I have been asked a few times now what my necklace is. So here is a small blog to tell you :)
The Manaia is a mythological creature in the Maori culture, it is traditionally believed to be the messenger between the earthly world of mortals and the domain of the spirits, and its symbol is used as a guardian against evil
The Manaia is in design has the head of a bird, the body of a human and the tail of a fish, representing protection in flight, on land and in sea. The head is symbolic for flight of spirit, and the three fingers (which mine doesn't have) represents birth, life and death.
My Step dad carved me the Manaia (out of antler) for my 21st birthday, I have had a lot of past history playing about with things that I shouldn't have and gotten in to a few problems from doing so.
I was also going through some tough times mentally at the time of my 21st and shit was pretty much down spiralling.
So when I was asked what I wanted for my birthday I told my mum who had asked me, if she could get her partner to make me a Manaia. I have a Hei-tiki which was bought for me for my 18th and I didn't feel as connected to it. I had been reading up on the Manaia and what it symbolised and had been looking at buying them online. So I thought it would be more special if it was hand crafted by a family member.
Before they gave it to me they had a Maori person (I cant remember what my mum said about her exactly) bless it and left it in the light of full moon.
I only ever part with it when doing photo shoots and dying my hair.
