The hei-tiki () is an ornamental

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ' ...

of the Māori of

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Hei-tiki are usually made of

pounamu Pounamu is a term for several types of hard and durable stone found in southern New Zealand. They are highly valued in New Zealand, and carvings made from pounamu play an important role in Māori culture. Name The Māori word , also used ...

( greenstone), and are considered a

taonga ''Taonga'' or ''taoka'' (in South Island Māori) is a Maori-language word that refers to a treasured possession in Māori culture. It lacks a direct translation into English, making its use in the Treaty of Waitangi significant. The current d ...

(treasure) by Māori. They are commonly called ''

tiki In Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne. He found the first woman, Marikoriko, in a pond; she seduced him and he became the father of Hine-kau-ataata. By extension, a tiki is a large or small wooden, ...

'' by New Zealanders, a term that originally refers to large human figures carved in wood and to the small wooden carvings used to mark sacred places. (The word ''hei'' in Māori can mean "to wear around the neck".) Retailers sell tourist versions of hei-tiki throughout New Zealand—these can be made from jade, other types of stone, plastic, or other materials.

Origins and materials

One theory of the origin of the hei-tiki suggests a connection with Tiki, the first man in Māori legend. According to

Horatio Gordon Robley Major General Horatio Gordon Robley (28 June 1840 – 29 October 1930) was a British soldier who fought in colonial wars in New Zealand, Mauritius, South Africa, and Sri Lanka. He made drawings of Māori people and life Māori culture and coll ...

, there are two main ideas behind the symbolism of hei-tiki: they are either memorials to

ancestors An ancestor, also known as a forefather, fore-elder or a forebear, is a parent or ( recursively) the parent of an antecedent (i.e., a grandparent, great-grandparent, great-great-grandparent and so forth). ''Ancestor'' is "any person from w ...

, or represent the goddess of

childbirth Childbirth, also known as labour and delivery, is the ending of pregnancy where one or more babies exits the internal environment of the mother via vaginal delivery or caesarean section. In 2019, there were about 140.11 million births glob ...

, Hineteiwaiwa. The rationale behind the first theory is that they were often buried when their

kaitiaki Kaitiaki is a New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land. A kaitiaki is a guardian, and the process and practices of protecting and looking after the environment are referred to as kaitiakita ...

(guardian) died and retrieved later to be placed somewhere special and brought out in times of

tangihanga ''Tangihanga'', or more commonly, ''tangi'', is a traditional Māori funeral rite held on a marae. While still widely practised, it is not universally observed in modern times. Each iwi (tribe/nation) differs on how they honour those who pass. '' ...

(mourning and associated activities). Because of the connection with Hineteiwaiwa, hei-tiki were often given to a woman by her husband's family if she was having trouble conceiving. Robley, author of ''A History of the Maori Tiki'', suggested a similarity of some tiki to images of Buddha, which were often fashioned in green jade. He believed they may have been a forgotten memory of these, in debased form. The most valuable hei-tiki are carved from pounamu which is either

nephrite Nephrite is a variety of the calcium, magnesium, and iron-rich amphibole minerals tremolite or actinolite ( aggregates of which also make up one form of asbestos). The chemical formula for nephrite is Ca2( Mg, Fe)5 Si8 O22(O H)2. It is on ...

bowenite Bowenite is a hard, compact variety of the serpentinite species antigorite, (Mg3(OH)O4Si2O5). Classed as semi-precious gemstone it has been used for tools, weapons and jewellery by the Māori in New Zealand, and for jewellery by Fabergé. Deposits ...

(Māori: tangiwai). Pounamu is esteemed highly by Māori for its beauty, toughness and great hardness; it is used not only for ornaments such as hei-tiki and ear pendants, but also for carving tools, adzes and weapons. Named varieties include translucent green ''kahurangi'', whitish ''inanga'', semi-transparent ''kawakawa'', and ''tangiwai'' or bowenite. A 2014 thesis by Dougal Austin supervised by Peter Adds, based on a survey of the collection of hei-tiki at

Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. ''Te Papa Tongarewa'' translates literally to "container of treasures" or in full "container of treasured things and people that spring fr ...

and early-contact examples in foreign collections, found that the mana of hei-tiki is derived from the "agency of prolonged ancestral use" and stylistically was "highly developed ... from the outset to conform to

adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...

-shaped pieces of

." Examples of hei-tiki are found in museum collections around the world. The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (over 200) and the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

(about 50) have two of the largest collections, many of which were exchanged or gifted to European travellers and sailors at the earliest point of contact between the two cultures.

Types

Traditionally there were several types of hei-tiki which varied widely in form. Modern-day hei-tiki, however, may be divided into two types. The first type is rather delicate with a head/body ratio of approximately 30/70 and small details such as ears, elbows and knees. The head is on a tilt, with one hand placed on the thigh, and the other on the chest. The eyes are relatively small. The second type is generally heavier than the first. It has a 40/60 head/body ratio, both hands are on the thighs, and the eyes are proportionately larger.

Manufacture

From the size and style of traditional examples of hei-tiki, it is likely that the stone was first cut in the form of a small adze. The tilted head of the ''pitau'' variety of hei-tiki derives from the properties of the stone - its hardness and great value make it important to minimize the amount of the stone that has to be removed. Creating a hei-tiki with traditional methods is a long, arduous process during which the stone is smoothed by abrasive rubbing; finally, using sticks and water, it is slowly shaped and the holes bored out. After laborious and lengthy polishing, the completed pendant is suspended by a plaited cord and secured by a loop and toggle. MAP_Expo_Maori_Hei_tiki_15_01_2012_1

Current popularity

Among the other ''taonga'' (treasured possessions) used as items of personal adornment are bone carvings in the form of earrings or necklaces. For many Māori the wearing of such items relates to Māori cultural identity. They are also popular with young New Zealanders of all backgrounds for whom the pendants relate to a more generalized sense of New Zealand identity. Several artistic

collectives A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest, or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an ...

have been established by Māori tribal groups. These collectives have begun creating and exporting

jewellery Jewellery ( UK) or jewelry (U.S.) consists of decorative items worn for personal adornment, such as brooches, rings, necklaces, earrings, pendants, bracelets, and cufflinks. Jewellery may be attached to the body or the clothes. From a wester ...

(such as bone carved pendants based on traditional fishhooks ''

hei matau A ''hei matau'' is a bone or greenstone carving in the shape of a highly stylised fish hook. They represent good luck and safe travel across water. Meaning The fish-hook shape of the ''hei matau'' means to know, which holds that the North Island ...

'' and other greenstone jewellery) and other artistic items (such as

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

carvings and textiles). Several actors who have recently appeared in high-profile movies filmed in New Zealand have come back wearing such jewellery, including

Viggo Mortensen Viggo Peter Mortensen Jr. R (; born October 20, 1958) is an American actor, writer, director, producer, musician, and multimedia artist. Born and raised in the State of New York to a Danish father and American mother, he also lived in Argent ...

of ''

The Lord of the Rings ''The Lord of the Rings'' is an epic high-fantasy novel by English author and scholar J. R. R. Tolkien. Set in Middle-earth, intended to be Earth at some time in the distant past, the story began as a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's b ...

'' fame who took to wearing a ''hei matau'' around his neck. These trends have contributed towards a worldwide interest in traditional Māori culture and arts such as Kiri Nathan including pounamu jewellery in her 2013

London Fashion Week London Fashion Week (LFW) is a clothing trade show that takes place in London twice a year, in February and September. Showcasing over 250 designers to a global audience of influential media and retailers, it is one of the 'Big Four' fashion wee ...

exhibition. The Captain of HMS ''New Zealand'', a battle cruiser funded in 1911 by the government of New Zealand for the defence of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

and which took an active part in three battles of the First World War, wore into battle a hei-tiki (as well as a piupiu, Māori warrior's skirt). The crew attributed to this the ''New Zealand'' being a "lucky ship" which sustained no casualties during the entire war.

In popular culture

The

mockumentary A mockumentary (a blend of ''mock'' and ''documentary''), fake documentary or docu-comedy is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events but presented as a documentary. These productions are often used to analyze or comment on c ...

film '' Hei Tiki'' was released in 1935, with a NY Times review describing the plot as being about a "chieftain's daughter who is declared tabu and destined to be the bride of the war god", attributing the title to mean "love charm" (a Hei-tiki pendant interpretation). The crime writer

Ngaio Marsh Dame Edith Ngaio Marsh (; 23 April 1895 – 18 February 1982) was a New Zealand mystery writer and theatre director. She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1966. As a crime writer during the "Golden Age of De ...

gives prominence to an amuletic hei-tiki (which she calls simply a tiki) in her 1937 novel '' Vintage Murder''. She emphasises its aspect as a promoter of fertility.

References

* T. R. Hiroa (Sir Peter Buck), ''The Coming of the Maori''. Second Edition. First Published 1949. Wellington: Whitcombe and Tombs 1974.

External links

maori.info
Further information about hei-tiki, with pictures
Hei-tiki in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Auckland War Memorial Museum hei-tiki collections

Curator Tharron Bloomfield discusses some of the hei-tiki in Auckland War Memorial Museum's collection

Modern New Zealand Hei-tiki carving examples
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hei-Tiki Māori mythology Māori art Austronesian spirituality