Kahu huruhuru (feather cloak)

Weaving researcher Dr Patricia Te Arapo Wallace (Ngāti Porou) discovered that this kahu huruhuru (feather cloak) is a taonga that connects the threads of a special story about Marewa-i-te-rangi, the daughter of Pinohi Tukua-i-te-rangi and a favoured grandchild of Tūtakangahau, chief of Tamakaimoana hapū (subtribe) at Maungapōhatu, and the ethnographer Elsdon Best. Steeped in Tūhoe tradition, Tūtakangahau was one of the experts whom best described as a 'mohio' - one who knows or carries important knowledge. At the same time, Tūtakangahau was forward thinking. He asked Best to watch over his three grandchildren, whom he want educated at the school at Te Whāiti, near Ruatāhuna. But in May 1899 and influenza epidemic swept through the region, and Marewa fell victim to it, dying at just the age of just eight or nine. Best was with Marewa when she died and accompanied her body home with the whānau for her tangi (funeral).  

Following Marewa's committal, an important ceremony took place. The final formality that maintained the prestige of the deceased was the tahua roa, the distribution of food or other gifts by family to visiting iwi (tribes) and various respected visitors. Best recieved this cloak from Marewa's parents as part of his 'oha (koha) on May 18 1899, demonstrating the great esteem in which he was held locally. Poignantly, Best's handwritten notes question whether the cloak may have been made in the early 1890s for Marewa herself.


Construction
The kaupapa (body) is muka, weft-twined in whatu aho rua (two-pair weft twining) technique. The whenu (warp threads) measure six per centimetre, with 1 cm spacing between each aho (weft) row. The aho is finished with a two-element twist. The lower edge has a thrum commen. This text is based on an excerpt from Whatu Kakahu|Maori Cloaks (second edition), edited by Awhina Tamarapa, © Te Papa Press 2019.
cement. The feathers are of alterntaing triangles of 131 blue/black tūī feathers, mainly from the upper wing but also from the breast and upper tail; and 132 white kererū feathers mainly from the breast but also with some from the belly. The orange kākā feathers are from under the wing . There are sixteen single paired green kererū neck feathers inside twelve of the tūī triangles. The feathers are attached singly on every third whenu.

This text is based on an excerpt from Whatu Kakahu|Maori Cloaks (second edition), edited by Awhina Tamarapa, © Te Papa Press 2019.