Kiwikiwi Ceremonial Waka

A Kiwikiwi ceremonial waka is currently housed in the Rautenstrauch-Joest museum in Cologne, Germany. A few of our whanau have been to see it as pictured above with Erin and Linda.

The museum plaque next to the waka reads:

FUNERAL RITES
__________________________________________________________________A *BIER FROM NEW ZEALAND
The Māori chief Kiwikiwi from the Bay of Islands on the North Island of New Zealand, who died in 1839 is said to have been laid on the *bier in this richly ornamented canoe. High-ranking deceased often found a temporary place of rest in graves, on platforms or in canoes. When the corpse had rotted, the bones were ceremonially cleansed, rubbed with oil and ochre and then buried in a hidden place. Canoes have a high degree of symbolic meaning for the Māori. Their ancestors from Hawaiki, their mythical original home, came in canoes to present-day New Zealand.

*Bier (noun) a movable frame on which a coffin or corpse is placed before burial or to be carried to the grave site.