Collection
Some treasures depict an ancestor; others show the connection to the ancestor, through the stories of a historical event, a special place or a person who used the objects. Still today, when Māori come in contact with certain powerful taonga, they react to them as if they were alive: full of awe, they experience the ancestral spirit as a presence, an authority. Objects not only connect the past to the present, but are also guides that help understand complex family histories. Taonga allow Māori to draw from ancestral knowledge to face the future with confidence.
