Editing Cook Islands (section)

====Carving====

[[Woodcarving]] is a common art form in the Cook Islands. The proximity of islands in the southern group helped produce a homogeneous style of carving but that had special developments in each island. Rarotonga is known for its fisherman's gods and staff-gods, [[Atiu]] for its wooden seats, [[Mitiaro]], [[Mauke]] and Atiu for mace and slab gods and [[Mangaia]] for its ceremonial adzes. Most of the original wood carvings were either spirited away by early European collectors or were burned in large numbers by missionaries. Today, carving is no longer the major art form with the same spiritual and cultural emphasis given to it by the Maori in New Zealand. However, there are continual efforts to interest young people in their heritage and some good work is being turned out under the guidance of older carvers. Atiu, in particular, has a strong tradition of crafts both in carving and local fibre arts such as tapa. Mangaia is the source of many fine adzes carved in a distinctive, idiosyncratic style with the so-called double-k design. Mangaia also produces food pounders carved from the heavy calcite found in its extensive limestone caves.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ck/culture.htm#visual |title=Lords of the Dance : Culture of the Cook Islands|publisher=Ck|date=12 November 2013|access-date=31 December 2016}}</ref>