Pākē (rain cape)

A pākē is a protective cloak that provided the wearer with both physical protection and shelter.

Although the cape has rolled strands like those on a piupiu (waist garment), these strands have muka (New Zealand flax fibre) ends that form the whenu (warp threads). The cloak is therefore classified as a pake. Processed like piupiu, each strand appears to have been split four to five times and then rolled together again. The yellow lengths, from unscraped harakeke (New Zealand flax) leaf, have been added randomly to every row but form a full row at the top.


Construction
The commencement of the pake is at the bottom edge. The aho (horizontal, or weft) rows are alternating whatu aho patahi (single-pair weft-twining) and whatu aho rua (double-pair weft twining) technique, measuring four whenu (vertical threads, or warp) per centimetre and with wide spacing that alternates between 30 mm and 50 mm to accommodate the tags.

The aho poka (darts) for the shoulders are three rows of simple elliptical inserts, 100 mm from the top of the pake.

Groups of five whenu are woven into a thick three-ply braid to finish.

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