Maori origin stories: the legends and where they come from

Stephen Paewai is presented with a gift from Dannevirke Gallery of History president Murray Holden following his talk on Maori origin stories.

By Leanne Warr

There are origin stories in every culture, but it’s how those stories came to be that is a curiosity, notes Stephen Paewai.

The Dannevirke resident and Rangitane elder was a guest speaker at the Gallery of History AGM, talking about the legends that have been passed down through the generations.

Stephen explained to interested listeners that indigenous people have their own version of a creation story and in Māori culture, the story begins with Te Kore, also known as the void.

“Often you hear with particularly older Māori, when they recite karakia or prayer, or recite whakapapa, they go right back to the beginning.”

In that story, Ranginui (Sky Father) and Papatūānuku (Earth Mother), known as the parents, lived close together and the world as we know it didn’t exist in Māori minds.

Then one of the insects, a child of Tāne Mahuta, somehow managed to get out of the clutches of the parents and saw light.

When he returned to the fold, he told his father and some of his brothers about the light.

It was decided they would separate the parents and eventually Tāne, with help from some of his brothers, pushed against Papatūānuku with his arms and with his legs pushed against Ranginui, which separated them.

How New Zealand came to be is told in the story of Maui fishing up the North Island, also known as Te Ika a Maui.

The legend goes that Maui’s brothers were going fishing, but despite being told he wasn’t allowed to go, Maui hid in the canoe.

Using the jawbone of his grandmother as a hook, Maui punched himself on the nose to draw blood, which he then put on the hook and threw it over the side.

“Almost straight away he caught a huge fish,” Stephen says.

Telling his brothers not to touch the fish until he could find someone to do an appropriate karakia (prayer), Maui set off.

“I don’t know how he did this.”

Unable to help themselves, the brothers decided to cut the fish and in response, “all sorts of movement” began happening.

“That’s our story of how mountains, rivers and lakes form.”

Stephen ponders how the legend began, saying that using your imagination and looking at a map of the North Island, it is possible to see it as a fish, with Wellington being the head of the fish, north of Auckland being the tail and Taupō as the eye.

“Somebody [told] the story, but how did they even know it looked like a fish?”

That is the question.