Historical Treasures

KEEPING VALUABLE TREASURES SAFE AND SOUND, NEW ZEALAND, 18TH CENTURY

A papa hou

Commonly referred to as Māori treasure boxes, papa hou were used to store precious personal ornaments known as taonga, which means ‘treasured possessions’ in Māori. This included items such as combs, jewellery and feathers for the hair – in fact, in Māori the word ‘papa’ means chest or box and ‘hou’ means feather.

These wooden treasure boxes were considered to have the mana (spiritual power) of their owners because they contained prized items that came into contact with the body. For example, feathers were considered highly tapu (sacred) amongst the Māori because they were worn in the hair and thereby came into contact with the head, which was considered the most sacred part of the body.

To keep the papa hou and their contents safe, they were hung on cords from the rafters of the house. However, the majority of these treasure boxes were also decorated with elaborate carvings on their underside and by hanging them up in this way these designs could be admired from below, although some papa hou have been found with plain bases.

Whakairo (wood carving) is a traditional

Māori art and the designs used on the papa hou were often inspired by the natural environment, telling a story through ornate symbolism. Expert woodcarvers, known as tohunga whakairo, were considered to be tapu because of their knowledge of the craft as well as their work.

The carvings on the treasure boxes and the important objects that they contained meant that papa hou were highly valued themselves as taonga. Given their own names and histories, these boxes became cherished family and tribal heirlooms and they were frequently offered as gifts to celebrate social events, friendships and relationships with other tribes. As a result, it is not unusual to find a papa hou belonging to one tribe with the carving style of another.

Interestingly, there are actually two different styles of Māori treasure boxes. While papa hou are shallow, rectangular or oblong in shape with a flat base, waka huia boxes are deeper and usually oval-shaped. There are also geographical differences between the two, as papa hou are often found in the northern regions of the North Island, whereas waka huia can be found in most tribal regions.