Overview
This tiputa (poncho) brings together Samoan, Niuean, and Tahitian responses to Christianity.
Soon after European missionaries entered the Pacific, they were joined in their work by indigenous converts to Christianity. Samoan missionaries travelled to Niue, where they introduced the Samoan method of making tapa, or bark cloth (called hiapo in Niue). At the time, missionaries were encouraging Pacific people to wear the Tahitian tiputa for modesty. It covered the previously unclothed upper body.
By the mid 1800s, Niueans were hand-decorating Tahitian tiputa like this one. They used Samoan tapa-making methods but added their own distinctive patterns.