Visitors to Russell Museum during Matariki 2009 will be given a rare opportunity to view local weaver, Donna Baker in the traditional practice of making piupiu and to ask questions about this Maori art form.

Visitors to Russell Museum during Matariki 2009 will be given a rare opportunity to view local weaver, Donna Baker in the traditional practice of making piupiu and to ask questions about this Maori art form.

To celebrate Matariki Donna turns to her tupuna (ancestor) Ngapuhi chief Pomare II, for inspiration.  Taking themes from a cloak (kahu) originally worn by Pomare II, Donna applies them to design a contemporary piupiu. 

Making a piupiu from harakeke, (Phiormium tenax, flax), involves preparing uniform strips of harakeke and scraping away areas of the outer membrane with a mussel shell to expose the long threads underneath.

Once dry the strips are placed in either traditional or chemical dyes to stain the exposed membrane and form a contrasting pattern.    The scraped top lengths are woven into a waistband which is sometimes decorated with feathers, tassels or paua shell. 

Piupiu were worn by Maori before colonization.  Today the are worn on special occasions.

Matariki or Maori New Year is traditionally a time in which the success of new seasons plantings and crops were thought to be determined by the brightness of the group of stars known as the Seven Sisters or Pleiades.  Traditionally the emphasis during Matariki is on new beginnings, family gatherings, planting crops and trees, as well as reflecting on the past and what the future may hold. 

Celebrating Piupiu: Inspired by the past
A live Matariki exhibition by local weaver, Donna Baker