Mythology Book

OCEANIA 319

War canoes, or waka tua, are still

used in Maori ceremonies. At the

annual IRONMAN race in New

Zealand, waka escort competitors

to the start of the swimming leg.

See also: Creation of the universe 130–33 ■ Ahura Mazda and Ahriman 198–99 ■ Brahma creates the cosmos 200 ■

Izanagi and Izanami 220–21

Hine-titama was raised not

knowing who her father was.

When she grew up, Tane married

her. Hine-titama lived happily as

Tane’s wife, and had children with

him, until she found out that he

was actually her father. Appalled,

she fled to the underworld. Her

father followed her and begged her

to return, but Hine-titama refused.

She told him that he should stay

where he was to look after his

children in the world of light.

Hine-titama chose to remain in

the underworld to care for those

who entered the world of darkness.

There she took on a new name,

Hine-nui-te-po, meaning “great

maiden of the darkness.”

No humans had entered the

underworld until the actions of the

trickster Maui, who had been told

that anyone who crawled through

Hine-nui-te-po’s body would banish

death from humanity. While the

goddess slept, Maui turned into a

worm and tried to enter her body

through her vagina. When Hine-

nui-te-po realized this, she quickly

shut her legs, crushing Maui to

death. From then on, humanity was

forever doomed to be mortal. ■

The war god Tu

Of all the sons of Rangi

and Papa, only Tu withstood

the attack from the storm

god, Tawhirimatea: Tane

could do nothing to stop

his trees being destroyed,

Tangaroa fled to the ocean,

and Haumia and Rongo hid

themselves in their mother’s

body, the Earth.

After the winds had died

down, Tu blamed his brothers

for not supporting him and

attacked them. He cut down

trees in Tane’s forests, caught

fish from Tangaroa’s water,

and dug up the plants from

the soil where Haumia and

Rongo had hidden.

Tu’s actions supplied

humans with a template for

making use of the resources

of the natural world through

ritual and farming. Tu also set

a precedent for war between

humans by fighting with his

brothers. The Maori name for

New Zealand’s armed forces

is Ngati Tumatauenga,

meaning “Tribe of the God

of War,” in honor of Tu.

Rangi Papa

Tu Tawhirimatea Tangaroa Rongo Haumia

Tane Hine-titama

The Maori people can trace their genealogy back to

sky father Rangi and earth mother Papa, and their sons,

as well as the waka (“canoe”) in which their ancestors

traveled to New Zealand over 800 years ago.

US_318-319_Tane.indd 319 01/12/17 4:23 pm