Hawaiian feather helmets, known as ''mahiole'' in the
Hawaiian language
Hawaiian (', ) is a critically endangered Polynesian language of the Austronesian language family, originating in and native to the Hawaiian Islands. It is the native language of the Hawaiian people. Hawaiian, along with English, is an offi ...
,
were worn with
feather cloaks (ʻahu ʻula). These were symbols of the highest rank reserved for the men of the
''alii'',
the chiefly class of Hawaii. There are examples of this traditional headgear in museums around the world. At least sixteen of these helmets were collected during the voyages of
Captain Cook
Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...
.
[To attempt some new discoveries in that vast unknown tract]
Adrienne Kaeppler, Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, Washington DC
Cook’s Pacific Encounters symposium, National Museum of Australia, 28 July 2006 These helmets are made from a woven frame structure decorated with bird feathers and are examples of fine
featherwork techniques. One of these helmets was included in a
painting of Cook's death by
Johann Zoffany.
Appearance
While the Hawaiians did not wear hats, during times of combat the Ali'i chiefs would wear specially created wicker helmets that have been likened to the classic Greek helmets, and also coincidentally bear a resemblance to the headdress worn by
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
Buddhist religious musicians. While the question has been posed if the influence is from the Spanish, the tradition comes from the northern coast of
New Ireland.
The design for mahiole is a basketry frame cap with a central crest running from the center of the forehead to the nape of the neck. However the variation in the design is considerable with the colour and arrangement of the feather patterns differing and the crest varying in height and thickness. A number of museums have numerous examples in different designs and stages of preservation. A related Hawaiian term ''Oki Mahiole'' means a haircut where a strip of hair is left on the head.
[ The image of the Hawaiian god Kū-ka-ili-moku is sometimes presented with a similar shaped head.
]
Construction
The helmets are constructed on a basket type construction which gives a light and strong frame. The frame is decorated usually with feathers obtained from local birds although there have been variations which have used human hair instead.[Feathered helmet (mahiole)]
British Museum, accessed 26 August 2010 The plant used to make the baskets is '' Freycinetia arborea'', a plant often used to make basketware. In addition to '' Freycinetia arborea'' the makers also used fibre from the '' Touchardia latifolia'' plant[Feathered helmet (mahiole)]
British Museum, accessed August 2010 which is a type of nettle. ''Touchardia latifolia'' was used to create string or thread to tie the feathers to the basketry.
The colouring was achieved using different types of feathers. The black and yellow came from a bird called the "((Mamo))" Moho'' or "(('Ō'ō))" Oo''in Hawaiian. There were four varieties of this bird. The last type became extinct in 1987 with the probable cause being disease. Black feathers were also sourced from the bird called the '' Mamo'' which is also now extinct. The distinctive red feathers came from the 'Ī'īwi and the 'Apapane. Both species are still moderately common birds in Hawaii. Although birds were exploited for their feathers the effect on the population is thought to be minimal
Specialist birdcatchers in the forests usually took the entire skin of the smaller ((" 'Ī'īwi")) or the ((" 'Apapane")), because their red feathers covered the bird and were quite small. These birds were eaten for sustinence in that harsh environment. Sometimes, in the moulting season, the ((Mamo)) and (( Ō'ō )) birds yielded plucked-out larger yellow feathers and the birds were then released*, but these larger birds were also valued for their smaller black feathers which mostly covered them, especially the (("'Ō'ō ")), which was a favorite food bird as well, so it is likely that few ((" 'Ō'o "))were released, as reported by a prominent author of two generations earlier with far more living sources of old time information.
Tens of thousands of feathers were required for each mahiole. A small bundle of feathers was gathered and tied before being tied into the framework. Bundles were tied in close proximity to form a uniform covering of the surface of the mahiole.
Captain James Cook's mahiole
When Captain James Cook visited Hawaii on 26 January 1778 he was received by a high chief called Kalaniʻōpuʻu. At the end of the meeting Kalaniʻōpuʻu placed the feathered helmet and cloak he had been wearing on Cook. Kalaniʻōpuʻu also laid several other cloaks at Cook's feet as well as four large pigs and other offerings of food. Much of the material from Cook's voyages including the helmet and cloak ended up in the collection of Sir Ashton Lever. He exhibited them in his museum, initially called the Holophusikon and later the Leverian Museum. It was while at this museum that Cook's mahiole and cloak were borrowed by Johann Zoffany in the 1790s and included in his painting of the Death of Cook.[
Lever went bankrupt and his collection was disposed of by public lottery. The collection was obtained by James Parkinson who continued to exhibit it. He eventually sold the collection in 1806 in 8,000 separate sales. (The British Museum failed to bid on these items as Sir ]Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...
had advised them that there was nothing of value.).[ The mahiole and cloak were purchased by the collector William Bullock who exhibited them in his own museum until 1819 when he also sold his collection. The mahiole and cloak were purchased by Charles Winn and they remained in his family until 1912, when Charles Winn’s grandson, the Second Baron St Oswald, gave them to the Dominion of New Zealand. They are now in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
]
Mahiole in museums
Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu
The Bernice P. Bishop Museum in Honolulu
Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
has a 200-year-old mahiole and matching cloak. This bright red and yellow mahiole was given to the king of Kauai
Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands.
It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...
, Kaumualii, when he became a vassal
A vassal or liege subject is a person regarded as having a mutual obligation to a lord or monarch, in the context of the feudal system in medieval Europe. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, the dominant party is called a suzerain ...
to Kamehameha I in 1810, uniting all the islands into the Kingdom of Hawaii
The Hawaiian Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ɛ ɐwˈpuni həˈvɐjʔi, was an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country from 1795 to 1893, which eventually encompassed all of the inhabited Hawaii ...
.
British Museum, London
The British Museum has seven of these helmets.[ The large red one pictured was obtained from the collection of Sir ]Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English Natural history, naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the European and American voyages of scientific exploration, 1766 natural-history ...
. Banks was a rich polymath who was particularly interested in botany. He sailed with Captain Cook
Captain James Cook (7 November 1728 – 14 February 1779) was a British Royal Navy officer, explorer, and cartographer famous for his three voyages of exploration to the Pacific and Southern Oceans, conducted between 1768 and 1779. He complet ...
on his first journey of exploration and continued to keep in contact with Cook's further explorations. It is speculated that this helmet may have belonged to Cook's second in command, Charles Clerke
Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Charles Clerke (22 August 1741 – 22 August 1779) was an officer in the Royal Navy who sailed on four voyages of exploration (including three circumnavigations), three with Captain James Cook. When Cook was killed ...
.[Hawaiian feather helmet]
Highlights, British Museum, accessed 9 August 2010 Clerke's collections were left to Joseph Banks following Clerke's death on Cook's third voyage. At the time of his death Clerke was captain of the vessel following Cook's death.
A second helmet differs in overall design to the first in that it has concentric bands of yellow and black against an overall red background. A hat of this design was recorded by John Webber who was Captain Cook's official artist.[ The British Museum also holds an example without feathers which shows how the framework was constructed.
]
Museum of Ethnology, Vienna
The Museum of Ethnology in Vienna obtained some of its oldest exhibits from the Leverian Museum sale of 1806. Baron Leopold von Fichtel purchased a number of items for his museum in Vienna.
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa has four mahiole in its collection. Two were gifts of Lord St Oswald in 1912. The other two were purchased in 1948 by the New Zealand Government from William Ockelford Oldman, a collector and dealer in ethnographic antiquities. The British Museum, The Smithsonian and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa believe that one of the helmets and its matching cloak were those placed on Cook by the Hawaiian chief Kalani’ōpu’u. The particular helmet and cloak in question are similar to those depicted in Zoffany's painting.
History of the World in 100 Objects
The feathered helmet from the British Museum was chosen to be one of the items featured in the radio series '' A History of the World in 100 Objects''. The series started in 2010 and was created in a partnership between the BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
and the British Museum.
Tales From Te Papa
Cook's mahiole and cloak are featured in the mini-documentary television series '' Tales from Te Papa'' filmed in 2009. The series was created in a partnership between TVNZ
Television New Zealand (, "Te Reo Tātaki" meaning "The Leading Voice"),
more commonly referred to as TVNZ, is a New Zealand state-owned media company and Crown entity. The company operates a television network, streaming service, and news se ...
and Te Papa.
References
External links
Mahiole
Collection of the British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
Mahiole
Collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
{{helmets
Helmets
Hawaii culture
Featherwork
Hawaiian regalia