Staff god

These objects were crafted from wood and adorned with intricate carvings and symbolic designs, combining images of gods with their human descendants.

The staffs range in length between 28 inches (71 cm) and 18 feet (5.5 m) and were carried and displayed horizontally.

But this elaborately carved sexual imagery had less importance for the Rarotongans than the feathers and pieces of shell representing the soul of the god and enclosed in yards of bark cloth (tapa) wound around the center of the staff.

During the 19th century, the arrival of the missionaries from Europe to the Cook Islands saw the burning of staff gods to make way for Christianity.

[2] British Museum has the only surviving staff god with full bark cloth (tapa) intact that predates the arrival of European missionaries.