Thursday, January 24, 2013

Maori war shields and cultural diffusion

Click any image to enlarge
For some reason the comic book charachter The Phantom has captured the imagination of Maori tribesman. The decorate their shields, which they use in their ritualized combat, with images of the super hero. It must be jarring to see them shaking their spears at each other while holding such a foolish looking thing. I wonder if captured ones hang in [places of honor in their lodges?

From OObject's post 15 Papua New Guinean superhero war shields where there are more and each is linked to a site further discussing them.


No comments: