216. Staff god. Rarotonga, cook Islands, central Polynesia. Late 18th to early 19th Century CE Woood, Tapa, Fiber & Feather

• Form
  • Large column-like wooden staff placed upright in a village common
  • Large head placed on top
  • several smaller heads carved below it
  • shaft in the form of an elongated body
  • central carved wooden shaft around which a roll of tapa is placed
• Content
  • The soul of the god is represented by polished pearl shells and red feathers that are placed inside the bark cloth next to the interior shaft
  • most staff gods were destroyed, only the top ends were retained as trophies
  • In other images the staff gods have been thrown down in the village square in front of a European-style church; represents the fall of one faith and the adoption of another
• Function
  • Represents the soul of the god & beliefs of the community