To beautify our home
Red for the head
Gold for the body
The tropical bird from Havaiki
has fallen asleep on my tivaevae
(Cook Islands Song by Kauraka Kauraka, 1990)
Christian missionaries began settling in Polynesia in 1797 and by the 1830s conversion was widespread. Many god images were presented to missionaries or desecrated by being unwrapped from their feather and fibre bindings as a sign of conversion.
Islanders became committed Christians for different reasons. Some were compelled to by their chiefs, while others saw Christianity as part of a new world brought to them by Europeans along with metal tools, firearms, cloth and books. Some Polynesians also adopted European-style clothing, albeit adapted to suit their environment.
Many aspects of Polynesian culture remain today, however, and people are identifying more closely with traditional rituals and practices. Research by Polynesians and Europeans into the British Museum's collection is part of that process and is helping to dispel long-standing European misinterpretations.
The collection has also inspired both Polynesian and European artists. Pablo Picasso had a replica of the enigmatic A'a figure from the Austral Islands in his studio and Henry Moore, a regular visitor, sketched a Hawaiian wooden figure.
Taboo, introduced to Western culture via Captain Cook's journals, has acquired a different significance over the last 150 years. Adopted by Sigmund Freud and other psychoanalysts it came to refer to something dangerous and forbidden. The Polynesian meanings of tapu have been lost in translation.
Illustration: A'a, one of a number of god images presented to the missionary John Williams by islanders from Rurutu in 1821, is one of the most famous objects in the British Museum's collections, celebrated by Europeans and Pacific islanders alike. Artist Pablo Picasso had a replica of A'a in his studio.
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