I've been especially busy for the past week with much taxi-ing of offspring to climbing crags. Finally, I have a few spare minutes to continue with the final stages of our Tod walk.
A little way below the Bride Stones, we were surprised to spot this rather unusual stile post. I knew nothing about this art form, so I had a search on Google and discovered that it is known as Tiki, meaning a wood or stone carving in humanoid form.
There are several sources for the word Tiki. In Maori mythology, he was the first man; on Rarotonga in the Cook Islands, he guards the entrance to the underworld; while at Mangaia, he is a woman, the first to die
I rather liked the little fellow. He has such a grumpy face :)
I think he's asleep!
ReplyDeleteWe don't have these here, more's the pity. Just rock-carvings and writings.
How unusual to find the carvings where you did! I like the little one, too:)
ReplyDeleteI rather like the little fellow too. Have you ever speculated on what on earth you will do with your time when you no longer have to ferry your offspring around??
ReplyDeleteFirst, from my dashboard view of this rock, I thought you'd strayed a bit further afield than was usual for you. In its much smaller form, the facial features and the lower portion are not distinct. If you take the picture, crop off everything from the fence line down, then reduce the pixel count, you'll see what I saw.
ReplyDeleteMoving on...
Thank you for posting a close-up of the little guy beside the grumpy looking one. After seeing that, the first picture has more of a storybook feel to it. I'd have loved to see this in person.
By dashboard, I mean my Blogger Dashboard. D'oh!
ReplyDeleteWondered where you'd got to. Love the stones, what a surprise to find them.
ReplyDeleteHow did these Tiki get here? Fabulous!
ReplyDelete