Female dance costume; girdle
date: label: Accession Date
content: 17 Feb 2017
name: label: Collector
content: Jean T. Chapman-Mason
label: Donor Name
content: Jean T. Chapman-Mason
notes: label: Notes
content: Velcro fastened black cloth waist band covered with red feathers and yellow bast, with oyster shell decoration.
label: Notes
content: Donor's notes: "Dance skirt outer girdle called titi. This style, where a bustle is present in the back, has evolved in the past 20 years. Costumes are more·elaborate now than they were in the past. This is probably largely due to the commercial availability of feathers, shells, dyes and the hot glue gun! In the past everything was sewn on to the costume by hand & every shell and feather had to be collected & prepared locally. Having said that, we have made an effort to keep this costume 'traditional' by using mostly local materials. The 17 polished white Astralium or Turban shells are not local (probably Australian - they were bought at CITC, the only department store here) [Update 2018: donor notes that turban shells occur locally but it is quicker / easier to buy them, and they are seasonal]. The larger yellow shells along the top of the girdle are called raro ara pupu (Melampus luteus); they are a landsnail found around pandanus trees; they emerge from under rocks after rain (raro ara means "beneath pandanus").They are common throughout the Cook Islands. The tiny yellow shells are called pupu rengarenga (Orobophana flavescens), which come primarily from Mangaia. They also emerge after rain. The small white pore'o tea (money cowrie) is present throughout the Cooks but is more prevalent in the northern Cooks. These ones came from Penrhyn. The carved, polished black lip oyster (Pinctada margaritifera) shells came from Manihiki in the north. They are tough to carve & polish and took a couple of days of work at a local craft factory."
label: Record Last Modified
content: 8 May 2018
label: Specimen Count
content: 1
place: label: Place
content: Cook Islands, Polynesia
topic: label: Topic
content: Ethnology
setName: label: See more items in
content: Anthropology
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: NMNH - Anthropology Dept.
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 2069807
label: USNM Number
content: E433868-0
objectType: label: Object Type
content: Girdle
physicalDescription: label: Length
content: 107 cm
label: Width
content: 67 cm
label: Height
content: 16 cm