Heitiki

The heitiki is a small, carved ornament, usually of greenstone or bone, worn suspended from a plaited cord around the neck.  It is often incorrectly referred to as tiki. Tikis are, properly, the much larger human figures carved in wood guarding the entrance to a Maori pa and, also, the smaller wooden carvings used to mark a tapu place.  It is widely thought to have been a fertility symbol but there is also a suggestion it was purely for adornment.

My Heitiki is made from silver and was presented to me as a Christening gift from a much loved Uncle and Aunt.  It was made in the 1940s and is a collector’s item now – not that I would ever dream of parting with it. The red colouring from around the eye has worn off on one side unfortunately.

This Aunt and Uncle never had any children and wanted to adopt me after my Mother died but Dad was not going to part with any of his three children. Both Aunt and Uncle lived to over 100 years of age – I guess it was having no children that did it :-))

It was a very expensive day today with the plumber here for 2 hours and the electrician for  1.5 hours plus a very expensive replacement part  needed. The water circulation pump burnt out on my solar water heating system.

On the plus side - NZ won the Americas Cup this morning. Yippee!