on an application. Ownership of all naturally occurring pounamu was returned by the Crown to Ngāi Tahu in 1997 under the Ngāi Tahu Claims Settlement.

The modern trade runs alongside all of that and is argued about by name. Most hei matau are now carved from cattle bone; carvers who work whale bone must use ancient standings, pre-existing supplies, or bone from whales that strand, since Māori have first claim under New Zealand tradition and law on part of the skeleton of a stranded whale that cannot be refloated — a very limited supply. Manufacturers in China mass-produce items resembling hei matau for the New Zealand visitor market, usually in a paste of bone and resin, and have, in the cited account's words, 'attracted criticism for their appropriation of Māori designs'. Retailers also sell tourist versions of hei-tiki in jade, other stone, plastic and other materials, and much of the 'greenstone' in souvenir shops is jade sourced overseas rather than pounamu, which occurs only in New Zealand.

Inference — an atlas of protective objects has to say where it has put this record and why. Taonga are here because the rest of the world meets them in the same museum cases and the same shop windows as charms, and because a reader who has just seen a hei matau on a cord deserves the tradition's own account of what it is. Calling one a lucky charm would be a category error the sources do not make, and this record does not make it either.

Carved, worn, handed on. Traditional method on a hei-tiki: the stone is first cut in the form of a small adze, smoothed by abrasive rubbing, shaped with sticks and water, the holes bored, then polished at length, and the finished pendant suspended on a plaited cord secured by a loop and toggle. The tilt of the head on one variety comes from the properties of the stone — its hardness and value make it important to remove as little as possible. Large pounamu boulders were and still are set at the entrances to significant sites as mauri stones, and visitors are invited to rub them gently with a dry or wet hand to connect with the mana of the place.

Live, and worn across New Zealand society. Bone and pounamu carvings relate to Māori cultural identity for many Māori, and are popular with young New Zealanders of all backgrounds for whom they relate to a more general New Zealand identity; several Māori tribal collectives create and export jewellery and other work. Pounamu appeared at London Fashion Week in 2013 in Kiri Nathan's collection. Te Papa charges international visitors an entrance fee and admits New Zealanders free.