Meeting-house lintel

The flow of sacred ancestral power was and still is a fundamental force within Maori communities. This flow has been made tangible in carvings, particularly for meeting houses. A meeting house (wharenui) is the site of key events in the social and spiritual life of the community; it is also the embodiment of an ancestor. The ridge pole is the ancestor’s spine, the rafters the ribs, and so on. Entering, individuals pass under a god carved on the lintel as they move from the world outside, a place of everyday activities and conflicts, into a sacred space, a domain of peace and conflict resolution.

The central god or founding ancestor figure on this lintel is flanked by several manaia figures, usually thought of as guardian figures, with stylized human, bird or reptilian features, always shown in profile. Glittering shell inlay on the eyes adds to the sense of life and movement in this important marker of the transition between realms.

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