Contemporary Traditional Maori Culture, part 2 "The Maori Creation Story:The Separation of Heaven and

Earth

By Lucy De Paz, 1/23/12 per.8 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

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:(1)Tane-mahuta, the father of the forest 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."

"And Rongo-ma-tane, the the father of cultivated food."

" In the begining 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 the winds and storms.

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

are storms.