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Whakatau
(or ) was a supernatural person in Māori mythology. One day Apakura threw her apron into the sea, and a sea named Rongotakawhiu took it and worked it into human form, and Whakatau was born. The taught him the arts of enchantment. As the child grew older, people saw kites flying at sea, but could not see who held the strings. Whakatau loved to fly kites, and would run along the floor of the ocean with his toy. One day, he came ashore and the people tried to catch him. Whakatau was too fast a runner and would let no one catch him except his mother Apakura. He then lived on land with her, and grew up into a famous hero. In another account, Tūwhakararo was murdered by the men of the Ati Hapai tribe, and Whakatau set out on a quest to rescue the bones of his father, and to avenge his death. He assembled an army, and prepared his war canoes , , , , , and others. The expedition set off, and Whakatau, with his best men, besieged a called where the enemy were gathered. The hou ... [...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 gen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tūwhakararo
Tūwhakararo was a chief in Hawaiki in Māori mythology. His murder and the subsequent war led to one of the reasons for the Māori's emigrating from Hawaiki. Tūwhakararo went on a visit to the Āti Hāpai (or Raeroa) people, whose chief, Poporokewa, had married Tūwhakararo's sister Mairatea. In a wrestling match he was treated unfairly, and was killed in a treacherous manner. In revenge for this murder, his brother, Whakatau, set out with an army and destroyed Ati Hapai. In a South Island account, Tūwhakararo's wife is named Hakiri-maurea. In North Island versions, Hakiri-maurea is a young sister of Poporokewa; her rejection of a lover in favour of Tūwhakararo leads to the latter's death at the hands of the discarded suitor. In some versions he is a son of Tūhuruhuru and Apakura, thus a grandson of Hina Hina may refer to: People and deities * Hina (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Hina (chiefess), a name given to several ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Apakura
In Māori mythology, Apakura is the wife of Tūhuruhuru, the son of Tinirau. She had several children, among whom are Tūwhakararo, Mairatea, Reimatua, and Whakatau (or ) was a supernatural person in Māori mythology. One day Apakura threw her apron into the sea, and a sea named Rongotakawhiu took it and worked it into human form, and Whakatau was born. The taught him the arts of enchantment. As the .... In another legend, Apakura is said to be the wife of Tūwhakararo, who was the son of Rātā and father of Whakatau. Whakatau was born in a miraculous manner, from the girdle or apron which Apakura threw into the ocean which was made into a child by a sea deity (Tregear 1891:15). References *E.R. Tregear, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay), 1891. Māori mythology Women in mythology Legendary Māori people {{Māori-myth-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rātā (Māori Mythology)
In Māori mythology, accounts vary somewhat as to the ancestry of Rātā. Usually he is a grandson of Tāwhaki and son of Wahieroa. Wahieroa is treacherously killed by Matuku-tangotango, an ogre. Rātā sets out to avenge the murder, travelling to the home of Matuku, where a servant of the ogre tells him that Matuku comes out to devour people each new moon, and that he can be killed at the pool where he washes his face and hair. Rātā waits till the ogre comes out and is leaning over with his head in the pool. He grabs him by the hair and kills him. Matuku's bones are used to make spears for hunting birds. Rātā searches for his father's bones so that he can afford them the proper respect. He learns that the Ponaturi have the bones in their village. He must build a canoe to get there. He goes into the forest, and fells a tree, and cuts off the top. His day's work over, he goes home, and returns the next morning. To his surprise he finds the tree standing upright and whole. Once ... [...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] |
Māori People
The Māori (, ) are the indigenous Polynesian people of mainland New Zealand (). Māori originated with settlers from East Polynesia, who arrived in New Zealand in several waves of canoe voyages between roughly 1320 and 1350. Over several centuries in isolation, these settlers developed their own distinctive culture, whose language, mythology, crafts, and performing arts evolved independently from those of other eastern Polynesian cultures. Some early Māori moved to the Chatham Islands, where their descendants became New Zealand's other indigenous Polynesian ethnic group, the Moriori. Initial contact between Māori and Europeans, starting in the 18th century, ranged from beneficial trade to lethal violence; Māori actively adopted many technologies from the newcomers. With the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, the two cultures coexisted for a generation. Rising tensions over disputed land sales led to conflict in the 1860s, and massive land confiscations, to whic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atua
Atua are the gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians (see also ); the Polynesian word literally means "power" or "strength" and so the concept is similar to that of '' mana''. Today, it is also used for the monotheistic conception of God. Especially powerful atua included: * '' Rongo-mā-Tāne'' – god of agriculture and peace * '' Tāne Mahuta'' – creator of all living things such as animals, birds and trees * ''Tangaroa'' – god of the sea * '' Tūmatauenga'' – a god of war * '' Whiro'' – god of darkness and evil In Samoa, where means "god" in the Samoan language, traditional tattooing was based on the doctrine of tutelary spirits. There is also a district on the island of Upolu in Samoa called Atua. Atua or gods were also the center of Māori religion. In Māori's belief, there was no such word as "religion" because the natural and supernatural world were one. In other Austronesian cultures, cognates of ''atua'' inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wharenui
A wharenui (; literally "large house") is a communal house of the Māori people of New Zealand, generally situated as the focal point of a ''marae''. Wharenui are usually called meeting houses in New Zealand English, or simply called ''whare'' (a more generic term simply referring to a house or building). Also called a ''whare rūnanga'' ("meeting house") or ''whare whakairo'' (literally "carved house"), the present style of wharenui originated in the early to middle nineteenth century. The houses are often carved inside and out with stylized images of the iwi's (or tribe's) ancestors, with the style used for the carvings varying from tribe to tribe. Modern meeting houses are built to regular building standards. Photographs of recent ancestors may be used as well as carvings. The houses always have names, sometimes the name of a famous ancestor or sometimes a figure from Māori mythology. Some meeting houses are built at places that are not the location of a tribe, but where man ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hinauri
In Māori mythology, Hinauri is the sister of Māui and the wife of Irawaru In Māori mythology, Irawaru is the origin of the dog. He is the husband of Hinauri, the sister of Māui. Māui becomes annoyed with Irawaru and stretches out his limbs, turning him into a dog. When Hinauri asks Māui if he has seen her husband, .... Māui becomes annoyed with Irawaru and stretches out his limbs, turning him into a dog. When Hinauri asks Māui if he has seen her husband, Māui tells her to call “Moi! Moi!” whereupon the poor dog runs up, and Hinauri, learning the truth, throws herself into the sea (Tregear 1891:107). See also * Tinirau and Kae References *E.R. Tregear, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay, 1891). *C. Tremewan, ''Traditional Stories from Southern New Zealand: He Kōrero nō Te Wai Pounamu'' (Macmillan Brown Centre for Pacific Studies: Christchurch), 2002. Legendary Māori people {{Māori-myth-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
