Adz Eva

The adz dirge (eva toki) was enacted as the appropriate eva to commemorate craftsmen, who were worthy of special recognition both for their valuable services to the tribe and because their knowledge was under the special patronage of the god Tane-mata-ariki. The mourners were evidently divided into two parties as in the war dirge. They were armed with model adzes cut out of ironwood, for stone heads were prohibited. At certain parts, the mourners struck the earth with the wooden adzes to convey the idea of cleaving it open to give a passage for the return of the deceased from the underworld of Avaiki. The mourners wept with tears streaming down their faces. In the example of an eva toki given by Gill (6, pp. 273-276), the solo consists of two lines and the rest is all chorus.