Maori

Maori

Team Members:
 * Sierra Maniates-Selvin
 * Sam LeRoy
 * Alison Taylor


 * all work done by hwu10 is actually Sierra.

Maori Cosmology

In the beginning there was only Te Kore, nothing but empty space. From the emptiness, Te Po, the night was born. Many nights past but finally, from them, Rangi, the father sky and Papa, the mother earth came into existence. Together they had six children, but in their love they were so close together that their children were stuck between them and no light could get in (Robinson and Wilson 206). Their children were Tane the god of the forests, Tangaroa the god of the sea, Tu the god of war, Rongo the god of crops, Haumia the god of wild plants and Tawhiri the god of weather and wind (Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts). The children who were trapped between their parents wanted to either push their parents apart or kill them in order to free themselves. Tu wanted to kill his parents, but the other gods objected. They finally agreed that they would push their parents apart (Maori Creation). They took turns to try to separate their parents. When Tu took his turn, he slashed at them, and the blood became red clay that was the earth humans would later be made from. Eventually, Tane, who was the strongest of the children, was able to separate Rangi and Papa by getting between them and growing as a tree (Zeitlin 16). This new space flooded with light and with that light vegetation grew ("Ngā Pūrākau me Ngā"). In this space Tane created humans. First he shaped the earth, red with his parents' blood into man, who he called Tiki (Robinson and Wilson 206). Later Urutengangana decided something was missing and told the other gods to find ira tangata, the female element. The gods found this element in the ground at Kura-waka and with it they make woman. They mixed ira tangata with fat, blood and muscle and when Tane breathed life into it, it became Hine-ahu-one, the first woman. These humans then grew to populate the earth and are the ancestors of the Maori people (University of Texas). One of Rangi and Papa's children, Tawhiri, who did not want his parents separated, because he knew that he would be left in the sky with his father. He knew the earth would get all of the attention so he brought horrible storms to it (Zeitlin 15). In his frustration he ripped out his eyes and threw them into the sky where the sun and moon now lay (Maori Creation). Tawhiri in turn had many children, whom he sent to attack the other children of Rangi and Papa. However, the Earth Mother hid her other children, and the children of Tawhiri could not attack (Zeitlin 17). Tangaroa hid in the ocean but his grandchildren didn't know where to hide. Some fled to the land, and these children became the reptiles. Some stayed in the sea and became fish and other sea creatures. Tangaroa was upset that some of his offspring had deserted the ocean and gone to land, so he began an eternal war with Rongo, god of crops (Zeitlin 17). Rongo gave the Gods canoes, spears, and hooks made from trees, and nets of plants to throw into the ocean, trying to kill Tangaora's offspring. In return, Tangaroa flooding the land and the creatures in it. To this day the ocean chews at the shoreline (Zeitlin 18). Papa and Rangi were also very unhappy to be apart and in their grief they cried and cried. Their tears became the dew, rain and rivers of the earth. Papa cried so much that her children decided to turn her over, so her tears could not flood the earth. Her back became the earth we now know. Much later, Maui, who was part man and part god made a fishhook from the jawbone of an ancestor's skull. he cast the fishhook deep into the ocean and pulled up a piece of land. This became New Zealand, the new Maori home (Zeitlin 13).

Bibliography

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"Maori Creation." //Mythic Journeys//. Mythic Imagination, n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2010. .

"Ngā Pūrākau me Ngā Pakiwaitara - Myths and legends." //Korero Maori//. Maori Language Commision, n.d. Web. 7 Nov. 2010. .

Robinson, Herbert Spencer, and Knox, Wilson. "Myths and Legends of the Polynesians." //Myths and Legend of All Nations//. Totowa: Littlefield, Adams, 1976. 206-208. Print.

Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts. "Ranginui and Papatuanuku: The Creators of the Universe." //Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts//. N.p., n.d. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. [].

Schrempp, Gregory Allen. //Magical Arrows: the Maori, the Greeks, and the Folklore of the Universe//. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin, 1992. 55-105. Print.

Te Ara. "Māori Creation Traditions - Common Threads in Creation Stories." //Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand//. 4 Mar. 2009. Web. 07 Nov. 2010. [].

University of Texas. "Creation Myth-Maori." University of Texas. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. .

Zeitlin, Steve. "The Sky-Tossed Universe of the Maori People." //The Four Corners// //of the Sky//. New York: Henry Holt, n.d. 13-18. Print.