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Using barkcloth
In the past, Islanders used barkcloth for clothes, room dividers and bedding. On some islands it had religious uses. Cook Islanders used it to wrap their carved wooden figures of gods. Fijians used it to wrap the bodies of dead relatives. New Guinea men made it into masks (top left).
In the 19th century high-ranking Cook Islanders wore this kind of ‘tiputa’ (top right) as a sign of mourning and on other formal occasions. The diamond-shaped cut-out pattern is probably associated with the world of the gods. Islanders also used barkcloth as a gift in ceremonial exchanges. Often they exchanged it for a different type of object, such as headrests (left) or whaletooth pendants. Find out about the uses of barkcloth today In this section
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