Poupou

A poupou is a wall panel located underneath the veranda of a Māori wharenui (meeting house).

[1] It is generally built to represent the spiritual connection between the tribe and their ancestors and thus each poupou is carved with emblems of the tohunga whakairo’s (carver's) particular lineage.

[1] The poupou may also be decorated with representations of the tribe's ancestral history, legends and migration stories to New Zealand.

[4] For example, in traditional times, the tohunga whakairo never blew the shavings of his work or the ancestors would curse the piece.

[4] In the contemporary period Māori carvers have struggled to maintain the same traditional protocol in a state that has become increasingly Westernised.

Poupou from the early 18th century (from the iwi Te Aitanga-a-Hauiti ), last object of the first voyage of James Cook (1768–1771), gift to Joseph Banks , now at the Museum of the University of Tübingen MUT ( Germany )