Tapa Cloth
date: label: Accession Date
content: 18 Apr 2017
label: Collection Date
content: 1978
name: label: Collector
content: Rinda Gordon
label: Donor Name
content: Rinda Gordon
notes: label: Notes
content: Large piece of tapa cloth, off-white background with brown painted lines and motifs, including trees, birds, coat of arms, and lions. This tapa is part of a larger piece, with horizontal lines running from one side to the other. The 4 lines (called lalangaare) on this piece are numbered from 32 - 36, but in the original complete piece, the numbers would be from 1 - 50. The design is Hala Paini or road of pines, which was formerly along the ocean side of the ceremonial space (called Pangai Lahi) next to the Tongan palace. The writing says, Koe Hala Paini o Vaha Kolo, the road of pines of the center (or heart) of the village. The other design is the Royal Coat of Arms or seal with the Tongan motto "Koe otua mo Tonga ko hoko tofia", "God and Tonga are my inheritance". This tapa was acquired by the donor in Papua New Guinea, as a gift from Sione Latukefu in 1978. Latukefu was a Tongan who grew up in Papua New Guinea, and taught history at the University of Papua New Guinea.
label: Record Last Modified
content: 18 Oct 2019
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Tonga / Papua New Guinea
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
culture: label: Culture
content: Tongan
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2076447
label: USNM Number
content: E434527-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Barkcloth
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 403 cm
label: Width
content: 241 cm