Lei kukui (necklace of kukui nuts)

This is a lei (necklace) made from the nuts from the versatile kukui tree. The wood is used in the making of dugout canoes and the bark of this wood is part of the composition for black paint used to paint canoes. The juice from the kukui root is used to colour tapa, its oil for healing and the nuts, as the one's used in this lei, were historically used as the main source of light for many indigenous Hawaiians as they were strung together to form torches. The kukui lei is as a result known as the lei of light. It was common for a kukui torch to be lit for a chief after sunset when he was ready to eat. These lights are also recorded to be important for fishermen returning from the sea in the early morning and searching for their way home.

Like other forms of lei, kukui lei are worn as important adornments on cultural occasions and performances, but they are also sold as souvenirs for tourist markets. Lei from Hawaii are exported and sold in markets overseas, and regularly appear in places such as Samoa, Tahiti, the Cook Islands and New Zealand.

Significance

This kukui lei was gifted to Te Papa by Mr. Richard Tuheiava, a member of the France-New Zealand Parliamentary Friendship Group of the Senate of France who was visiting New Zealand in May of 2011. Mr. Richard Tuheiava was at the time, Senator for French Polynesia. Mr Tuheiava was photographed at the New Zealand parliament building during this trip wearing the kukui lei. On this occasion, this particular delegation were visiting New Zealand to repatriate a toi moko (preserved Maori head) from the Rouen Museum in France. For the Te Papa based Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation programme this was the first repatriation of human remains from France. After speaking at the powhiri of this occasion, Mr. Tuheiva presented the kukui lei to Te Papa.

Rather than purely being a decorative body adornment as one might assume at face value, the story of this kukui lei reveals many layers and connections that adds to its value and place in the Pacific collection. The kukui lei can be interpreted as a complex representation of the connections and relationships between countries and people of a modern world. A senator of France, who grew up in colonised Tahiti wearing a cultural necklace inspired from Hawaii, gifted this lei to Te Papa during the repatriation ceremony of a Maori toi moko, which had probably been traded to France in the 18th or 19th century. 

In general, a kukui lei is believed by its wearer to symbolise respect and wellness and when gifted, reinforces the sharing of knowledge between people. This kukui lei re-affirms these beliefs and just as the kukui tree oil is used for healing, this kukui lei has played a healing role in the return of Maori remains to its rightful home.

References

Malo, D. (1951). Hawaiian Antiquities (Moolelo Hawaii). Honolulu: Bernice P. Bishop Museum