Te manu tukutuku – Māori kites with 9KLe

 

Māori kites are known as manu tukutuku or manu aute. Manu is the word for both bird and kite. Tukutuku refers to the winding out of the line as the kite climbs and aute is a type of bark that could be used to make kites. Kites were seen as connectors between heaven and earth and were often flown at this event, especially on the first day of the New Year.  Kites were often flown at Matariki, but also at other times:

They were used to work out what the gods wanted the people to do. They were a way of sending messages to people far away, both to living people who were far away and people who had died. People had kite flying competitions. They were used to celebrate things, like Matariki. Children played with them.

Kites were flown for recreation, but they also had other purposes. They were used for divination – to gauge whether an attack on an enemy stronghold would be successful or to locate wrongdoers. They were also a means of communication. It is said that when the founding ancestor of Ngāti Porou, Porourangi, died in Whāngārā, on the East Coast, a kite was flown and his brother Tahu, the founding ancestor of Ngāi Tahu, was able to see it from the South Island. Sometimes people would release a kite and follow it, claiming and occupying the place where it landed.

This year yr 9KLe got an opportunity to make kites at Whare Nui with Whaea Ruihia. They participated really well and enjoyed it. They really like to learn new things and were excited to finish their kites.

Materials

The frames of larger kites were usually made from selected lengths of mānuka (tea tree) and split lengths of kareao (supplejack). Smaller children’s kites were made from the stems of toetoe, kākāka (bracken), and various types of rush.

The coverings of large kites were fashioned from bark cloth made from aute until the plant became virtually extinct. Subsequently, raupō (bulrush) leaves or the leaves of ūpoko Tangata (cutty grass) were used. Flying lines known as aho tukutuku were made from a fine twisted cord made from muka, the fibre of the flax leaf.

Decoration

Kites were decorated with feathers, shells, carved faces, and coloured patterns drawn with black or red pigments from charcoal or clay mixed with shark oil. Some kites featured long feather tails known as pūhihi, attached to the lower end or wingtips. Others were decorated with horns, and some had shells held inside a hollow mask that rattled during flight. Some kites had a ring, called a karere (messenger), made of toetoe leaves or wood, which was blown by the wind up the line towards the kite.