Etete

Etete. Armbands. These are a pair of armbands with a loose fibrous cord. Both armbands are made of te ira (pandanus leaf) and portray their natural pale yellow colour. Each have been made with wide lengths of naturally coloured te ira. A single length has been wrapped around the centre of the naturally coloured lengths to form the circular armband. It has then been fastened together with a smaller pinule of te ira where extended ends have been left to stand upright. The ends have been cut to form a swallow-tail like shape then pressed to define a chevron style pattern. The upright ends show some fibrous areas from wear and some areas of dappled black spots on the pale yellow te ira parts. Depending on the size of the their diametre they can be worn on the upper or lower part of the arms of a dancer. The upright ends would stand perpendicular to the dancers arms and hands, extending the swift movements of their arms. These are worn by either young girls or women. They would be worn for standing dances such as kamei or kateitei as well as sitting dances like bino.