contemporary traditional Maori culture, part 2

"the Maori creation story:the separation of heaven and

earth"

By (Christine Orona)(January 23,2010)(period 6) Culture and

Geography

(According to Maori tradition)"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 forests and their inhabitants".

"Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of wind and storms"

"Tangaroa, the father of fish and reptiles".

Tu-Matauenga, the father of fierce human beings"

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

Rango - ma - tane, the father of cultivated food.

"In the beginning these six sons and all other beings lived in darkness for an extremely long time, able only to wonder what light and vision might be like".

After the battle between the six sons, Tu-matauenga ate four of his brothers as food, sharing Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of winds and storms.

This is why today people are fierce and have war, why people eat plants and animals, and why there are storms.