Ko wai Tāwhaki?

Māori Mythology Part 3

In 1966, An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand was published, presenting the main body of Māori mythology as a corpus of three story complexes. The first is about the birth of the world and the genesis of gods and men. The second is about the exploits of the demigod Māui and his relations. We have written about the first two complexes in earlier posts. The third is the Tāwhaki myth complex.

It is worth remembering that myths are told in different ways according to the intentions of the storyteller. The traditions of kōrerorero or oral-storytelling are considered a taonga and are practiced to different degrees throughout Aotearoa. Their power on us as stories can lie in their oral performance, the way they are passed on, and how they are shown to relate to the world of the listener. In New Zealand, Māori myths have been beautifully illustrated in books and more recently have been a subject of visual art, dramatic performance and film, for example, the origins myth exhibition at Te Toi o Tāmaki, the Auckland Art Gallery. The kōrero about the origins of individual iwi often contain elements of myth.

The Tāwhaki Myth Complex

Tāwhaki was the grandson of Whaitiri, a cannibal goddess. Whaitiri means thunder. Whaitiri wedded a mortal named Kaitangata or man-eater. They had a son named Hemā who took Urutonga for a bride. Hemā and Urutonga had two sons, Tāwhaki and Karihi.

Tāwhaki was envied by his tūākana, his older male cousins, for he was very handsome. One day they beat him and left him for dead. Tāwhaki's beloved, Hinepiripiri, found him and nursed him back to health by a fire. She fed the fire with a single large log. They named their son Wahieroa, long piece of firewood, in remembrance of this moment.

A malicious tribe called the Ponaturi slew Hemā and kidnapped Urutonga. Tāwhaki and Karihi found Urutonga imprisoned in the Ponaturi hut, while the Ponaturi were hunting by night. The Ponaturi were not entirely human and light was fatal to them. Tāwhaki and Karihi hid in the rafters. The Ponaturi came in before dawn and when the sun rose, Tāwhaki and Karihi sprung their trap, flinging open the doors and windows, and saving their mother and avenging their father.

Tāwhaki then fell in love with a woman from the heavens named Tangotango. She had a child named Arahuta. Tangotango retreated to the heavens with Arahuta.

Tāwhaki's grandmother, Whaitiri, guarded the entrance to the heavens. Tāwhaki and Karihi found her and played a trick on her. She was now blind and spent all of her time endlessly counting her kūmara one by one. They plucked several kūmara from the pile, upsetting her tally and causing her to cry out, “who is there?!” They revealed their identity.

There were two vines to the heavens. Karihi climbed the aka taepa, the hanging vine and fell when a violent wind blew the vine wildly about. He was carried many miles by the winds. Following the advice of his grandmother, Tāwhaki climbed the aka matua, the parent vine, which was rooted not only in the heavens but also in the earth. He was reunited with his wife and daughter.

Wahieroa wedded Tonga-rau-tawhiri and they had a boy named Rata. When Wahieroa was killed by Matuku-tango-tango, Rata crafted a waka to sail to Matuku-tango-tango’s pit to avenge his father. After he followed the appropriate tikanga for felling a tree for the hull, the guardians of the forest helped him complete the waka. Matuku-tango-tango was accustomed to ascend from his pit when the moon was full. Rata avenged Wahieroa’s death by killing Matuku-tango-tango at the full moon. 

More Beautiful Māori Myths to Explore

Listed below are some other famous Māori myths we would suggest are worth exploring. 

- Tūtānekai and Hinemoa (Rotorua, subject of te waiata Pōkarekare ana)

- Aoraki and his brothers (Kā Tiritiri o Te Moana / the Southern Alps) 

- Te whāwhai o ngā mounga (explanation of the locations of the mountains of the Central North Island) 

- Rona me te marama (Rona and the moon)

- Tribal legends