NOTABLE CARVINGS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 2, Issue 192, 29 July 1940, Page 7

NOTABLE CARVINGS

LIFTING TAPU FROM WAHAIAO MEETINGHOUSE AT WHAKA Wahaiao meetinghouse at Whakarewarewa will be in use for the first time on September 6, when the tapu lifting ceremony will take place, and the birthday celebrations of the Maori Women's League will be held in the building. Wahaiao is a centennial memor-i ial building, and is rapidly nearing completion. When finished, it wilif be the most elaborate. commuJiial building in the whole Arawa district. The designing represents Maori art and handicraft at its be<st 'with necessary innovations to meet the requirements of modern times.' A, feature is the finishing execu'-* tion and conception of the many carved pieces, and they are certain to be objects of admiration and interest bj' all visitors. Hewn from single great slabs of totara, each pillar and sidepiece is symbolic of some outstanding le- ! gend or incident of Maori history from the time of the departure of the Arawa canoe from the shores of Hawailci. There is. a boldness of design com bined with an intricacy of pattern that if; arresting.. All the carvings have been done i(n either the Arts and Crafts School, Ohinemutu, or another site at Ngapuna or in the, building itself, and the great size of the pieces has made handling a problem, and called for many months of patient work by the ca.rV ers. All Maori labour has been ployed on the building itsslf, and throughout, the men of the have taken a lively interest on its' construction. The women'o'k, however, have had to confine their observation; if not their curiosity 10 the exterior for the tapu has /been correctly invoked and strictly enforced. When the building is completed two stones will be laid at the entrance, one recording the centennial association of the building, and the other in memory of the late grand chief, Mita Taupopohi, whose daughter gave the land on which the meetinghouse stands. ! =========