France hands back Maori heads

TWENTY mummified heads have been handed back from France to New Zealand Maoris.

The toï moko – tattooed and mummified heads of warriors – have been recuperated from French museums at the request of Maori communities, who consider it disrespectful for them to be on display in western museums.

Formerly it was part of Maori culture to preserve heads of tattooed warriors, kept respectfully if belonging to a family member or, sometimes, treated with derision if belonging to an enemy.

They became objects of trafficking from the start of the colonisation of Oceania in the 18th century and though banned in New Zealand from 1831, this continued long afterwards. The French heads were acquired by European explorers and sailors in the 19th century.

Controversy over ones kept in France started in 2007, when a Rouen museum decided unilaterally to give a head back, without asking the Culture Ministry. A legal adviser to the ministry said it could set a dangerous precedent – “today it’s a Maori head, tomorrow it could be a mummy in the Louvre,” he said.

However parliament agreed on the restitution of the heads in 2010.

They were returned at a solemn ceremony at the Quai Branly museum in Paris, which holds traditional art from around the world.

Maori elder Derek Lardelli thanked the French people and said “today the ancestors are smiling on you”.

The heads will be kept by a museum in Wellington, in a special “sacred place” as opposed to displayed as collectables, said Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand. A ceremony will be held, attended by a Maori king, to welcome them back.

Several other countries, including Great Britain have agreed to give back these mummified remains.

Photo: © musée du quai Branly photo Daniel Vigeard