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Ohomairangi
In Māori mythology, Ohomairangi is an important ancestor who lived in Hawaiki six generations before the migration to Aotearoa (New Zealand). He is considered the major ancestor of the people of both Te Arawa and Tainui waka. During his lifetime, Ohomairangi acted as the guardian of Taputapuatea marae in Rangiatea (Raiatea), which is considered the most sacred site in Polynesia. Said to be the son of Kuraimonoa, a mortal woman, and the celestial being Pūhaorangi, Ohomairangi was the father of the high priest and navigator, Muturangi, who contended with Kupe.Paul Tapsell. 'Te Arawa', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 4-Apr-2008 URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/TeArawa/en By the time of his great-grandson Atuamatua, the descendants of Ohomairangi were known as ''Ngāti Ohomairangi'' or ''Nga Ohomairangi'' and had influence at Aitutaki, Raiatea, and surrounding islands. Eventually two divisions of this tribe were responsible for th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pūhaorangi
According to Māori mythology, Pūhaorangi is a celestial being who descended from the heavens to sleep with the beautiful maiden Te Kuraimonoa. From this union came the revered ancestor Ohomairangi.Paul Tapsell. 'Te Arawa', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 4-Apr-2008 URL: http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/NewZealanders/MaoriNewZealanders/TeArawa/en Pūhaorangi is a powerful celestial deity associated with the cosmic halo and was the protector of Rangiātea which is the name of the house of the Creator in the heavens. It is because of this celestial origin that Ohomairangi and his descendants are known as ''Te Heketanga a Rangi'' (Descent of Heaven) a title carried by the navigator and explorer Ngatoroirangi. References Māori gods {{deity-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muturangi
In Māori mythology, Muturangi, also known as Ruamuturangi, was a renowned High Priest presiding over Taputapuatea marae at Rangiatea in French Polynesia. The son of Ohomairangi, Muturangi was an accomplished navigator and it was he who started the tradition of The High Priest at Taputapuatea. He was responsible for collecting and recording knowledge of deep-sea voyaging across Te Moananui-a-Kiwa (Pacific Ocean) Muturangi supposedly had as a familiar or kaitiaki (guardian spirit), a giant octopus known as Te Wheke-a-Muturangi (the Octopus of Muturangi), the same octopus which others were said to have followed to reach Aotearoa New Zealand. Another theory for Te Wheke-a-Muturangi states that the name actually refers to the many navigation paths centred on Ra'iātea Raiatea or Ra'iatea ( Tahitian: ''Ra‘iātea'') is the second largest of the Society Islands, after Tahiti, in French Polynesia. The island is widely regarded as the "centre" of the eastern islands in ancient Pol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Māori Mythology
Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern fantastic tales relating to the origins of what was the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori tradition concerns more folkloric legends often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of the Māori and their connections to the world which they lived in. Māori had yet to invent a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, so they had no method to permanently record their histories, traditions, or mythologies. They relied on oral retellings memorised from generation to generation. The three forms of expression prominent in Māori and Polynesian oral literature are genealogical recital, poetry, and narrative prose. Experts in these subjects were broadly known as . The rituals, beliefs, and ge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawaiki
In Polynesian mythology, (also rendered as in Cook Islands Māori, in Samoan, in Tahitian, in Hawaiian) is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories. Anne Salmond states ''Havaii'' is the old name for Raiatea, the homeland of the Māori. When British explorer James Cook first sighted New Zealand in 1769, he had Tupaia on board, a Raiatean navigator and linguist. Cook's arrival seemed to be a confirmation of a prophecy by Toiroa, a priest from Māhia. At Tolaga Bay, Tupaia conversed with the ''tohunga'' associated with the school of learning located there, called Te Rawheoro. The priest asked about the Maori homelands, 'Rangiatea' (Ra'iatea), 'Hawaiki' (Havai'i, the ancient name for Ra'iatea), and 'Tawhiti' (Tahiti). Etymology Linguists have reconstructed the term to Proto- Nuclear Polynesian ''*sawaiki''. The Māori word figures in legends about the arrival of the Māori in A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aotearoa
''Aotearoa'' () is the current Māori-language name for New Zealand. The name was originally used by Māori in reference to only the North Island, with the name of the whole country being ''Aotearoa me Te Waipounamu'' ("North Island and South Island"). In the pre-European era, Māori did not have one name for the country as a whole. Several meanings for Aotearoa have been proposed for the name; the most popular translation usually given is "land of the long white cloud", or variations thereof. This refers to the cloud formations which helped early Polynesian navigators find the country. Beginning in the late 20th century, ''Aotearoa'' has become widespread in the bilingual names of national organisations and institutions. Since the 1990s, it has been customary for particular parties to sing the New Zealand national anthem, "God Defend New Zealand" (or "Aotearoa"), in both Māori and English, exposing the name to a wider audience. New Zealand English speakers pronounce the wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Te Arawa
Te Arawa is a confederation of Māori iwi and hapu (tribes and sub-tribes) of New Zealand who trace their ancestry to the Arawa migration canoe (''waka'')."Te Arawa" ''Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand''. The tribes are based in the and areas and have a population of around 40,000. History The history of the Te Arawa people is inextricably linked to the Arawa canoe. The Te Arawa tribes have a close historical interest in the lakes around Rotorua. Many Te Arawa men fought for the Colonial Government in the |
Tainui Waka
In Māori tradition, ''Tainui'' was one of the great ocean-going canoes in which Polynesians migrated to New Zealand approximately 800 years ago. In Māori tradition, the ''Tainui'' waka was commanded by the chief Hoturoa, who had decided to leave Hawaiki because over-population had led to famine and warfare. The crew of the ''Tainui'' were the ancestors of the iwi that form the Tainui confederation. Crafting The Tainui waka (canoe) was made from a great tree, at a place in Hawaiki known then as Maungaroa, on the spot where a stillborn child had been buried. According to Te Tāhuna Herangi the waka was named after the child who had been called Tainui. The canoe was made by Rakatāura, an expert boat builder in the tradition of Rātā, or according to Wirihana Aoterangi by Rātā himself. It was built with three adzes (''toki''): ''Hahau-te-pō'' ('Chop the night-world') to chop down the tree, ''Paopao-te-rangi'' ('Shatter the heavens') to split the wood, and ''Ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taputapuatea Marae
Marae Taputapuatea is a large marae complex at Opoa in Taputapuatea, on the south eastern coast of Raiatea. The site features a number of marae and other stone structures and was once considered the central temple and religious center of Eastern Polynesia. In 2017, the Taputapuatea area and the marae complex were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List because of its political and religious significance and its testimony to traditional eastern Polynesian culture. Description The marae complex is positioned at the end of a peninsula that juts into the lagoon surrounding Raiatea. The center of the complex hold the marae itself, a rectangular courtyard paved with basalt and measuring 44 by 60 meters. At the east end of the marae is the ahu, a basalt and coral platform used for ceremonies. Other marae are within the marae complex, including marae Hauviri, which was used for the naming of chiefs. History The sacred area of Cape Matahira-i-te-ra'i is called Te Po, where the go ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polynesia
Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of more than 1,000 islands scattered over the central and southern Pacific Ocean. The indigenous people who inhabit the islands of Polynesia are called Polynesians. They have many things in common, including language relatedness, cultural practices, and traditional beliefs. In centuries past, they had a strong shared tradition of sailing and using stars to navigate at night. The largest country in Polynesia is New Zealand. The term was first used in 1756 by the French writer Charles de Brosses, who originally applied it to all the islands of the Pacific. In 1831, Jules Dumont d'Urville proposed a narrower definition during a lecture at the Geographical Society of Paris. By tradition, the islands located in the southern Pacific have also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kupe
Kupe ( ~1180-1320) was a legendary Polynesian explorer, navigator and great rangatira of Hawaiki, who is said to have been the first human to discover New Zealand. Whether Kupe existed historically is likely but difficult to confirm. He is generally held to have been born to a father from Rarotonga and a mother from Raiatea, and probably spoke a proto-Māori language similar to Cook Islands Māori or Tahitian. His voyage to New Zealand would ensure that the land would be known to the Polynesians, and he would therefore be responsible for the genesis of Māori civilisation. Kupe features prominently in the mythology and oral history of some Māori iwi (tribes), but the details of his life differ between iwi. Various legends and histories describe Kupe's extensive involvement in the settlement of Aotearoa, around 1000–1300 CE, with many talking of his achievements, such as the hunting and destruction of the great octopus, Te Wheke-a-Muturangi. Time of arrival Estimates of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
