The Maori Creation Story:The Separation of Heaven and Earth

Jiayi chen  January 17,2012        Period 4  Culture and Geography

All humans are descended from one pair of ancestors, Rangi and Papa, who are also called Heaven and Earth.

In those days, heaven and earth clung closely together, and all was darkness.

Rangi and papa had six sons.

Tane-mahuta, the father of the forest and their inhabitants.

Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storm.

Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles.

Tu-matauenga, the father of fierce human being.

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

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

In the beginning these six sons and all other being lived in darkness for an extremely long time, able only wonder what

light and vision might be like.