Māori mythology and Māori traditions are two types of New Zealand Māori oral history regarding the remote past. Māori myths are tales of supernatural events relating to the origins of the observable world for the pre-European Māori, often involving gods and demigods. Māori traditions are more folkloric legends, often involving historical or semi-historical forebears. Both categories merge in to explain the overall origin of Māori and their connections to the world in which they lived.
Māori did not have a writing system before European contact, beginning in 1769, therefore they relied on oral retellings and recitations 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 general worldview of Māori society were ultimately based on an elaborate mythology that had been inherited from a Polynesian homeland (Hawaiki) and adapted and developed in the new setting. Alongside different Polynesian cultures having different versions of a given tradition, often the same story for a character, event, or object will have many different variations for every , , or individual who retells it, meaning there is never a fixed or 'correct' version of any particular story.
Sources
Oral forms Genealogical recital The reciting of genealogies () was particularly well developed in Māori oral literature, where it served several functions in the recounting of tradition. Firstly it served to provide a kind of time scale which unified all Māori mythology, tradition, and history, from the distant past to the present. It linked living people to the gods and the legendary heroes. By quoting appropriate genealogical lines, a narrator emphasised his or her connection with the characters whose deeds were being described, and that connection also proved that the narrator had the right to speak of them.
Prose narrative Prose narrative forms the great bulk of Māori legendary material. Some appear to have been sacred or esoteric, but many of the legends were well-known stories told as entertainment in the long nights of winter.
Poetry and song Māori poetry was always sung or chanted; musical rhythms rather than linguistic devices served to distinguish it from prose. Rhyme or assonance were not devices used by Māori; only when a given text is sung or chanted will the metre become apparent. The lines are indicated by features of the music. The language of poetry tends to differ stylistically from prose. Typical features of poetic diction are the use of synonyms or contrastive opposites, and the repetition of key words.
19th-century writings Missionaries Few records survive of the extensive body of Māori mythology and tradition from the early years of European contact. The missionaries had the best opportunity to get the information, but failed to do so at first, in part because their knowledge of the language was imperfect. Most of the missionaries who did master the language were unsympathetic to Māori beliefs, regarding them as 'puerile beliefs', or even 'works of the devil'. Exceptions to this general rule were Johan Wohlers of the South Island, Richard Taylor, who worked in the Taranaki and Wanganui River areas, and William Colenso who lived at the Bay of Islands and also in Hawke's Bay. Their writings are valuable as some of the best sources for the legends of the areas where they worked.
Non-missionary collectors In the 1840s Edward Shortland, Sir George Grey, Te Rangikāheke, and other non-missionaries began to collect the myths and traditions. At that time many Māori were literate in their own language and the material collected was, in general, written by Māori themselves in the same style as they spoke. The new medium seems to have had minimal effect on the style and content of the stories. Genealogies, songs, and narratives were written out in full, just as if they were being recited or sung. Many of these early manuscripts have been published, and scholars have access to a great body of material (more than for any other area of the Pacific) containing multiple versions of the great myth cycles known in the rest of Polynesia, as well as of the local traditions pertaining only to New Zealand. A great deal of the best material is found in two books, (The Deeds of the Ancestors), collected by Sir George Grey and translated as Polynesian Mythology; and Ancient History of the Māori (six volumes), edited by John White.
The earliest full account of the genealogies of and the first humans was recorded from Ngāti Rangiwewehi's Wī Maihi Te Rangikāheke in (The Sons of Heaven), in 1849.
Myths Myths are set in the remote past and their content often have to do with the supernatural. They present Māori ideas about the creation of the universe and the origins of gods () and people. The mythology accounts for natural phenomena, the weather, the stars and the moon, the fish of the sea, the birds of the forest, and the forests themselves. Much of the culturally institutioned behaviour of the people finds its sanctions in myth, such as opening ceremonies performed at dawn to reflect the coming of light into the world.
The Māori understanding of the development of the universe was expressed in genealogical form. These genealogies appear in many versions, in which several symbolic themes constantly recur. The cosmogonic genealogies are usually brought to a close by the two names Rangi and Papa (sky father and earth mother). The marriage of this celestial pair produced the gods and, in due course, all the living things of the earth.
The main corpus of Māori mythology are represented as unfolding in three story complexes or cycles, which include the world's origin, the stories of the demigod Māui, and the Tāwhaki myths.
Creation Dawn of the universe In one generalised telling of the universe's creation: in the beginning, there was Te Kore (The Nothing; Void) which became Te Korematua (The Parentless Void) in its search for procreation. From it came Te Pō (The Night), becoming Te Pōroa (The Long Night), and then becoming Te Pōnui (The Great Night). Gradually Te Ao (The Light) glimmered into existence, stretching to all corners of the universe to become Te Aotūroa (The Long-Standing Light). Next came Te Ata (The Dawn), from which came Te Mākū (The Moisture), and Mahoranuiatea (Cloud of the Dawn). Te Mākū and Mahoranuiatea wed to form Rangi.
Earth's creation
Generally, the wife of Rangi is Papa, though they are known throughout Polynesia, even when they're not considered spouses. The pair laid in a tight embrace which blocked light from touching the world. From them came the children Haumia, Rongo, Tāwhiri, Tangaroa, Tū, and Tāne. Some traditions may list some of these children alongside Rehua, Urutengangana, Aituā, Tiki, Whiro, or Rūaumoko, among others. Often, a war or skirmish between the siblings ends with them becoming the ancestors of certain concepts, habitats, mannerisms, animals, tools, or plants that they each represent. For instance Tāne became Tāne Mahuta, the father of birds and the forest, and Tū became Tūmatauenga, the father of humanity and its activities, such as war. Sometimes, Tāne Mahuta ascends to the sky after Ranginui to dress him with stars, who mourns for his wife every time it rains. Similarly, Papatūānuku strains in an effort to reach the sky, causing earthquakes, and the mist comes from her sighing.
In a version involving Urutengangana, Whiro, Tāwhiri, Tangaroa, Tuamatua, Tumatakaka, Tū, Paia, and Tāne; Tāwhiri "finally" agreed to the separation, while Whiro was against it. Tāne instructed Tumatakaka and Tū to fetch axes with which to cut off the arms of Rangi, and the blood that dripped from him down onto Papatūānuku is said to be where the red sunset now comes from, as well as the origin of the colours red and blue in painting: red oxide and blue phosphate of iron. This is very different to the telling in which Tāne discards the suggestions of Tū to slaughter the parents to ensure their separation, where Tāwhiri is the brother most upset by the idea to separate the parents at all.
In South Island traditions, Rakinui weds at least three wives including Papatūānuku. Poharuatepō is one of the wives of Rakinui, and they are the parents of Aoraki. In these versions, the gods that are usually considered the children of Rakinui may become the half-siblings of each other, some even becoming the grandsons of Rakinui.
South Island's creation
Aoraki and his brothers Rakiora, Rakirua, and Rarakiroa travelled across the waters of the ocean to visit the new wife of Rakinui – Papatūānuku. On the return journey, their canoe () became capsized on a reef, so they climbed atop its hull to escape drowning. They froze into stone, becoming the tallest peaks of the Southern Alps. Afterwards they were discovered by Tūterakiwhānoa who enlisted Kahukura's help in shaping and clothing the land. Hence became the South Island.
In a slight variant, Aoraki and his grandfather Kirikirikatata landed at Shag Point aboard the , where they turned into the ever-associated mountain and range. Kirikirikatata persuaded Aroarokaehe to come sit with them there, while her husband Mauka Atua became a peak on the Ben Ōhau Range.
Origin of humans
There are many mythologies that describe the creation of humankind. Though Tūmatauenga is the major god associated with humanity and its activities, humanity's creation is sometimes credited to Tāne Mahuta, and often involves Tiki. In one story, Tāne Mahuta abandoned his wife Rangahore, for only giving birth to a stone.
One such legend of humanity's origins is which Tāne Mahuta created the first woman, Hineahuone, from soil and with her became the father of Hinetītama. Tāne Mahuta concealed the parentage of Hinetītama to her, and together they had children. Upon the realisation that he is her father, she flees to the underworld and renames herself to , becoming the goddess () of night, death, and the underworld, where she receives the souls of their descendants. A similar story tells how Tiki found the first woman in a pool, imagined through his reflection and birthed into reality by covering the pool with dirt. She later became excited by the sight of an eel, passing on the excitement to Tiki and resulting in the first reproductive act.
Other versions say either Tāne Mahuta or Tūmatauenga created Tiki as the first man. In Ngāti Hau traditions, Mārikoriko is said to be the original woman created by Ārohirohi with Paoro's help. After seducing Tiki, she gave birth to Hinekauataata.
The exploits of Māui
The sun is slowed In the days of old Tamanuiterā, the sun, used to move through the sky at much too fast a pace for humanity to complete all their days' chores leaving long, cold nights that lasted for many hours while Tamanuiterā slept. Māui and his brothers journeyed to the sleeping pit of Tamanuiterā with a large rope, which in some tellings was made from their sister Hina's hair. The brothers fashioned the rope into a noose or net, and in doing so "discovered the mode of plaiting flax into stout square-shaped ropes, (); and the manner of plaiting flat ropes, (); and of spinning round ropes", which when Tamanuiterā awoke found himself caught in. Using a patu made from the jawbone of their grandmother, Murirangawhenua, Māui beat the sun into agreeing to slow down and give the world more time during the day.
North and South Islands In south Westland, Kāti Māhaki ki Makaawhio's Te Tauraka Waka a Māui Marae is named in honour of the tradition stating that Māui landed his canoe in Bruce Bay when he arrived in New Zealand.