The toki taraī (hafted adze) served our ancestors as a multi-purpose tool. They used it as a spade for cultivating, as a tool for carving and building shelters, and to hollow out huge tree trunks to build canoes.

The toki taraī is called a toī in Aitutaki. There are two types of toī, the ‘oma (long-handled adze) and the titoma (short-handled adze). The ‘oma is used at the beginning of the canoe building process to quickly carve out huge chunks of wood. Finishing touches are done with the titoma. The ‘oma allows more force while the titoma is more subtle.

Handles were most commonly made with Pacific mahogany, which is hard and easy to work with. Blades were made from basalt, called pu‘a in Aitutaki. In Mangaia the blades were usually made of ke’o (Mangaian rock), which is harder and a less brittle form of flint. The shorter pedestal adze is made of ke’o.

The stories of the Mangaian people are engraved onto the pedestals of these adze blades. The back-to-back Ks represent the brothers Tuanuku and Raumea, famous for fighting their enemies tied back to back – because they had each other’s back they won the battle. This symbol is seen in almost all Mangaian designs. The X line-up stands for communities working hand in hand. The triangle is the shark’s tooth which symbolises a people that will never die. Though Mangaia is flat, the zig-zag motif could signify the hills of the islands where their ancestors may have lived before arriving at Mangaia.