"THE MAORI"

I have made this page to tell about the version of the creation given by Maori's of New Zealand.My mother-in-law, Cecelia Koomea Paki, decendants are Maori.

There are several versions of the creation .  In most traditions Tane is the creator of man and Tiki is the first man created. However, we do have traditions in both New Zealand and Tahiti, that name Tiki as the creator of man, corresponding to a tradition given by the people of Uru who live in the region of Lake Titicaca in South America.

In nearly every version where Tane is given as the creator,he plays a very important role as god of the forests and the originator of man.  After the seperation of Heaven and Earth (Rangi and Papa)it was Tane who saw the nakedness of his parents.  It was he who placed the sun,the moon, the stars and the clouds to cover the nakedness of his father, Rangi; and the trees,the flowers and all vegetation to cover the nakedness of his mother , Papa.   Tane appears in Maori mythology under many different names and titles.  As creator of man he was known as Tane-nui-a-rangi; as god of the forests he was Tane-mahuta, as the progentor of birds he was Tane-mataahi, and as the originator of life he was Tane-te-waiora. 

In some Maori traditions Tane himself was known as the first man, or the Adam of the polynesians, and he sought out and created a woman who became his wife and ancestress of the human race.  In other traditions he was the creator of both man and woman.  One account says that Tane made man by mixing his own blood with red clay, and forming it into a figure like himself; and by breathing into it gave it life.  Another account says that this first man was made of red clay and the center shoot of raupo(a variety of bulrushes).  He was made in the resemblance of Tane.  This first man was called Tiki, Tiki-ahua, or Tiki-auaha.

" Tane meditated how he could make a woman, who should be a companion for Tiki-auaha.  Taking his former figure as a mould, he again moulded the soil of Hawaiki, and prayed.....Thus was Io-wahine produced, and she walked forth a woman. Tane then knew his prayer was all powerful.  He had made man and now he had made a woman, and she ran forth and was called Io-wahine.  Tane then determined that Io-wahine should be the wife of Tiki-auaha; so they lived together.

I have used the information from the book "Israel in the Pacific" and photos from the book "Lehi, Father of Polynesia" for this webpage. 

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