Read this article in ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi
Greetings dear readers. Last month, we began to look at the Hawaiian treasures in the British Museum in London, namely the precious items in the new exhibit, “Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans.”
This article offers just a glimpse of some of the treasures, so I am encouraging you to find a copy of the book. The book documents and shows each item and can be ordered from UH Press.
One amazing thing about the exhibit is the collaboration between the British Museum and Native Hawaiians. This kind of collaboration is not usual for museums of the past but is a transformative movement.
Hawaiian treasures are not displayed as trophies, but museum workers converse with Indigenous knowledge holders concerning the priceless Hawaiian items to develop a fitting story for the valuable Hawaiian artifacts.
At times, there is no knowledge about, or provenance for, a treasure. It is up to museum staff, along with Native Hawaiians, to clarify probable uses of the valued item for Hawaiians.
For example, a “feather mat” or “apron” – these are the terms use to describe the wondrous feather items by the museum, as observed and analyzed. One “mat” was assembled with feathered strands just like the feather strands to feather certain kinds of mahiole (helmets). At the horizontal edges of the “apron” were several tassels.
These tassels and its horizontal nature suggest a hypothesis: this item was wrapped around a human body or a god-statue and tied in placed with those tassels. Therefore, it is not a “mat” but a kind of “apron.” Perhaps it was wrapped around the torso as a warrior covering for the abdomen, or like the sacred sash of Līloa. It is thought that these adornment were for the aliʻi.
One of the precious items that interested me during my youth was a kind of thick lei as seen in the picture by John Weber of a “lei” and helmet (see Image 2).
Several feathered strands, as described above, were wrapped around thick kapa-cloth. For the first time, I was able to see this precious treasure of Kauaʻi in the book. For those who cannot go to London, the book offers Kanaka the opportunity to view these rare and beautiful mea makamae.
