Thursday, February 10, 2011

Friday Moment : Feb 11.

A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week .. some time ago.

A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember....



Share/Bookmark

17 comments:

Jim said...

Got a post coming up about this. Briefly, it's a Maori carving inside our local Iwi Marae meeting house, in Otaki , NZ.
We were guests invited onto the marae to attend our friend's Citizenship ceremony, which our District Council had arranged to be held on our Maori marae. Inside this meeting house, the walls are all of woven panels and carvings like this, each one different. After the ceremony we were allowed to take photos inside. Normally that is not allowed.

So I'm preparing a blog on the ceremony, but want to run it past the Maori leaders involved so I get language, terms and protocol correct, because a lot of travellers would want to attend onto a marae, but there is a routine or protocol to follow.
This event we attended was extraordinary.

alejandro guzman said...

Besides being an extraordinary carving it does resemble me in the morning when looking in the mirror after a big night...

Cheers A

mine is Last post-my moment

Papercut Doll said...

How big is it? I can't get the dimensions from this but it looks amazing and I think it would look good in my dining room.

Jim said...

Sarah-Jane, that's not going to fit in your room. 12 feet high.
And as for Alejandro comparing this to a morning after peek in the mirror, well ...
Yeah, know how you feel.

But as a work of art this is just one part of a whole meeting house that is a work of art. We were there late last year and thought it was grand.

Jessica M said...

Wow..that's an absolutely amazing carving!

My moment: http://ascendingthehills.blogspot.com/2011/02/this-moment-friday-tradition.html

Nelieta said...

Wow this is incredible! I love the detail. I would love to read more about it. It looks very interesting.

Here is my moment:
http://www.nelietatravellingadventures.blogspot.com

Bongo said...

Wow I love carvings ..any carvings... stories in therm..Thank you...As always...XOXOXO

my moment :

http://bongoisme.blogspot.com/2011/02/moment-in-time_11.html

Jessica Brant said...

The details in this carving are incredible. How old is the piece?
Thank you for sharing with us.

cheers
Jessica

My Moment
Finding One's Way Moment

Anonymous said...

amazing! thanks for sharing what you can now and I look forward to reading the blog about the ceremony.

Here's mine - almost 12 ft tall if I had to put all the boxes we've sold already
Cheers
have a wonderful weekend
http://wp.me/pTnXt-4K

Jim said...

That carving is one of many, each different, lining the walls of the meeting house. I'll blog about the history of it later on but built around 1930's. Our friend's citizenship ceremony before Christmas but I was clearing some memory sticks this week,for an upcoming trip, and came across these and thought that photo was so full of presence. Just awesome. Glad you all like it.

Mary Hudak-Collins livingthescripture.com said...

I thought for a moment Jim that it was some sort of totum pole (did I spell that correctly???). Anyhow, it's exquisite workmanship. What is it on both sides of it? I can't make it out.

Mary Hudak-Collins livingthescripture.com said...

Jim, forgot to leave my moment link...
http://allergiesandceliac.blogspot.com/

Jim said...

A marae meeting house or whare runanga may be 30 feet wide and twice that long or longer. I'll blog full details later.
But typically along the long wall will be many carvings like these at say 6 feet intervals. The spaces are decorated with tuku tuku panels of weaving, each panel of a different design.All the fibre for the weaving will be from our flax plant, phormium tenax, prepared and then woven in cross or diagonal pattern around strips to form the full size panel.

KD said...

Very cool...makes me want to travel!

Savira Gupta said...

That is a huge carving. Where is it from?

Jim said...

It's at Ruakawa Marae in Otaki just north of our town on the Kapiti Coast New Zealand.

Healing Morning said...

Isn't it fascinating how this type of carving happens in many native tribes on just about every continent? Native Americans carve totems and they're huge in stature, intricate in a different stylized presentation, but equally beautiful. I love this form of expression and I look forward to your upcoming blog with all the details of ceremony.

~ Dawn