tour 21 of 26
Power and Taboo: sacred objects from the Pacific
Feather cape
Only Hawaiians of the highest social rank could
wear feathered capes and cloaks. They wore them on ceremonial
occasions and in battle, where the folds of feathers and netting
provided physical as well as spiritual
protection.
Such cloaks and
capes were called
'ahu'ula,
or 'red garments'. Across Polynesia the colour red
was associated with both gods and chiefs. In the Hawaiian Islands,
however, yellow feathers became equally valuable, due to their
scarcity. The cloaks were made by attaching thousands of small
bundles of feathers to a base of net meshing, a technique unique to
the Hawaiian
Islands.
Feathered capes
like this one were worn by those of a lesser status than the most
powerful chiefs, who wore larger
cloaks.
Cape styles varied
over time. This one, for example, has a tight, rounded neckline,
which probably imitated the style of European officers'
jackets.
It was collected
by the Russian voyager Admiral Von Kotzebue whose ship, the
Rurik, was in Hawaii in
1816 and 1817. It was presented to him by Queen Namahana, wife of
King Kamehameha I in 1817.