Wellington, Nov. 3, (dpa/GNA) – Four mummified Maori heads have been welcomed home to New Zealand’s national museum, after returning to the country from Germany.
The Toi moko [tattooed Maori heads] were returned from the Berlin Ethnological Museum and Goettingen University, Te Papa Museum said in a statement on Tuesday.
The toi moko were welcomed to the museum by German and New Zealand delegates, before being draped in feathered cloaks as songs and prayers were said.
German ambassador Stefan Krawielicki said it was an honour to participate in the powhiri [welcoming ceremony].
Toi moko were collector’s items during the 19th century. They became highly desirable items as ‘curiosities’ for visiting explorers, traders, whalers and sealers from Europe, Australia and the Americas.
It was only since arriving in New Zealand that Krawielicki had learned about Toi moko, he said.
“This injustice should never have happened. I am glad that the ancestors are now back home where they belong. It was the right thing to do. Their very long, wrong journey has finally come to an end in Aotearoa New Zealand.”
The Toi moko will remain at the museum until the tribal connections are known and they are able to return to their ancestral lands.
The Karanga Aotearoa Repatriation Programme has repatriated more than 600 Maori and Moriori ancestral remains since it began in 2003, it said in a statement.
Researchers said there is a further 600 Maori and Moriori ancestors at overseas institutions still to be sent home.
GNA