contemporary tradit

Contemporary traditional maori culture,part 2

"the maori creation story:the separation of heaven and earth"

By nengbin nie , 1-19-2012,period 4 culture and geo

George grey,1956 polynesian mythology (ed.by william w bird):christchurch,whitecombe and tombs Ltd,250p.(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-matauenga the father of fierce human beings

Haumia - tikitiki the father of food that grows without cultivation

(8)and rongo-ma-tane,the father of cultivatedfood

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 plants and animals and why there

are storms