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The carvings on buildings.
Topic Started: 25 Mar 2014, 07:32 AM (131 Views)
Sandy
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The carvings on the front of buildings and such on a marae are an important thing to any Iwi as they all tell a kind of story, much like our family portraits or photo's do..

Each little part of the carvings tell a story, whether it be of an ancestor or whanau within the Iwi, probably the best way of explaining them is to say that they're a living history of the Iwi, many go back several hundred years because of this..

Go here and you'll see a few examples of some carvings that were made for a few Iwi for their marae..

When the carvings are made, there's quite often a tapu or blessing put on the wood before the carver, or carvers start their work.. with some Iwi the carving is still done the same way it was done several hundred years ago, so as you can imagine, there's a lot of time put into them, the carvers are always pretty meticulous about the carving, everything has to be just right, or it won't be used until it is perfect.. I guess seeing as it reflects the Iwi's history, everyone wants to see the carvings made just right, just like we like a family portrait to look as good as possible..

Some of the carvings can take years to make, usually because there is usually a fair bit of Iwi history, also the tools used mean it takes longer too, the carvers like to be able to take time to get things finished so everything is done as best it can be..

Once the carvings are finished and put on the building they're being used on there's usually a ceremony of sorts, the carvings and building, or buildings often get a blessing of sorts and usually involves most of the Iwi, everyone that can get home to the marae goes and celebrates the the carvings being put up..

If anyone's ever on a marae, the kaumatua or kuia will often tell you a bit about the carvings and the history behind them.. Some Iwi have different protocol than others, so it usually pays to talk to one of the kaumatua first as in some cases it's seen as their right to do such things, if a kaumatua isn't there then a kuia will tell you, but if the kaumatua is older than the kuia, then the kuia will often let the kaumatua talk and she'll talk when the kaumatua isn't sure about something..

The carvings are almost more important than a family portrait in some ways as a portrait is usually only of one family while the carvings are about the whole Iwi and it's history, so it's important to be a bit careful abut what you say, and how you ask questions.. All Iwi place a lot of importance on their history, so it's only fair we show some respect when talking with them about it...

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funnysis
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That sounds so beautiful. Here we have paintings and stained glass windows on and in are buildings and then we have a lot of statues of famous people.
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Sandy
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These carvings are all the families history, and a tribes history too, no written language means things were either passed down by word of mouth or in the carvings, so to some extent I guess they're almost sacred to each iwi, or tribe..
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