My father's people say ... at the birth of the sun and of his brother, the moon, their mother died ... so the sun gave to the earth her body, from which was to spring all life. And he drew forth from her breast the stars. The stars he threw into the night sky to remind him of her soul.
”The Last Of The Mohicans”
posted by Chuck at
3:08 AM
5 Comments:
we maori have our stuff too.
Rangi and Papatuanuku
Rangi means Heaven in the common language, and is here used as a proper name, but Papatuanuku is the personal name for the Earth (te whenua). These two were not worshipped as gods, but were regarded as the parents of all visible nature.
Rangi, having been lamed in the duel with his uncle, could no longer stand upright, and had, therefore, to lie always flat on the earth. The consequence was a still darkness; no wind could blow, no light could shine. Notwithstanding, they had many children. Most of them were cripples; some had crooked, drawn-up legs, some had stiff stretched out legs, and other deformities; however, a few had sound limbs. The most conspicuous among the latter was Tane; also Paiao (Cloud), Tawhirimatea (personal name of the Wind), deserve to be mentioned.
The children felt very inconvenient in that close darkness, and the more able ones among them held a consultation of what to do, in order to gain light and liberty. Some were for killing their father; others proposed to lift him up, and there let him live as a stranger to them. The counsel of the latter prevailed. After this they set to work. First Paiao (Cloud) tried, but could not lift him. Then Tane tried, with no better result. Then they tried all together; but Heaven was too heavy for them. At last Tane put his head on the ground and stretched his legs upward. That succeeded. Rangi cried and lamented that he was illtreated by his children; but they carried him up, and then Tane fixed him.
It seems that Tawhirimatea (the Wind) took no part in this movement, but rather that he had opposed it from the beginning, counselling to let things remain as they were. This seems rather strange of such a restless fellow as the Wind; but the northern natives, according to Sir George Grey's collection, account for this by saying that Tawhirimatea was a quiet, loving boy before, but that, when he was outvoted by his brothers, and Heaven and Earth were separated against his will, he became dissatisfied and restless. He followed his father heavenward, and talked to him about the injuries he had received from his children, and then came down again, fighting with his brothers from all quarters of the heavens.
When Heaven had been carried up, and Tane had fastened him, and then come down again to the earth, he (Tane) looked up to his father; but the old man looked dark and sad. Then he went to Okehu, to fetch ornaments for his father. With this he put on him a bright polish. When he came down again and looked up, he thought his father did not yet look so good as he ought to; so he fetched more ornaments, and with these he drew the Milky Way, painted the Magellan Clouds, and set the constellations. This done, he came down again to see how that did suit his father. Now he looked handsome.
Now Tane looked at his mother, who was still void of ornaments. So he raised some of her crippled children, and put them upright, as trees. First he put their legs downward and their heads upward, and then went aside to look at them. But the trees did not look well in that position, standing on their branches, with their stumps and roots as heads and hair, up. Then he took them up again, and put their heads down and their legs, the branches up; and went again aside to look. Now they looked good; now both parents were adorned with beauty.
Though Rangi and Papatuanuku have now been long separated, yet their love toward each other continues. Her sighs out of her bosom may be seen ascending up to Heaven in the vapoury mist that rises from the wooded mountains; and Heaven weeps his tears of love down upon her in dew-drops.
Thanks Te Ao Hou.
shane - that was great, you should post stuff like that on your blog, thanks for sharing that.
That is beautiful.
I think I shall copy it down and save it.
Thanks for sharing, Chuck.
Huggerzzz...
That is way cool. In Xhosa (african) tradition, the Sun and the Moon are mortal enemies and the "Greatest Being" put water (the sea) between them to stop them reaching each other- and the belief is that when the water looses all its strength and stops being a barrier the world will come to and end.
The tides are the earth and moon forcing advantages one over the other.
I loved that too. And one of my fav movies.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home