Maori Treasure Box and Pendants in the Horniman Museum

Waka huia and Papa hou are treasure containers made by

Māori Māori or Maori can refer to: Relating to the Māori people * Māori people of New Zealand, or members of that group * Māori language, the language of the Māori people of New Zealand * Māori culture * Cook Islanders, the Māori people of the C ...

– the indigenous people of New Zealand. ''Waka huia'' was also the name of a long-running TV series on

TVNZ , type = Crown entity , industry = Broadcast television , num_locations = New Zealand , location = Auckland, New Zealand , area_served = Nationally (New Zealand) and some Pacific Island nations such as the Cook Islands, Fiji, and the So ...

Containers

These containers stored a person's most prized personal possessions, such as

hei-tiki The hei-tiki () is an ornamental pendant of the Māori of New Zealand. Hei-tiki are usually made of pounamu ( greenstone), and are considered a taonga (treasure) by Māori. They are commonly called ''tiki'' by New Zealanders, a term that origin ...

(pendants), feathers for decorating and dressing the hair such as the tail feathers of the

huia The huia ( ; ; ''Heteralocha acutirostris'') is an extinct species of New Zealand wattlebird, endemic to the North Island of New Zealand. The last confirmed sighting of a huia was in 1907, although there was a credible sighting in 1924. It ...

(Heteralocha acutirostris), heru (hair comb) and other items of personal adornment. Waka huia and papa hou were imbued with the tapu (taboo) of their owners because the boxes contained personal items that regularly came into contact with the body, particularly the head (the most tapu part of the body). Waka huia and papa hou were designed to be suspended from the low hanging ceiling of Māori

whare A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' ( ...

(houses) where their beautifully carved and decorated undersides could be appreciated. They were highly prized in themselves and carefully treasured as they passed between generations. As

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 ...

(treasures), waka huia and papa hou were often gifted between hapu (sub-tribes), whanau (families), and individuals to acknowledge relationships, friendships, and other significant social events. It is common to find waka huia and papa hou of one carving style among a tribe who practice a different style.

Te Arawa Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'').Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runawa ...

. Waka huia have an elongated oval shape, similar to the shape of a

waka Waka may refer to: Culture and language * Waka (canoe), a Polynesian word for canoe; especially, canoes of the Māori of New Zealand ** Waka ama, a Polynesian outrigger canoe ** Waka hourua, a Polynesian ocean-going canoe ** Waka taua, a Māori w ...

, while papa hou (lit. "feather box") is a variation which is a flat, rectangular box. The rectangular form of papa hou is a northern variation of the more widespread waka huia. Papa hou are not carved on the bottom, whereas waka huia are. A third traditional form, which did not have a consistent name, was listed as powaka whakairo (lit. "carved box") by collector

Joel Samuel Polack Joel Samuel Polack (28 March 1807 – 17 April 1882) was an English-born New Zealand and American businessman and writer. He was one of the first Jewish settlers in New Zealand, arriving in 1831. He is regarded as an authority on pre-colonial New ...

in the 1830s. These boxes were much taller and squarer than papa hou, and were found across the country in the 1830s. All three forms of box declined in use over the 19th century. When American Captain

Charles Wilkes Charles Wilkes (April 3, 1798 – February 8, 1877) was an American naval officer, ship's captain, and explorer. He led the United States Exploring Expedition (1838–1842). During the American Civil War (1861–1865), he commanded ' during the ...

visited New Zealand in 1845, he noted that whaka huia and papa hou had been mostly replaced by Western style lockable

seaman's chest A seaman's chest is a wooden chest which was commonly used by sailors to store personal belongings. They are also known as ''sea chests'', not to be confused with the recesses found in the hull of certain ships. Design and Use Seaman's chests ...

s. Only waka huia were still being produced by the 1890s. By this time, waka huia had begun to be carved with legs, so that the boxes could be placed on Western-style tables or mantelpieces instead of the traditional method of being suspended from the ceiling. Approximately 420 waka huia and papa hou are found in museum collections globally, as well as 20 examples of powaka whakairo.

Other uses of the term

TV program

The term "waka huia" is also occasionally used figuratively, as in the

television program ''Waka Huia''. This is a long-running TV series (since 1987) aiming to record and preserve

Māori culture Māori culture () is the customs, cultural practices, and beliefs of the indigenous Māori people of New Zealand. It originated from, and is still part of, Polynesians, Eastern Polynesian culture. Māori culture forms a distinctive part of Cul ...

and customs as well as covering social and political concerns, presented completely in te reo Māori (language).

Film

A 2019 short animated film called ''Waka Huia'' written by Philippe Carreau and Leprince Laurent was screened at the Point International Film Festival and was nominated for an award. "An old man of Maori origin crosses the world between dream and reality in the footsteps of his grandfather killed in Belgium during the First World War."

Church use

The term is also used in New Zealand churches for the

pyx A pyx or pix ( la, pyxis, transliteration of Greek: ''πυξίς'', boxwood receptacle, from ''πύξος'', box tree) is a small round container used in the Catholic, Old Catholic and Anglican Churches to carry the consecrated host (Eucharist) ...

, a container housing the

reserved sacrament During the Mass of the Faithful, the second part of the Mass, the elements of bread and wine are considered to have been changed into the veritable Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The manner in which this occurs is referred to by the term transu ...

References

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