Kahu kurī o awe: Fur cloaks of awe

Abstract

Kurī (Polynesian dogs in New Zealand) played a significant role in Māori life, including their skins as prestige garments, up until their disappearance in the mid 19th century. It is believed that kurī disappeared through interbreeding with imported species of dog and extermination by settler farmers. Brought on the original waka (canoes) from the Pacific Islands when the ancestors of Māori made landfall in New Zealand in c.1200AD, kurī were treasured pets, companions and sources for materials, and often had their whakapapa (genealogy) recited back to Polynesia parallel with their owners. Whakapapa is one of the contributing factors of a being’s mana (prestige) and tapu (sacredness). These concepts were firmly ascribed to kurī and set the frameworks for the relationships they formed with humans. The importance of this whakapapa in generating these qualities is investigated here in relation to the role kāhu kurī (dog skin cloaks) played in Māori society. The lens of animism allows us to consider the fluidity of mana and tapu between these animals and the garments they became. Kāhu kurī, now rare as their fabrication had ceased by the mid 19th century, are regarded broadly as garments of great prestige and association with rangatira (chiefs). How did this specific association occur? How, in turn, did it inform the relationship between kurī and humans? And most importantly, to what extent did it influence the adaptation of Māori weavers when kurī became scarce?