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Te nuota

human history
  • Other Name

    Human hair girdle (English)

  • Description

    Te nuota. Human hair girdle. Te nuota are usually reserved for use by male members of a family. They are worn by men at Te Ruoia dances but are also used by men as girdles for tying mats around the body. Te nuota are made from plaited strands of female hair. Women plait long cords of their own hair (which at times is cut for this purpose), or from an old family store of female hair.

    This particular nuota uses three-ply cords of tightly plaited hair that consequently lie flat. There are several of these cords (10-15) which have been bunched together and knotted at either end and looped or doubled to make a thick and lengthy bundle. This bundle of plaited cords is then slightly twisted to give the nuota more of a uniform and tubular shape, appropriate for tying around the waist. The hair of the nuota is dark brown in colour and slightly frayed in placed.

  • Place
  • Accession Number
    1940.3
  • Accession Date
    1940
  • Other Id

    25223.3 (ethnology)

  • Department
Te nuota, 1940.3, 25223.3, Photographed by Andrew Hales,… … Read more

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