Lintel of a meeting house (pare)

The meeting house is the main landmark and focus of a Maori settlement and is used for communal and ceremonial activities. It is a focus of tribal pride and is treated with great respect. The open space in front of the house, known as a marae, is used as an assembly ground. This lintel was once above a meeting house door.


Maori meeting houses are regarded as sacred. Some areas are held as more sacred than others, especially the front of the house. The lintel (Maori: pare) above the doorway is considered the most important carving, marking the passage from the domain of one god to that of another. Outside the meeting house is often referred to as the domain of Tumatauenga, the god of war, and thus of hostility and conflict. The calm and peaceful interior is the domain of Rongo, the god of agriculture and other peaceful pursuits.

The lintel depicts the creation of the world. The three figures, with eyes inlaid with rings of haliotis shell, are standing on a base which symbolizes the god Papa or Earth. The scene refers to the moment of the creation of the world as the three figures push the sky god Rangi and earth apart. The three figures are Rangi and Papa's children, the central one probably representing Tane, god of the forests. The two large spirals represent light and knowledge entering the world.

The lintel was probably carved in the Whakatane district of the Bay of Plenty in the late 1840s.