Feather cloak
Feather cloaks have been used by several cultures. Hawaii
Elaborate feather cloaks called ʻahu ʻula were created by early Hawaiians  for the aliʻi (royalty). Feathers were also used in women's skirts called pāʻū. The ʻiʻiwi (Vestiaria coccinea) and ʻapapane (Himatione sanguinea), which provided red feathers, were killed and skinned due to their abundance. Yellow feathers were obtained from the mostly black and rarer ʻōʻō (Moho nobilis) and mamo (Drepanis pacifica) using a catch and release philosophy to ensure future availability. Famous works include:
 Nāhiʻenaʻena's Paʻū, feather skirt of Princess Nāhiʻenaʻena and funeral garment of Hawaiian royals 
 Kamehameha's Cloak, feather cloak of Kamehameha I made entirely of the golden-yellow feather of the mamo, used by the kings of Hawaii
 Kiwalao's Cloak, feather cloak of Kīwalaʻō captured by Kamehameha I in 1782, used by the Queens of Hawaii
 Liloa's Kāʻei, sash of King Līloa of the island of Hawaii

Brazil

Feather cloaks were known to the coastal Tupi people, notably the Tupinambá. The cloaks called gûaraabuku were dressed by the paîé (Tupian shamans) during rituals. They were made from the red plumage of gûará (Eudocimus ruber) and had a hood at the top, which could cover the entire head, shoulders and thighs up to the buttocks. Māori
In Māori culture feathers are a sign of chiefly rank, and the kahu huruhuru (feather cloak), is still used as sign of rank or respect. Germanic
Bird- or feather cloaks that enable the wearers to take the form of, or become, birds are widespread in Germanic mythology and legend. The term  can be translated as various terms such as skin, cloak, costume, coat or form. Gods and jötnar 

In Norse mythology, goddesses Freyja and Frigg each own a feather cloak or feather costume that imparts the ability of flight. Freyja is not attested as using the cloak herself, however she lent her  "feather cloak" to Loki so he could fly to Jötunheimr after Þórr's hammer went missing in Þrymskviða, and to rescue Iðunn from the jötunn Þjazi in Skáldskaparmál who had abducted the goddess while in an  "eagle shape". Loki also uses Frigg's feather cloak to journey to Geirröðargarða, referred to here as a  ("falcon-feathered cloak"). In Ynglinga saga, Óðinn is described as being able to change his shape into that of animals. In the story of the Mead of Poetry from Skáldskaparmál, he does not explicitly require a physical item to assume an "eagle-form" () to flee with the mead, in contrast to the jötunn Suttung, who must put on his () in order to pursue him. Heroic legend 

In Völsunga saga, the wife of King Rerir is unable to conceive a child and so the couple prays to Odin and Frigg for help. Hearing this, Frigg then sends one of her maids wearing a  (crow-cloak) to the king with a magic apple that, when eaten, made the queen pregnant with her son Völsung. The master smith Wayland forges a pair of wings to help his escape from King Niðhad after he is hamstrung, as depicted on a panel of the 8th-century whale-bone Franks Casket and described in the corresponding episode preserved in the Þiðreks saga. Though the flying apparatus is called "wings" or "a wing" (), borrowed from the German , the finished product is said to be very much like a  flayed from a griffin, or vulture, or an ostrich. Furthermore, the three swan-maidens, also described as , in the prose prologue of Völundarkviða own  ("swan cloaks" or "swan garments") which give the wearer the form of a swan. This bears similarity to the account of the eight valkyrjur with  in Helreið Brynhildar. Translations 
There are also several attested uses of the term  found in foreign material translated into Old Norse. One example is Breta sögur, an Old Norse adaptation of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae that describes a pseudo-history of the Celtic Britons. In this account, the king Bladud uses a  to fly; while here  does describe a flying suit, its usage does not involve transformation into bird. In the original source, Bladud's flying contraption is described as a set of artificial wings he orders to be made. The Middle English rendition, Layamon's Brut, also refers to Bladud's wings as , cognate with . Other 
There are bird-people depicted on the Oseberg tapestry fragments, which may be some personage or deity wearing winged cloaks, but it is difficult to identify the figures or even ascertain gender. Celtic

In Ireland, the elite class of poets known as the filid wore a feathered cloak, the tuigen (see Suibhne Gelt). In the Konungs skuggsjá, we can read a description of these poets in the chapter dealing with Irish marvels (XI): 

The tuigen is also described in Sanas Cormaic and in the Immacallam in dá Thuarad. This concept is adapted to the Greek mythology ; Mercury, god of medicine, wears a "bird covering" or "feather mantle" rather than talaria (usually conceived of as feathered slippers) in medieval Irish versions of the Greco-Roman classics, such as the Aeneid. Explanatory notes

References

Bibliography

Primary

  and "", p. xxii, 'valshamr'. The chapter numbering follows the 1848 Copenhagen edition, which is the one usually cited (p. xxiii). Secondary
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . Originally

Further reading
The Saga of Thidrek of Bern. Translated by Edward R. Haymes. New York: Garland, 1988. . Polynesian clothing
Textile arts of Hawaii
History of Oceanian clothing
Featherwork