Contemporary Traditional Maori Culture , part 2 ''The maori creation story: The Seperation of Heaven and Earth"

by sebastian anayaperiod 1 Culture and Geography

Source: George Grey , 1956, Polynesian Mythology ed. by William W. Bird ): Christchurch, Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd., 250 p. (BL 2615.G843p

1956) ; Mr.Ruben Meza,2012

 

 

"All human are desended from one pair of ancestors, Rangi and Papa, who are also called Heaven and

Earth."

 

"In those days, Heaven and Earth clung closley together , and all was darkness."

 

Rangi and Papa had six sons:Tane-mahuta , the father of the forests and their inhabitants

 

Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms

 

Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles

 

Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human begins

 

Haumia-tikitiki, the father of food that grows without  cultivation

 

and Rongo-ma-tane , the father of cultivated food.

 

In the begining these six sons and all other beings lived in darkness for a extremly long time , able only

to wonder what light and vision might be like

 

after a battle between the six sons , Tu-matauenga ate 4 of his brothers as food  , sparing Tawhiri-ma-

tea , the father of winds and storms.

 

This is why today people are fierce and have wars , why people eat plants and animals and why there are

storms.