When exploring Whakarewarewa Village, you will come upon numerous tekoteko – wooden Māori carvings of human like figures. Fascinating and full of symbolism and cultural history, read more about these works of art that will greet you in the most unexpected places at Whakarewarewa. What is a tekoteko?

A tekoteko is a Māori carved human figure that is mounted as a finial, usually above the gable of a Māori building, most commonly a wharenui (meeting house) or a pātaka (food storehouse). [1][2] It usually stands above the koruru, a carved head mounted where the bargeboards meet at the apex of the gable. [3]

Teko Teko Carving was usually used by the Maori people as a method of commemorating ancestors and were usually carved in postures of war dances or as in the case of Teko Teko with tounges out thrust , or carrying clubs or spears.

An outstanding example of Māori figural sculpture, the carving references the early ancestral union of male and female expressed as a first generation of bird-like ancestor beings, standing defiant in their role as protective guardian spirits (kaitiaki) for the community.

This imposing tiki is a tekoteko (gable ornament), which once adorned the roof peak of one of the major buildings in a Maori village, likely that of a storehouse (pataka), belonging to the village chief and used to safeguard food, tools, weapons, and other items.

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This tekoteko (carved figure on the gable of a house), on the ancestral house of Te Herenga Waka marae, is of Kupe, who is said to have discovered New Zealand. Some believe that the first tekoteko was the immobilised figure of Te Manuhauturuki, whom Tangaroa placed at the top of his wharenui (meeting house).