contemporary traditional maori culture,part 2

The moari creation story : The separation of heaven and earth

         by Andres Sanchez ,1/19/12                                     period 4 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);and Mr.Ruben Meza,2012

"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 winds and storms";

tangaroa,the father of fish and reptiles';

tu-mataunga,the father of fierce human being ";

"haumia-tikitiki, the father of food that grows without cultivatiion";

"and rongo-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 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 war,why people eat and animals,and why there are storms.