Re(2): Maori Weaving (was Phormiums)
theryans@xtra.co.nz writes:
>Hi Barry
>This fabric sounds lovely. Nothing produced from flax was ever as fine.
It really is, not at all coarse or stiff either. The fineness allowed
Spaniards to see if the native filipinos were hiding knives, so the story
goes. The Barong Tagalog is perfectly acceptable wear at formal events.
>
>
>Indeed they are very similar. Our national museum has a couple of the
>Hawaian ones, bur I don't know what they are based on - something other
>than Phormium obviously. One thing our local weavers lacked was those
>gloriously bright feathers. We have very few bright colours among our
>birds and the prized Kiwi feathers, apart from looking more like hair
>than proper plumage are a very drab mid-brown.
>
>It is often contended from various clues that the Maori and the Hawaians
>are quite closely related and the art of making feather cloaks certainly
>seems to be a shared skill.
>
I have heard the same thing. Hawaiian and Maori words are also quite close
(well, all of the polynesian languages are quite close in phonology, etc).
I think of all the island groups, New Zealand was one of the last Island
groups to be colonized by Polynesians, so i'm sure the ancestors of
hawaiians reached New Zealand.
I also hear that the collecting of feathers by feather gatherers in Hawaii
led to some extinctions of birds (not sure though).
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