The Beginning of the World Flashcards
Te timatanga mai o nga atua
Who are the main characters within the creation narratives?
Io, Rangi, Papa, Tane, Whiri, Tu-mata-uenga
What precedents did these creation narratives establish?
When a person cares for the land, or any other element in this world of light, they care for their ancestors and in so doing secure the prosperity of future generations of living things.
Importance of whakapapa (genealogy) where the entire world is imagined as an enormous whakapapa linking everyone and everything together.
Creation establishes ethical guidelines: following tikanga; acceptance of consensus through extensive debate.
Women act as complementary, central and equal partners in life and in marriage.
Why and how are these creation narratives important today?
Every human society and culture requires satisfactory answers to these existential questions. Creation narratives are intellectual responses to these sorts of questions.
The retelling of these narratives across generations established ethical guidelines for Maori society. in this worldview, the spiritual and material worlds are interconnected; the two worlds are closely linked, all activities coming under the influence of the spiritual powers.
Is there one creation narrative for all Iwi?
No, every iwi has their own creation narrative.
What is ‘Atua’?
Often translated as ‘god’ or ‘spirit being’.
More accurately described as ‘ancestors of ongoing influence with power over particular domains’.
There’s a notion that they are ancestral.
What is ‘Tohunga’?
‘Expert’, ‘priest’, ‘scholar’; someone endowed by atua with an ability to perform particular activities taught to humanity by the atua themselves.
An expert in their field.
What is ‘Karakia’?
Chants accompanying ritual acts addressed to the atua that use archaic language appropriate to works inherited from the ancestors.
What is the controversy surrounding Io? (Three different views)
Many scholars consider Io a later tribal tradition developed by tohunga after they became familiar with Christianity, arguing such a tradition is inauthentic. Others argue that traditions adapt to changes in the surrounding society and culture. They intentionally focused on those traditional elements that had the most similarity to Christian ideas.
Other equally respected authorities believe that Io has long been part of tribal traditions.
We cover two main creation narratives which include Io, which two iwi do these belong to?
Ngā Puhi and Ngāti Kahungunu
What is Io?
Fundamental/foundational spirit being
What are two narratives which don’t include Io?
Te Arawa and Ngāi Tahu.
What are the three ‘episodes’ of the creation narratives?
- Io
- Separation of Rangi/Raki and Papa
- Creation of humanity
What does tu-mata-uenga represent?
The people/warriors
What are some differences between the northern story and Ngai Tahu story of the separation?
In Ngai Tahu version Rangi/Raki has a series of marriages including with Papa and has quite a number of progeny.
Papa is also a woman who has been married previously to Takaroa.
Takaroa leaves with the placenta, papa married Raki and has a number of children, namely Tane.
When Takaroa returns he fights Raki and defeats him. As a result, Raki’s later children are sickly and weak.
In this version Raki is the one that makes the decision about the separation; he instructs Tane.
After the separation, Tane continues is role in creation, pairing with a female spirit entity and producing female progeny.
In this story he has incestuous relations with his daughter Hine-a-tauira.
What are some differences between the northern story and Ngai Tahu story of the creation of humanity?
Very similar in the creation of the female human element.
In Ngai Tahu, Wahine marries Tiki, the male.
In the northern story Tane marries Hine. They have four daughters. Tāne later marries their first-born, Hine-tītama, who discovers who her husband is and flees to Rarohenga (Underworld), she becomes Hine-nui-te-pō (the great maiden of the dark).
