Mahiole

Hawaiian feather helmet

Man Wearing Feather Cloak and Helmit (sic) attributed to Rembrandt Peale.
Material	Feathers and plant fibres
Created	18th century
Present location	various museums including the British Museum, London

Hawaiian feather helmets, known as mahiole in the Hawaiian language, were worn with feather cloaks (ʻahu ʻula). These were symbols of the highest rank reserved for the men of the aliʻi, the chiefly class of Hawaii. There are examples of this traditional headgear in museums around the world. At least sixteen of these helmets were collected during the voyages of Captain Cook. These helmets are made from a woven frame structure decorated with bird feathers and are examples of fine featherwork techniques. One of these helmets was included in a painting of Cook's death by Johann Zoffany.

While the Hawaiians did not wear hats, during times of combat the Ali'i chiefs would wear specially created wicker helmets that have been likened to the classic Greek helmets, and also co-incidentally bear a resemblance to the headdress worn by Ladakh Buddhist religious musicians. While the question has been posed if the influence is from the Spanish, the tradition comes from the northern coast of New Ireland. The design for mahiole is a basketry frame cap with a central crest running from the center of the forehead to the nape of the neck. However the variation in the design is considerable with the colour and arrangement of the feather patterns differing and the crest varying in height and thickness. A number of museums have numerous examples in different designs and stages of preservation. A related Hawaiian term Oki Mahiole means a haircut where a strip of hair is left on the head. The image of the Hawaiian god Kū-ka-ili-moku is sometimes presented with a similar shaped head.

The helmets are constructed on a basket type construction which gives a light and strong frame. The frame is decorated usually with feathers obtained from local birds although there have been variations which have used human hair instead. The plant used to make the baskets is Freycinetia arborea, a plant often used to make basketware. In addition to Freycinetia arborea the makers also used fibre from the Touchardia latifolia plant which is a type of nettle. Touchardia latifolia was used to create string or thread to tie the feathers to the basketry.