Māori mythology Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two major categories into which the remote oral history of New Zealand's Māori people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of what was the ...

, Tāwhirimātea (or Tāwhiri) is the

god In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

weather Weather is the state of the atmosphere, describing for example the degree to which it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloud cover, cloudy. On Earth, most weather phenomena occur in the lowest layer of the planet's atmo ...

, including

thunder Thunder is the sound caused by lightning. Depending upon the distance from and nature of the lightning, it can range from a long, low rumble to a sudden, loud crack. The sudden increase in temperature and hence pressure caused by the lightning pr ...

and

lightning Lightning is a natural phenomenon consisting of electrostatic discharges occurring through the atmosphere between two electrically charged regions. One or both regions are within the atmosphere, with the second region sometimes occurring on ...

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

clouds In meteorology, a cloud is an aerosol consisting of a visible mass of miniature liquid droplets, frozen crystals, or other particles, suspended in the atmosphere of a planetary body or similar space. Water or various other chemicals may c ...

and

storm A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstor ...

s. He is a son of Papatūānuku (

earth mother A mother goddess is a major goddess characterized as a mother or progenitor, either as an embodiment of motherhood and fertility or fulfilling the cosmological role of a creator- and/or destroyer-figure, typically associated the Earth, sky, a ...

) and

Ranginui In Māori mythology the primal couple Rangi and Papa (or Ranginui and Papatūānuku) appear in a creation myth explaining the origin of the world and the Māori people (though there are many different versions). In some South Island dialects, Ran ...

(

sky father In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a "father", often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The conc ...

). Tāwhirimātea is the second oldest of 70 children, all of whom are boys. In his anger at his brothers for separating their parents, Tāwhirimātea destroyed the

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

s of

Tāne In Māori mythology, Tāne (also called Tāne-mahuta, Tāne-nui-a-Rangi, Tāne-te-waiora and several other names) is the god of forests and of birds, and the son of Rangi and Papa, Ranginui and Rangi and Papa, Papatūānuku, the sky father and th ...

(god of forests), drove

Tangaroa Tangaroa (Māori; Takaroa in the South Island dialect; cognate with Tagaloa in Sāmoan) is the great atua of the sea, lakes, rivers, and creatures that live within them, especially fish, in Māori mythology. As Tangaroa-whakamau-tai, he exercis ...

(god of the sea) and his progeny into the sea, pursued

Rongo In Māori mythology, Rongo or Rongo-mā-Tāne (also Rongo-hīrea, Rongo-marae-roa, and Rongo-marae-roa-a-Rangi) is a major god (''atua'') of cultivated plants, especially Sweet potato#New Zealand, kūmara, a vital crop. Other crops cultivated ...

and

Haumia-tiketike Haumia-tiketike (or simply Haumia) is the god of all uncultivated vegetative food in Māori mythology. He is particularly associated with the starchy rhizome of the '' Pteridium esculentum'', which became a major element of the Māori diet in fo ...

till they had to take refuge in the bosom of their mother Papa, and only found in

Tūmatauenga Tūmatauenga (''Tū of the angry face'') is the primary god () of war and human activities such as hunting, food cultivation, fishing, and cooking in Māori mythology. In creation stories, Tū suggests to kill his parents to allow light into t ...

a worthy opponent and eternal enemy (Tregear 1891:499). To fight his brothers, Tāwhirimātea gathered an army of his children, winds and clouds of different kinds – including Apū-hau ("fierce squall"), Apū-matangi, Ao-nui, Ao-roa, Ao-pōuri, Ao-pōtango, Ao-whētuma, Ao-whekere, Ao-kāhiwahiwa, Ao-kānapanapa, Ao-pākinakina, Ao-pakarea, and Ao-tākawe (Grey 1971). Grey translates these as 'fierce squalls, whirlwinds, dense

, massy clouds, dark clouds, gloomy thick clouds, fiery clouds, clouds which preceded hurricanes, clouds of fiery black, clouds reflecting glowing red light, clouds wildly drifting from all quarters and wildly bursting, clouds of thunder storms, and clouds hurriedly flying on' (Grey 1956:5). Other children of Tāwhirimātea are the various kinds of rain,

mist Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in the cold air, usually by condensation. Physically, it is an example of a Dispersion (chemistry), dispersion. It is most commonly seen where water vapor in warm, moist air meets ...

s and

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus and is heavily influenc ...

. Tāwhirimātea's attacks on his brothers led to the flooding of large areas of the land. The names of the beings involved in this flooding include Ua-nui (great

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

), Ua-roa (long-continued rain), Ua-whatu (fierce hailstorms), and Ua-nganga (sleet); after these, their children in turn took up the fight: Hau-maringi (mist), Hau-marotoroto (heavy dew), and Tōmairangi (light mist) (Grey 1956:10–11, Grey 1971:5). Tregear mentions Hau-maringiringi as a personification of mists (Tregear 1891:54). Tāwhirimātea lives on the sky with his father Rangi and brother, the

star A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...

Rehua.

The Divine War and Tāwhirimātea's conquest over his brothers

Eons ago, Rangi, the Sky Father, and Papa, the Earth Mother, were in an eternal embrace because of their love for each other. Their union gave rise to many powerful sons, who lived in between their parents. As their sons grew up, they soon began to grow tired of living in a cramped up space, forever in darkness. One brother, Tūmatūenga, the God of War and Humans, suggested that they slay their parents. However, his brother, Tāne, the God of Forests, suggested that they separate their parents forever. Except for Tāwhirimātea, all other brothers accepted the proposal. The brothers individually tried to separate their parents, but Tāne put his head on the earth and feet in the sky and pushed them apart. Tāwhirimātea was enraged, as he saw it as a move to usurp his kingdom. So the god flew to the sky and communed with his father. Rangi reluctantly agreed to help his son wage a brutal war on his siblings. They were the spirits of winds, storms, and rain. Tāwhirimātea assembled his huge army and set out to conquer his brothers. Tāwhirimātea first attacked Tāne, and razed his forests, causing Tāne to flee. Next, Tāwhirimātea attacked his brother, Tangaroa, the Sea God. He caused huge storms and waves, spreading panic in Tangaroa. Tangaroa was himself helpless before Tāwhirimātea, as the sea was in such a chaotic rage, harming all living beings. Having never seen such chaos at sea, many of Tangaroa's children deserted their father and took shelter with Tāne. Since then Tangaroa is at war with Tāne. Tāwhirimātea pursued his brother, Rongo, and Haumia, the gods of cultivated and uncultivated food, but they were cleverly hidden by their mother, Papa, who still loved her children. Finally, Tāwhirimātea began to fight Tūmatauenga. This time, however, Tūmatauenga firmly embedded his feet in the earth, saving him from Tāwhirimātea's storms. He cast spells, which turned the storms into gentle weather, suitable for humans. But neither brother could prevail against each other. Tāwhirimātea slowly withdrew. To punish his brothers for cowardice, Tūmatauenga invented the arts of hunting, woodcutting, agriculture, cooking, and fishing, to subjugate their respective denizens as food for humans. However, Tūmatauenga and Tāwhirimātea still fight each other to this day. Another result of the war was that most of the land was submerged into the ocean, because of Tāwhirimātea causing heavy rains and thunderstorms. He was maybe the only brother out of all of them to want their parents together.

References

*G. Grey, ''Polynesian Mythology'', Illustrated edition, reprinted 1976. (Whitcombe and Tombs: Christchurch), 1956. *G. Grey, ''Nga Mahi a Nga Tupuna'', fourth edition. First published 1854. (Reed: Wellington), 1971. *E.R. Tregear, ''Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary'' (Lyon and Blair: Lambton Quay), 1891.

External links

Tāwhirimātea – the weather
in Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand {{DEFAULTSORT:Tawhirimatea Sky and weather gods Sea and river gods Thunder gods Māori gods Wind gods

The Divine War and Tāwhirimātea's conquest over his brothers

See also

References

External links