Staff gods (or atua rakau) are sacred objects within the cultural and spiritual practices of the Cook Islands Māori, particularly prominent on the island of Rarotonga. These objects were crafted from wood and adorned with intricate carvings and symbolic designs, combining images of gods with their human descendants. The staffs range in length between 28 inches (71 cm) and 18 feet (5.5 m) and were carried and displayed horizontally.[1]
At one end there, staff gods might have a schematized blade-shaped head and arms of the progenitive god with a succession of little figures rising from his body, alternatively full-face and in profile with penis erect. The staff itself terminated in a phallus. But this elaborately carved sexual imagery had less importance for the Rarotongans than the feathers and pieces of shell representing the soul of the god and enclosed in yards of bark cloth (tapa) wound around the center of the staff.
- ^ Honour, Hugh; Fleming, John (2005). A World History of Art. Laurence King Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85669-451-3.