Cross-tree (from a Niu)

This is a cross-tree from a Pai Marire niu. Pai Marire was a faith and niu were flagpoles upon which multiple cross-trees were fixed horizontally. Flags and penants were flown either from the central niu or the cross-trees.

The Pai Marire faithThe Pai Marire faith was an adaptation of Judeo-Christianity and pre-European-contact Māori spiritualism. It emerged from Taranaki around 1862 under the guidance of its main prophet Te Ua Haumene, and spread among many Māori tribes throughout the North Island during a time of cultural, physical, and poltical upheaval. As many kāinga (home villages) or iwi (tribes) took up Pai Marire, niu were erected as signifiers of faith and as a central worship focus for Pai Marire followers. At its height, it is estimated that there were as many as 50 niu installed in pā (fortified villages) around the country. Today, however, there are only approximately six still standing.

Pai Marire niuThere are many contemporary records from soldiers, observers, and Māori writing at the time about the distinctive worship practices of the Pai Marire. A niu was a statement of a tribe's political and religious alignment, and was also a focus for religious practice. It was considered a resting place or a vessel for the two main messenger deities the Pai Marire worshipped, as well as a shrine around which followers would gather and engage in prayer rituals. The Pai Marire believed that iterations of the two Christian angels, Gabriel (Rura) and Michael (Riki), would rest in the cross-tree ends or the flags when invoked through prayer and ceremony.

ProvenanceVery little is known about this particular cross-tree. It is detached from the original niu and was collected from Galatea by T E Donne (1860–1945) probably between 1890 and 1905. It is painted with the traditional kōkōwai pigment used by Māori (red ochre mixed with fat) and is relatively uncarved with the exception of the two terminating manaia (carved beak figures) at either end. It is made from mataī wood (Prumnopiys taxifolia), which is abundant in the central North Island. The carver is unknown, as is the kāinga for whom it may have originally been made.