Helmet

Knotted spiral vegetable fibre helmet, with ear notches and a large openwork crown with a semi-circular shape that goes from the forehead to the nape. It has traces of feather knotted to the vegetable fibre frame. In Polynesian societies the head is one of the sacred parts of the body. These helmets were part of the war attire of the highest-ranking people in Hawaiian society. They can have very complex shapes, although they are always made from vegetable fibre and in some cases covered by feathers of different colours, especially red, the symbol of Ku, god of war. This work repeats the half-moon designs that are found in cloaks or tippets. According to Cook’s journal, these helmets were used together with tippets or capes and they were similarly covered by fine “honeycreeper” feathers.