$27.30
Product of Aeon Giftware
New Zealand made
Approx 65mm tall
Crafted from Genesis Kauri wood (estimated to be around 40,000 years old)
Features paua inlaid eyes and mounted on a black oval base (design meaning stickered on the bottom of the base)
Believed to be a messenger that moves freely between the spirit realm and the human world, the Manaia is a mythological creature, greatly respected in Maori culture and a predominant motif in wood and greenstone carving.
Originally Maori had no written language, and symbolic meanings such as the manaia were embodied in carving, knots, and weaving to communicate and record stories, while traditional songs and dances shared the myths and folklore of ancestors.