Te Arawa Fibre Arts

Te Arawa people encountered a huge change in climate when they arrived in Aotearoa. Imagine how much colder it was than in Hawaiki (the warmer climate of the Pacific) where they had come from!

Many of the plants they brought with them did not live through the harsh winters. In order to survive, they had to look to the land around them. Feathers and fibre provided comfort and filled practical needs.

They found that harakeke (flax) could be woven into a range of practical objects including whariki (woven mats) and kete (baskets). The art of weaving is now called raranga. The muka (fibre) from harakeke was woven into long fine cloaks using double pair twining. They could be adorned with feathers to provide extra warmth.

Within some four generations of arriving from Hawaiki, Te Arawa had settled in the Rotorua lakes area, taking advantage of geothermal heat.

By the 1860s, Te Arawa people wore European clothing and kākahu (traditional clothes) were used for special occasions. The art of making kākahu is kept alive today by women mostly, who in turn teach new generations of weavers.

Piupiu (a piece of clothing like a skirt) are made from blades of harakeke. The green outer layer is scraped away with a mussel shell and the blade is soaked in paru (black natural mud dye). The blades curl as they dry.

The whenu (warp) are attached to a tuturu (weaving frame). Aho (warp threads) are made from four strands of muka. Fine strong weaving, such as whariki, tukutuku panels and kete, can be made from kiekie, an epiphyte (air plant), that grows in trees.

Patterned kete are called kete whakairo. Taniko is a geometric finger-woven pattern often found on the borders of fine kākahu.

This story comes from the original Great Te Arawa Stories website created by Ngā Pūmanawa e Waru (NPeW) Education Trust in 2018. To ensure consistency, minimal updates were made to the text before it was transferred to this new site.