This sculpture represents Tutunui and his legend.
The story of Tutunui the whale comes from the Pacific islands and also links to Patea traditions. The whale Tutunui is the pet of the great chief Tinirau. When a son is born to Tinirau, the tohunga (priest) Kae is called upon to perform the birth ceremonies and is fed a morsel of flesh from the whale. Tinirau allows Tutunui to take Kae home over the sea. Remembering the succulent taste of the whale, Kae manipulates the death of Tutunui, and cooks his flesh in an oven, wrapped in koromiko leaves, which hold in the fat and flavour. Kae is found out by Tinirau and put to death. For a longer version of the story you can click here.
WOW...that is amazing. Though I must admit that at 1st I thought they were dinosaur bones, though I couldn't imagine why!
ReplyDeleteInteresting sculpture and story.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your photo and the story behind the sculpture.
ReplyDeleteI can see that whale plain as day. Awesome.
ReplyDeleteThat's so cool!
ReplyDeleteOh, this sculpture of whale has big history!!! We have many sculptures in my city but not this interesting :-)
ReplyDeleteSending you Lots of Love and Hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako*
Interesting info to go along with the photo.
ReplyDeletemy 1st thought. not sure if you are familiar with the Flintstones? but i loved that cartoon as a kid & i thought dinosaur bones. so interesting. ( :
ReplyDeletei guess when i look again it looks as if it is blowing in the breeze. peaceful.
Fascinating story and sculpture.
ReplyDeleteThat's what you call a whale of a tale!
ReplyDeleteI love these old legends. Intriguing!
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