Te katau

Te katau. Coconut shell belt. Used as adornment for dance costumes, te katau can be one of several decorative belt ornaments tied around the waist of a female dance performer, atop the riri, or dance skirt. All such decorative waist ornaments are collectively termed taona n riri. This katau is made of doubled lengths of te nana (coconut shell) discs strung together on cords of te kora (coconut sennit) through a central perforation in the disc creating a long flexible cylindrical form. The te nana discs are approximately 8mm in diameter. In addition to the te nana disks, there are 4 wiin te kao (cow's teeth) and 15 wiin te kua kewe (porpoise teeth) worked into the design, along one length of the strung te nana disks. These animal teeth are a yellowed off white colour. At either end of this ornament the cord of te kora is tied off into a knot with a short length left free of discs so as to be able to tie securely around the waist. The te nana discs are a dark brown colour and the cord of te kora is golden brown in colour.