Māori Poi and Māori Weaving

Māori Poi

Poi is used in traditional dances for the woman, it involves swinging them around whilst moving your arms along with the music. Poi can be made out of different types of materials, some to weigh one end down, some to tie the plait together and some to make the poi and plait connect.

Poi originated in New Zealand from the Māori people, and poi is still to this day very popular and still gets made even in schools. Poi is usually performed by the woman but it is said that when it was first created men had used poi to help strengthen their wrists and so their movements were better for fighting, hunting, and usage of weapons, but there is no true evidence to support this theory.

Poi was originally and commonly made from harakeke (Flax) and raupō. They would strip the harakeke to get small strips and to get muka, which was then twisted and plaited together for the string of the poi, that was ensured that it was strong enough not to break and then they would tie a knot at the end of the rope.

Another type of materials poi was sometimes made of was Poi tāniko a different type of plant, the outer shell was made out of woven muka using a pattern from fishing nets, they sometimes included strands that were dyed yellow.

In the process of making and researching this, I have learned a lot about poi and the history behind it, I also learnt what poi was originally made out of.