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Hei Tiki at the Royal Ontario Museum
The hei tiki at the Royal Ontario museum was made in the late nineteenth century (1890). It was carved in the Pate Hauakai style of the North Island of New Zealand. It is made of jade material. It is currently being showcased in Shreyas and Ina Ajmera Gallery of the Pacific on the third floor of the World Cultures Exhibits.

It was traditionally worn as a pendant around the neck (hei) of members of particular iwi (tribes). It was considered an object that inhibited ‘mana’, great spiritual power or prestige. Particularly after the arrival of the Europeans, with the introduction of “nephrite adzes” and iron, hei tiki became more frequently used amongst leaders of the tribes.

According to the Royal Ontario Museum, one explanation about the significance of the hei tiki suggests that “the titled head symbolizes thinking, the hand placed over the heart indicates strength, the open mouth represents communications and the heart signifies love .”

In recent years however scholars have contested this traditional explanation. Academics like Charles Bechtoel has claimed the hei tiki may have been inspired by awe and superstition surrounding “deformed” children. Others like Eldson Best have claimed that it a representation of the human fetus and that it was said to produce greater fertility and reproduction amongst Maori women. Whereas H.D Skinner has claimed that the hei tiki was made as a representation of Hina, the god “presiding over childbirth.”

No definite function has yet to be agreed upon even amongst Maori people themselves.