Harakeke

 This week we did some flax weaving with Mrs Elmore because we have been learning about Maori culture. Maori used harakeke to make bags, candles, shoes, blankets, fishing nets, clothing and ropes. We used the harakeke to make a flax flower called a putiputi. It was quite tricky but with a bit of help we all made a fantastic flax flower.

The flax plant is like a family. In the middle is the baby, then the parents and on the outside are the grandparents. When harvesting flax you can only cut the grandparents. The baby must be protected at all times.

It was pretty hard folding the flax but we had a lot of fun.

These are some items that used to be made out of flax.

Here are our fantastic putiputi!