S
Joined: Mar 31, 2003
Posts: 1795
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S
Here is the long version of the part of the Creation story I am illustrating. The reason the figures look somewhat generic is that the story of creation has many commonalities throughout polynesia and I wanted the figures to look like Samoan, Tongan, and Fijan type carvings as well as Maori etc. This version, however is specifically Maori.
Children of Heaven and Earth
KO NGA TAMA A RANGI
Tradition relating to the Origin of the Human Race
MEN had but one pair of primitive ancestors; they sprang from the vast heaven that exists
above us, and from the earth which lies beneath us. according to the traditions of our race, Rangi
and Papa, or Heaven and Earth, were the source from which, in the beginning, all things
originated. Darkness then rested upon the heaven and upon the earth, and they still both clave
together, for they had not yet been rent apart; and the children they had begotten were ever
thinking amongst themselves what might be the difference between darkness and light; they
knew that beings had multiplied and increased, and yet light had never broken upon them, but it
ever continued dark. Hence these sayings are found in our ancient religious services: 'There was
darkness from the first division of time, unto the tenth, to the hundredth, to the thousandth', that
is, for a vast space of time; and these divisions of times were considered as beings, and were
each termed 'a Po'; and ontheir account there was as yet no world with its bright light, but
darkness only for the beings which existed.
At last the beings who had been begotten by Heaven and Earth, worn out by the continued
darkness, consulted amongst themselves, saying: 'Let us now determine what we should do with
Rangi and Papa, whether it would be better to slay them or to rend them apart.' Then spoke Tu-
matauenga, the fiercest of the children of Heaven and Earth: 'It is well, let us slay them.'
Then spake Tane-mahuta, the father of forests and of all things that inhabit them, or that are
constructed from trees: 'Nay, not so. It is better to rend them apart, and to let the heaven stand far
above us, and the earth lie under our feet. Let the sky become as a stranger to us, but the earth
remain close to us as our nursing mother.'
The brothers all consented to this proposal, with the exception of Tawhiri-ma-tea, the father of
winds and storms, and he, fearing that his kingdom was about to be overthrown, grieved greatly
at the thought of his parents being torn apart. Five of the brothers willingly consented to the
separation of their parents, but one of them would not agree to it.
Hence, also, these sayings of old are found in our prayers: 'Darkness, darkness, light, light, the
seeking, the searching, in chaos, in chaos'; these signified the way in which the offspring of
heaven and earth sought for some mode of dealing with their parents, so that human beings
might increase and live.
So, also, these sayings of old time. 'The multitude, the length , signified the multitude of the
thoughts of the children of Heaven and Earth, and the length of time they considered whether
they should slay their parents, that human beings might be called into existence; for it was in this
manner that they talked and consulted amongst themselves.
But at length their plans having been agreed on, lo, Rongo-ma-tane, the god and father of the
cultivated food of man, rises up, that he may rend apart the heavens and the earth; he struggles,
but he tends them not apart. Lo, next, Tangaroa, the god and father of fish and reptiles, rises up,
that he may rend apart the heavens and the earth; he also struggles, but he rends them not apart.
Lo, next, Haumia-tikitiki, the god and father of the food of man which springs without
cultivation, rises up and struggles, but ineffectually. Lo, then, Tu-matauenga, the god and father
of fierce human beings, rises up and struggles, but he, too, fails in his efforts. Then, at last,
slowly uprises Tane-mahuta, the god and father of forests, of birds, and of insects, and he
struggles. With his parents; in vain he strives to rend them apart with his hands and arms. Lo, he
pauses; his head is now firmly planted on his mother the earth, his feet he raises up and rests
against his father the skies, he strains his back and limbs with mighty effort. Now are rent apart
Rangi and Papa, and with cries and groans of woe they shriek aloud: 'Wherefore slay you thus
your parents? Why commit you so dreadful a crime as to slay us, as to rend your parents apart?
But Tane-mahuta pauses not, he regards not their shrieks and cries; far, far beneath him he
presses down the earth; far, far above him he thrusts up the sky.
Hence these sayings of olden time: 'It was the fierce thrusting of Tane which tore the heaven
from the earth, so that they were rent apart, and darkness was made manifest, and so was the
light.'
No sooner was heaven rent from earth than the multitude of human beings were discovered
whom they had begotten, and who hitherto had been concealed between them.
From Abika.com, they have the full story online.
[ Edited by: Sneakytiki 2006-03-23 18:58 ]
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