This week is Te Epetoma o te Reo Māori Kuki Airani – Cook Islands Māori Language week. the theme for this week is , “Tōku Reo Tōku Tango: My Language Is My Foundation”. As part of this weeks celebrations, Te Papa’s Pacific Cultures curators (and a guest writer or two)Read more
Recently I completed a two year project to conserve a unique Micronesian textile. It was such a pleasure to get acquainted with this very rare object with distinctive features–I was amazed to see that the colour changes in the patterned end of the cloth had been created by either interlinking or knotting warps of two colours together (photomicrograph image below),Read more
Welcome to our final blog post for le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan language week) for 2013. In this blog, we feature a poem composed by Charles Niu, who visited the Pacific Cultures Collection during the back of house tours at Te Papa highlighting Samoa Language Week. We had an overwhelmingRead more
Welcome to the sixth blog of our series celebrating le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan Language Week) from 26-31 May 2013. This is a tu’i ipu – a rattle used by Samoan fishermen when they are hunting sharks. The Samoan word for shark is malie. The tu’i ipu is made fromRead more
Welcome to the fifth blog of our series celebrating le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Samoan Language Week) from 26-31 May 2013. When travelling to the Pacific Islands, people often return to New Zealand with a range of gifts and food. Many of these prepared by family and friends. ThisRead more
Fa‘alupega or the naming of chiefly titles is a fundamental part of Sāmoan culture and custom, as it connects individuals and families to land and origins of their past.Read more
Pacific curator Sean Mallon provides an overview of the origins of mama rings from Sāmoa.Read more
To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Sāmoa (Sāmoan language week) 26-31 May 2013, the Pacific Cultures curators are highlighting stories related to cultural treasures from Sāmoa. This is a fue, an item of regalia important for a Sāmoan tulafale (orator). They use fue when they deliver lauga (oratorical speeches).Read more
To celebrate le vaiaso o le gagana Sämoa (Sämoan language week) 26-31 May 2013, the Pacific Cultures curators are highlighting stories related to cultural treasures from Sämoa. We are co-writing these blogs with Galumalemana Alfred Hunkin from Samoan Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. We will publish a blog eachRead more
It is with sadness that the Pacific Cultures team at Te Papa acknowledges the recent passing of Mele Saiatua Lavulo. Saiatua was born in Tatakamotonga, Mu’a in Tonga in 1916. She had many achievements in her lifetime, and became an important figure in the history of the Tongan community inRead more
An abundance of tree ferns is one of the botanical characteristics that New Zealand shares with many of the larger Pacific Islands. The number of different species is not especially high, but tree fern individuals feature prominently in many Pacific and New Zealand landscapes. Following my work in Fiji, I’veRead more
Seventy one years ago, New Zealand declares war on Japan after the bombing of the US naval bases at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii (8 December 1941) The bombing of Pearl Harbour set the Pacific War in motion. This event and Japan’s subsequent expansion through the Philippines, Thailand and the Malaysian peninsula,Read more
This past Saturday (1 December 2012), we had a special request from a group of visitors who were going to be in Wellington for a weekend. They wished to come in and talk to some of the curators and see the collection. This is relatively common but what was slightlyRead more
Pacific Curator Sean Mallon asks Tokelauan Kevin Sesale Setefano from Mafutaga Tupulaga Tokelau Porirua, to recount his memories of a photograph taken in 1986 that relates to one of Te Papa’s collections.Read more
You’ll never have seen anything like these New Caledonia ferns in New Zealand, unless you’ve been to a very interesting garden (which I’d love an invitation to!). These are photos from my recent fern collecting trip.Read more
