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Before there was any light there
was only darkness, all was night. Before there was even darkness
there was nothing. Of these things it is spoken in our karakia,
those that were given down from ancient time that name all the ancestors
of My People.
It is said in the karakia, at the beginning of time there stood
Te Kore, the Nothingness.
Then was Te Po, the Night, which was immensely long and immensely
dark: -Te Po nui, - Te Po roa, - Te Po uriuri, - Te Po kerekere,
- Te Po tiwha, - Te Po te kitea, - Te Po tangotango... meaning the
Great Night, the Long Night, the Dark Night, the Intensely Dark
Night, the Gloom-laden Night, the Night Unseen, the Night to be
Felt.
The first light that existed was no more than the glowing of a worm,
and when sun and moon were made there were no eyes, there was none
to see them, not even kaitiaki. The beginning was made from the
nothing. Then Ranginui, the sky, dwelt with Papatuanuku, the earth,
and was joined to her, and land was made. But the children of Ranginui
and Papatuanuku, who were very numerous, were not of the shape of
men, and they lived in the darkness, for their parents were not
yet parted.
The sky still lay upon the earth,
no light had come between them. The heavens were 12 in number, and
the lowest layer, lying on the earth, made her unfruitful. Her covering
was creeping plants and rank low weed, and the sea was all dark
water, dark as night. The time when these things were seemed without
end.
At length the offspring of Ranginui and Papatuanuku, worn out with
continual darkness, met together to decide what should be done about
their parents, that man might arise. "Shall we kill our parents,
shall we slay them, our father and our mother, or shall we separate
them?" they asked. And long did they consider in the darkness.
At last Tumatauenga, the fiercest
of the offspring and the guardian of war, spoke out. "It is
well. Let us kill them," stated Tumatauenga.
But Tanemahuta, guardian of the forest, answered, "No, not
so. It is better to seperate them, and to let the sky stand far
above us and the earth lie below here. Let the sky be a stranger
to us, but let earth remain close to us as our nursing mother."
Some of the other sons, and
Tumatauenga among them, saw wisdom in this and agreed with Tanemahuta.
Others did not agree, and one, now and forever has always disagreed
with his brothers, and this is Tawhirimatea, the guardian of winds
and storms. For Tawhirimatea, fearing that his kingdom would be
overthrown, did not wish his parents to be torn apart. So while
some agreed, Tawhirimatea would not and was silent, he held his
breath. And long did they consider further. At the end of a time
no man can measure they decided that Ranginui and Papatuanuku must
be forced apart, and they began by turns to attempt this deed.
First Rongomatane, guardian
of the cultivated food of men and medicinal plants rose up and strove
to force the heavens from the earth. When Rongomatane failed, next
Tangaroa, guardian of all things that live in the sea, rose up.
He struggled mightily, but had no luck. And next Haumiatiketike,
guardian of uncultivated food, rose up and tried, without success.
So then Tumatauenga, guardian of war, leapt up. Tumatauenga hacked
at the sinews that bound the Earth and Sky, and made them bleed,
and this gave rise to ochre, or red clay, the sacred colour. Yet
even Tumatauenga, the fiercest of the children, could not with all
his strength sever Ranginui from Papatuanuku. So then it became
the turn of Tanemahuta.
Slowly, slowly as the kauri
tree did Tanemahuta rise between the Earth and Sky. At first he
strove with his arms to move them, but with no success. And so he
paused, and the pause was an immense period of time. Then he placed
his shoulders against the Earth, his mother, and his feet against
the Sky. Soon, and yet not soon, for the time was vast, the Sky
and Earth began to yield.
The parents of the children
cried out and asked them, "why are you doing this crime, why
do you wish to slay your parents' love?"
Great Tanemahuta thrust with
all his strength, which was the strength of growth. Far beneath
him he pressed the Earth. Far above he thrust the Sky, and held
him there. The sinews that bound them were stretched, taunt. Tumatauenga
sprang up and slashed at the bonds that bound his parents and the
blood spilt read on the earth. Today this is the kokowai, the sacred
red earth that was created when the first blood was spilt at the
dawn of time. As soon as Tanemahuta work was finished the multitude
of creatures were uncovered whom Ranginui and Papatuanuku had begotten,
and who had never known light.
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