Tongan kahoa necklace making

Meet Tongan artist and cultural advocate Mele Halafihi

Skilled Tongan artist Mele Halafihi will show you how to make your own Tongan kahoa necklace using ribbon and flowers.

Suitable for 8yrs+

Make sure to check out the beautiful display of Tongan taonga made by Mele and her sister Saane Me’afo’ou, including woven fala fihu(fine mat), ta’ovala (woven wrap around the waist) and kiekie (female waist garment)

Mele and Saane are celebrated artists and cultural advocates from Porirua’s Tongan community and have provided a beautiful display of Tongan adornments from their family’s collection that you can see for yourself in Pātaka’s Spine throughout this week.

Covering the table is a woven fala fihu and then on top is a tuavala, made from the kie tree by Mele and Saane’s mother Susana Me’afo’ou. The ta’ovala  is wrapped around the man’s waist. The rope inside the woven basket is used to keep the ta’ovala in place. These adornments were made from the kie tree and dyed with natural dyes.

Placed around the basket are four intricately woven kiekie. They are worn around the waist by women and often seen at special occasions including church, weddings, funerals and birthdays. The kiekie is made from coconut tree fibres and dyed using pigments from the hiapo tree. The beige coloured kiekie is made from the fau tree. The shell interlaced in the kiekie is the Tongan tofe shell.

A large Tongan barkcloth is called a ngatu fuatanga . Made from the mulberry tree, this barkcloth is ten metres in width and length and is often featured at special ceremonies. The ngatu fuatanga pictured was made by mama Saane Me’afo’ou and painted by Mele and Saane. This ngatu fuatanga was featured just for this morning in the Spine so look out for these beautiful ngatu specific to Tonga, at other events around Porirua for Tongan Language Week.

Image: Mele Halafihi and her sister Saane Me’afo’ou