Tangaroa

About this item

Title

Tangaroa

Content partner

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Collection

Te Papa Collections Online

Description

This essay originally appeared in New Zealand Art at Te Papa (Te Papa Press, 2018). Before the introduction of Christianity, Cook Islands people worshipped a pantheon of gods and deities. On some islands, Tangaroa was considered the principal god of the sea and of creation. Images of him took many forms and were made from stone, wood, shell, pandanus leaf, tapa (bark cloth) and human hair. On the islands of Rarotonga and Aitutaki, he took human form in wooden figures carved by ta‘unga (speci...

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Format

Image

Date created

1992

Creator

Ani O'Neill

URL

https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/object/268005

Related subjects

corduroy / works of art / figurines / soft toys / sewing / embroidering / Cook Islands / Oceanic / Polynesian / Cook Islands Māori / Religion / Tourism / New Zealand / Auckland

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