THE STORY OF RANGI AND PAPA
Tihei Mauriora! Ki te Wheiao, ki te Ao-maarama. Ka tu kei runga, ko wai koe? Ko Tuu, ko Rongo koe, ko Taane koe. Ko te manuhiri i ahu mai i Hawaiki, nau mai.
'This sneeze is the sign of the new life, in this world. And when you are mature, whose shall you be? You shall be dedicated to Tuu, to Rongo, to Taane. To you who come from Hawaiki, We welcome your presence.'
The above chant is part of the dedication used, according to tradition, at the birth of Maui, a key figure in some of the old stories. The chant is also sometimes used as the opening chant for speeches welcoming people onto the marae. The chant identifies the visitors with the spiritual powers Tuu, Rongo and Taane and as coming from Hawaiki, from the place of origin, and return, of all people.
In paying this tribute of honour to the visitors, the chant is following a model of the universe which dates back over a thousand years. The people who first arrived here, from Polynesia, brought this model, this understanding of the universe, with them and adapted it to this land of Aotearoa. There are differences in different tribal areas, but the general outline as handed down in the oral traditions and as found in Maori writings of the 1840s and 1850s is the same.
It is a model, an understanding of the universe, which sees the universe as evolving i te kore, ki te poo, ki te ao maarama 'out of the nothingness, into the night, into the world of light'.
It is a model of a universe made up of at least two worlds intimately linked, a world of spiritual powers and the material world we see around us. And it sees the human person as having a very particular role in the ordering of this universe, through the power of the word.
THE EVOLVING OF THE UNIVERSE
Sometimes the unfolding of the universe is described with the terms we use when speaking of the growth of a tree:
Te pu, te more, te weu.
'The primary root, the tap root, the fibrous roots,' Sometimes it is described as a searching, an unfolding of consciousness and thought, as expressed in the following creation genealogy:-
Ka hua te wananga Knowledge became fruitful. Ka noho i a rikoriko It dwelt with the feeble glimmering; Ka puta ki waho ko te po And so night was born: Ko te po nui, te po roa The great night, the long night, Te po i tuturi, The lowest night, Te po i pepeke The loftiest night, Te po uriuri, The thick night, Te po tangotango The night to be felt, Te po wawa The night to be touched, Te po te kitea The night not to be seen, Te po i oti atu ki te mate. The night of death.
Na te kore i ai From the nothing the begetting, Te kore te wiwia From the nothing the increase Te kore te rawea From the nothing the abundance,
Ko hotupu The power of increasing, Ko hauora The living breath; Ka noho i te atea It dwelt with the empty space ka puta ki waho te rangi and the sky above was born e tu nei.
Ko te rangi e teretere ana The atmosphere which floats i runga i te whenua above the earth; Ka noho te rangi nui e tu nei The great firmament above us, Ka noho i a ata tuhi dwelt with the early dawn, Ka puta ki waho te marama. And the moon sprang forth;
Te rangi i tu nei, ka noho The sky above us dwelt i a te werawera with the heat, Ka puta ki waho ko te ra. And the sun was born; Kokiritia ana ki runga They were thrown up above, Hei pukanohi mo te rangi. As the chief eyes of Heaven: Ka tau te rangi Then the Heavens became light, Te ata tuhi, te ata rapa The early dawn, the early day, Te ata ka mahina, ka mahina The mid-day, the blaze of the day te ata i hikurangi from the sky.
Ka noho i Hawaiki The sky above dwelt with Hawaiki, Ka puta ki waho ko and land was born: Taporapora, Taporapora, ko Tauwarenikau, Tauwarenikau, ko Kuku-paru, Kuku-paru, ko Wawau-atea, Wawau-atea, ko Wiwhi-te-Rangiora. Wiwhi-te-Rangiora.
At other times the emerging of the universe is described as a birth. First there is the conception. Then there is the time of growth, the long night in the womb. Finally there is the coming forth into full daylight. Again the emphasis is on the evolving of thought, rather than the evolving of matter:
Na te kune te pupuke From the conception the increase Na te pupuke te hihiri From the increase the thought Na te hihiri te mahara From the thought the remembrance Na te mahara te hinengaro From the remembrance the consciousness Na te hinengaro te manako. From the consciousness the desire.
The human race is just a little dot at the end of a very long process. The length of that process is conveyed by the descriptions of the period of the nights:
Te Po nui, The Great Night, Te Po roa, The Long Night, Te Po uriuri, The Dark Night, Te Po kerekere, The Intensely Dark Night, Te Po tiwha, The Gloom-laden Night, Te Po tangotango, The Night to be Felt, Te Po te kitea The Night Unseen.
`From the first division of time unto the tenth, and to the hundredth, and to the thousandth, all was darkness. The black sky lay upon the earth and made her barren, and in vain did she seek her offspring in the likeness of the day, or of the night.'
It is in the Night that we have the coming into being of Rangi and Papa and their children and the struggle of their children to overcome the darkness and move into the world of Light.
THE STORY OF RANGI AND PAPA AND THEIR CHILDREN
There are different versions of the Rangi and Papa story. Some versions from the East Coast, from the South Island and from the Wanganui area, begin with the marriage of Tangaroa (the Sea) and Papa (the Land). Tangaroa went on a journey and while he was away Rangi (the Heavens) moved in. On Tangaroa's return there was a big fight and Rangi was speared in both thighs. The best known version is the version written down in 1849 by the Te Arawa chief Wiremu Te Rangikaheke. It begins with Rangi and Papa clinging to each other in the night. Then follows the story of the children of Rangi and Papa, who lived in darkness until they managed to separate their parents:
E hoa ma Whakarongo mai kotahi ano te tupuna o te tangata maori, Ko Ranginui e tunei. Ko Papa tuanuku e takoto nei ki enei korero.
Ki ta te Pakeha ki tana tikanga. Na te Atua anake te tangata me Rangi, me Papa, me nga mea katoa i hanga.
Ki nga tangata Maori Na Rangi raua ko Papa nga take o mua. ina hoki i pouri tonu hoki te rangi me te whenua i mua. a Wakaaro ana Nga Tama a Rangi raua ko Papa kua maha nga tangata kua tini. A kaore ano i marama noa e pouri tonu tonu ana.
A wakaaro ana aua Tamariki i ta ratou Wakaaro nui, kia patua o ratou Matua. A mea atu ana tetahi o ana Tamariki, Kaua e patua, engari me wehewehe, ko tetahi ki runga, ko tetahi ki raro. A ae katoa ana ratou tahi.
'Here indeed is the origin of the generations of human beings. There is one ancestor of the Maori people, Rangi the sky who stands above, and Papa the earth who lies below.
According to the Pakeha, the human race, and heaven and earth, and all things, were made by God. According to the Maori, heaven and earth were themselves the source. Originally the sky and the earth were dark, and the children of Rangi and Papa considered that human beings had multiplied and become many, but it was still not light - all was still dark.
Then those children considered their great plan, to kill their parents. Then one of their children said: "Don't kill them, just separate them, one above and one below." And they all agreed to that.
LEVELS OF UNDERSTANDING
Just as there are different versions of the Rangi and Papa story, there are also different levels of understanding this story. On one level of understanding, Rangi and Papa and their children are personifications of the heavens and the earth and the key elements of the world we see around us: the winds and storms, the sea and what it contains, the forest and birds, the kuumara, our special food, the vegetation growing out of the earth, and people.
CREATED SPIRITUAL POWERS
On another level of understanding these are distinct spiritual powers. Each one is identified with a particular area of creation and has responsibility for that area.
In the English language the spiritual powers are often referred to as gods, but they are not gods. These atua are created. They are the children of Rangi and Papa, who themselves are created out of the nothingness. It would be just as wrong to refer to them as gods as it would be to refer to the angels and saints of our European Christian tradition as gods. I speak of them, therefore, as created spiritual powers. In some ways they resemble the angels of the Jewish and Christian traditions.
TWO WORLDS CLOSELY LINKED
According to this Maori model of the universe, the world of the atua is not separated absolutely from the world of everyday activities, from the secular world. Rather, the two worlds are closely linked, all activities in the everyday world being seen as coming under the influence of the spiritual powers. This is opposed to the view which sees the world as made up of two closed systems, one spiritual, religious and sacred, the other material, secular and profane.
Maori Marsden writes: The Maori does not, and never has accepted the mechanistic view of the universe which regards it as a closed system into which nothing can impinge from without. The Maori conceives of it as at least a two-world system in which the material proceeds from the spiritual, and the spiritual (which is the higher order) interpenetrates the material physical world of Te Ao Marama.
And he adds: The cultural milieu (of the Maori) is rooted both in the temporal world and the transcendent world, this brings a person into intimate relationship with the gods and his universe.
Each one of the children of Rangi and Papa is the source for and is identified with, a particular area of the universe.
To again quote Te Rangikaheke: Ko te maoritanga o nga ingoa o enei, ko Tangaroa he ika, ko Rongo-ma-Taane ko te kumara, ko Haumiatiketike ko te aruhe, ko Taane-Maahuta ko te rakau, ko te manu, ko Taawhiri-maa-tea ko te hau, ko Tuu-matauenga he tangata.
'The significance of the names are: Tangaroa the fish, Rongo-maa-Taane the kuumara, Haumiatiketike the fern root, Taane-Maahuta trees and birds, Taawhiri-maa-tea the wind, Tuu-matauenga the human person.'
The same identification of four of the spiritual powers with the kuumara, birds, fern root and human beings, is found in an undated White manuscript, claimed by White to be from a Ngaapuhi source:
Ko Tu-matauenga anake i toa ki te whawhai ki a Rangi raua ko ana uri, a oma ana a Rongo te kumara, a Tane te manu, a Haumia-tiketike te roi, a kainga ratou e Tu. A ko Tu te atua nana i hanga te tangata, a ko Tu te atua o te tangata.
'Only Tuu-matauenga was successful in the battle against Rangi and his progeny. Rongo the kuumara, Taane the birds, and Haumia-tiketike the fernroot fled and were eaten by Tuu. Tuu is the atua who made human beings, so Tuu is the atua of human beings.'
In Te Rangikaheke's version we have the first great confrontation, the first great struggle of minds, and at the centre of the confrontation, the well-being of the human person. The children of Rangi and Papa were seeking a way out of the darkness into the light.
Koia ena kupu, te po, te po, te ao, te ao, te kimihanga, te hahaunga, i te kore, i te kore. Ko ta ratou rapunga whakaaro hoki, mo o ratou matua kia tupu ai te tangata.
'Hence those words, 'the night, the night, the day, the day. The seeking, the searching, in the nothingness, in the nothingness'. Those words refer to their seeking a plan for their parents which would enable the human race to increase.'
Following the separation of Rangi and Papa, their children continued to quarrel, Taawhiri not being happy with the separation of their parents and Tuu feeling his brothers should have supported him and killed their parents. Eventually Tuu became master of Tangaroa, Haumea, Rongo and Taane. This is expressed by Tuu eating the fish, eating the fern root, eating the kuumara, and eating the birds. But he was not able to master the winds and the storms, the domain of Taawhiri-maatea.
Na reira i kainga katoatia ai e Tu-matauenga ona tuakana, a, pau ake te kai e ia hei utu mo ta ratou tukunga i a ia ki te whawhai ki a Tawhiri raua ko Rangi, aa, mate katoa. Ko ia anake te tangata i toa ki te whawhai.
Ka mate ona teina i a ia, katahi ka wehewehea ona ingoa ko Tu-ka-riri, Tu-kai-taua, ko Tu-whakaeke-tangata, ko Tu-mata-whaaiti, ko Tu-matauenga. I whakaritea tonutia ona ingoa ki a ratou ko ana tuakana, a tokowha ona hoa i kainga katoatia e ia. Kotahi i tapu, ko Tawhiri. Ko tona whakapakanga i waiho tonu hei hoa whawhai mona. I rite ano ki tana riri ta tona teina riri.
'So Tuu-matauenga ate all his older brothers. They were eaten by him in revenge for their allowing him to fight alone against Taawhiri and Rangi, when they were all defeated. He alone was victorious in battle.'
'His younger brothers were killed by him, and then his names were made known, Tuu-who- rages, Tuu-eater-of-war-parties, Tuu-destroyer- of-men, Tuu-of-the-narrow-eyes, and Tuu-of-the- flashing-eyes. His names are equal to the number of his brothers. Four were eaten by him. Only one was tapu, Taawhiri. The last-born, Tuu, remained to fight him, and the rage of his youngest brother was equal to his own.'
KARAKIA, THE MEANS OF CONTROL
Once Tuu had conquered his brothers in battle, all except Taawhiri, then he was given his karakia. These are the words of power, the ritual chants, by which he was to maintain control over his brothers and so bring life to this world.
A wehea rawatia ake te Rangi me Papa, kua nui noa atu nga tangata i roto i te pouri. No reira ano te take o nga karakia mauri, pana tamariki, karakia rangi,karakia mahaki, karakia mo nga kai, karakia mo nga taonga, karakia mo nga whawhai.
'Then Rangi and Papa were separated. People had become many, there in the darkness. It was from that time that life-giving chants, chants for child-birth, chants for the weather, for sickness, for food, for wealth, and for war, came down to us.
Te Rangikaheke, as well as listing some of the karakia, separates them out and associates them with the different spiritual powers:
Na reira i whakanoatia ai ona tuakana, a, ka wehewehea i reira ana, karakia ano mo Tane-mahuta, mo Tangaroa ano tona, mo Rongo-ma-Tane ano tona, mo Haumia ano tona, mo Tu-matauenga ano tona. Ko te wahi i rapu ai ia i nga karakia kia whakahokia iho ona tuakana hei kai mana, a, he karakia, ano mo Tawhiri-ma-tea, he tua mo te rangi; he karakia ano mo Papa-tua-nuku, kia noa katoa ai i a ia ratou i rapua ai e ia he tikanga karakia mona. Otira, na te atua ano ia i whakaako, i mohio ai.
'And so his [Tuu-matauenga's] elder brothers were made noa and his karakia were sorted out, the particular karakia for Taane-mahuta, those for Tangaroa, those for Rongo-maa-Taane, those for Haumia, those for Tuu-matauenga. He sorted out these karakia so that his elder brothers might be returned to him as food for himself.
And there is also a karakia for Taawhiri-maa-tea, a tuuaa for the heavens. There is another karakia for Papa-tua-nuku, which renders noa all that is sought by him. And there is ritual for human beings. All were taught and made known by the atua.'
According to the Rangi and Papa model of the universe, we humans are called to identify ourselves with the different spiritual powers and to take part with them in the whole movement of the universe i te kore, ki te poo, ki te ao maarama, 'out of the nothingness, into the night, into the world of light'. It is from the spiritual powers that we receive our worth as human beings, our intrinsic tapu, and it is from them we receive our power, our mana, to carry out our role as human beings. Return to intro. What is Maori Theology Return to Maori theology home page