Lei niho palaoa

Lei niho palaoa. Whale tooth and hair necklace. This is a neck adornment. It features a hook-shaped pendant made from palaoa (sperm-whale tooth). The pendant is suspended from a series of intricately braided human hair. An off-white cord has been used to coil the hair braids and fix the necklace when worn. When worn, the free end of the hook would face forward. These particular adornments were worn by Ali'i (High chiefs). They are of cosmological and visual significance as they portrayed the wearers divine right and genealogical connections to Hawaiian deity and their ancestors. The braided hair linked the wearer to their ancestors and the ivory tongue shaped hook visually materialized cosmological connections.