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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] |
Metrosideros Umbellata 2
''Metrosideros'' is a genus of approximately 60 trees, shrubs, and vines in the family Myrtaceae, mostly found in the Pacific region. Most of the tree forms are small, but some are exceptionally large, the New Zealand species in particular. The name derives from the Ancient Greek ''metra'' or "heartwood" and ''sideron'' or "iron". Perhaps the best-known species are the pōhutukawa (''M. excelsa''), northern rātā (''M. robusta'') and southern rātā (''M. umbellata'') of New Zealand, and '' ōhia lehua'' (''M. polymorpha'') from the Hawaiian Islands. Distribution ''Metrosideros'' is one of the most widely spread flowering plant genera in the Pacific. New Caledonia has 21 species, New Zealand has 12, New Guinea has seven and Hawaii has 5. The genus is present on most other high Pacific Islands, including Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Bonin Islands and Lord Howe Island, but absent from Micronesia. The genus is also represented by one spe ... [...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 people, Māori may be divided. Māori myths concern tales of supernatural events 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. The 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 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tāwhaki
In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder. Genealogy The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somewhat in different accounts. In general, Tāwhaki is a grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic goddess who marries the mortal Kaitangata (mythology), Kaitangata (man-eater), thinking that he shares her taste for human flesh. Disappointed at finding that this is not so, she leaves him after their sons Hemā (mythology), Hemā and Punga (mythology), Punga are born and returns to heaven. Hemā is the father of Tāwhaki and Karihi. Tāwhaki grows up to be handsome, the envy of his cousins, who beat him up and leave him for dead. He is nursed back to health by his wife, who feeds the fire that warms him with a whole log of wood. In memory of this incident, their child is named Wahieroa (Long-piece-of-firewood) (Biggs 1966:450). In some versions Tawhaki is the father of Arahuta. She was the cause of a quarrel between her parents, and her mother Ta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wahieroa
In Māori mythology, Wahieroa is a son of Tāwhaki, and father of Rātā. Tāwhaki was attacked and left for dead by two of his brothers-in-law, jealous that their wives preferred the handsome Tāwhaki to them. He was nursed back to health by his wife Hinepiripiri. She helped him back to their house, and brought home a long piece of timber for the fire, to keep him warm. Shortly afterwards, a son was born to them, and named Wahieroa. The name, meaning 'long piece of firewood', was chosen to fix in their son's mind the wrong that had been done to Tāwhaki, in order that one day Wahieroa might avenge him. In another version, Tāwhaki told his people to collect firewood, and went himself to gather some. The others were lazy, and brought back little wood, but Tāwhaki returned with a long piece of timber on his shoulder. When he saw what the others had brought, he threw it down, and the noise startled them. Tāwhaki told his wife to call their child Wahieroa when it was born, to remi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matuku-tangotango
In Māori mythology, Matuku-tangotango (Matuku) is an ogre who kills Wahieroa the son of Tāwhaki In Māori mythology, Tāwhaki is a semi-supernatural being associated with lightning and thunder. Genealogy The genealogy of Tāwhaki varies somewhat in different accounts. In general, Tāwhaki is a grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibalistic goddess .... In some versions, Matuku lives in a cave called Putawarenuku. Rātā, the son of Wahieroa, sets off to avenge his murdered father, and arrives at last at Matuku's village. He hears from Matuku's servant that at the new moon his master can be killed at the pool where he washes his face and hair.If Matuku-tangotango is imagined as bittern-like, he can be imagined as washing his plumage at the pool, because the Māori word for 'hair' or 'feathers' is the same: 'huruhuru' When the new moon has come, Rātā waits until the ogre comes out of his cave and is leaning over with his head in the pool. He grabs him by the hair and kills him. Rātā ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ponaturi
In Māori mythology, the Ponaturi are a group of hostile creatures (goblins) who live in a land beneath the sea by day, returning to shore each evening to sleep. They dread daylight, which is fatal to them. They appear in a number of stories, including: :* a story of Tāwhaki. The Ponaturi kill Tāwhaki's father Hemā, and carry his body away. They also capture Urutonga, Tāwhaki's mother, whom they put to work as the doorkeeper of their house Manawa-Tāne. In revenge, Tāwhaki and Urutonga block up all the holes of the house to make the Ponaturi think that it is still night. They then suddenly let in the rays of the sun, and all the dreadful creatures are destroyed (Tregear 1891:206, 350). :* a story of the hero Rātā. The Ponaturi carry off his father's bones and use them to beat time when as they practice their magical arts. Rātā hides himself, learns their incantations, and recites a more powerful spell called Titikura. He then attacks them, kills their priests, and recap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hākuturi
In Māori mythology, the hākuturi are guardians of the forest. They are responsible for guarding the forest, and to avenge any desecration of its sacredness. When Rātā cut down a tree without first making the proper incantations and rituals, the hākuturi rebuked him by re-erecting the tree. When he showed remorse, they felled the tree again and made it into a canoe for him in a single night. The hākuturi seem to have been regarded as birds or birdlike: one source calls them the children of Tāne, god of the forest and ancestor of birds (Orbell 1998:23–24). A Ngāti Kahungunu version (White 1887–1891, III:2) refers to 'the host of Haku-tiri, of Roro-tini, and of Pona-ua'. This last word would seem to imply some relationship to the Ponaturi In Māori mythology, the Ponaturi are a group of hostile creatures (goblins) who live in a land beneath the sea by day, returning to shore each evening to sleep. They dread daylight, which is fatal to them. They appear in a number of st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 the Earth goddess, earth mother, who used to lie in a tight embrace where their many children lived in the darkness between them (Grey 1956:2). On Tahiti, Tane was the god of peace and beauty. Separates his parents The children of Rangi and Papa grew frustrated at their confinement in the cramped space between their parents. Tūmatauenga, Tū, future god of war, proposes that they should kill their parents. But Tāne (or Tāne-mahuta) disagrees, suggesting that it is better to separate them, sending Rangi into the sky and leaving Papa below to care for them. Tāne's brothers Rongo, then Tangaroa, Haumia-tiketike and Tū all try in vain to separate the parents. After many tries, Tāne lies on his back and pushes with his strong legs, and f ... [...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 and great-nephew of Māui Māui or Maui is the great culture hero and trickster in Polynesian mythology. Very rarely was Māui actually worshipped, being less of a de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 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, Pop ... was murdered by the men of the Ati Hapai tribe, and Whakatau set out on a q ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rata (Tuamotu Mythology)
In the Tuamotus, Tuamotu islands, the telling of the full cycle of the legend of Rata takes several evenings to tell. The legend begins with his grandfather Kui (Māori mythology), Kui, a demigod who marries Puehuehu. Their son Vahi-vero was stolen by two wild ducks that carry him to a distant island where two witches Nua and Mere-hua imprison him. Kui eventually rescues his son, captures the witches, and kills the ducks. Once Vahi-vero reaches adulthood, he falls in love with a water-nymph Tahiti-tokerau, whom he persuades to marry him. She, however, is abducted by Puna (mythology), Puna, king of the underworld. Following his father's advice, he swims down to the underworld and rescues her while Puna is away. Shortly thereafter, Tahiti-tokerau becomes pregnant and gives birth to Rata. Not long after the birth of Rata, Puna returns and learns that Tahiti-tokerau had been rescued. He summons the shark Matuku-tagotago who attack Vahivero and Tahiti-tokerau while they are crabbing. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rata (Tahitian Mythology)
Rata, in Tahitian mythology, is said to have become king of Tahiti when his uncle, king Tumu-nui, and his father Vahieroa are swallowed by a great clam, Pua Tu Tahi, while they are on their way to Pitcairn. When he reaches adulthood, Rata plans to avenge his father. As in the Tuamotuan version, Rata identifies a tree to build his canoe, but it is protected by forest elves. After he captures them they build it for him in a single night. While en route for Pitcairn, Rata and his crew are sucked down into the same clam, but they use their spears to cut the monster open. They rescue the remains of Rata's father and uncle and bury them back in Tahiti. After recovering from their adventure, Rata sets out for further adventures. See also Aremata-Popoa and Aremata-Rorua. See also *Rata (Tuamotu mythology) *Rātā (Māori mythology) *Laka In Hawaiian mythology, Laka is the name of two different popular heroes from Polynesian mythology. (In other parts of Polynesia they are known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
