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Overview
This hieke (rain cape) named Nei, nei āhau was woven in march, 2000 by master weaver Sonia Snowden (Ngāti Whātua, Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Hine, Ngāti Wai). Hieke are rain capes that are generally adorned with lengths of double strips of harakeke (New Zeland flax) and provided protection from the elements during bad weather.
The kaupapa (foundation) of this hieke consists of vertical warps of jute and horizontal weft threads of cotton using whatu aho rua (double-pair weft twining). Neinei, or spiderwood (dracophyllum traversii) leaves have been utilised to make the hukahuka (tags) that adorn this cloak. These leaves have been treated by soaking in water for 24 hours in order to make them supple. The have then been split to a smaller size allowing them to be woven into the body of this hieke.
Neinei is one of New Zealand's unique grass trees, its distinctive leaf having a broad sheath at the base that tapers to a fine point. Although it is recorded in 1868 in Colenso's 'notes [...] on the Ancient Dog' that northern tribes made superior articles of apparel' fron neinei leaves, no early garments exist because the dried leaf fractures easily.
This text is based on an excerpt from Whatu Kakahu|Maori Cloaks (second edition), edited by Awhina Tamarapa, © Te Papa Press 2019.